Product category:
General packaging materials, equipment and services
News Release from: Translift Bendi
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 22 December 2005
Bendi forklifts improve handling and
storage
Two new Bendi forklifts from Translift Bendi allow bpi films to make best use of storage space and to maximise handling efficiency at the company's Sevenoaks, Kent site.
They replace two Bendis bought six years ago At the Sevenoaks plant, bpi films produce circa 13,000 tonnes of polyethylene film products up to 2.5 mt wide for packaging applications, specialising in films for adhesive and heat lamination applications in food, medical and liquid packaging industries
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 16 Nov 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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Bpi films is a division of British Polythene Industries, Europe's largest producer of polythene films which manufactures 350,000 tonnes a year, including such products as pallet and silage stretch wrap, refuse sacks, food and medical packaging.
When expansion beckoned six years ago, more storage space was needed but the only way to go was up.
Storage height was raised but the wide racking aisles used previously by counterbalanced (cb) forklifts were also reduced from 3.6 mt to under 2.3 mt.
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The only forklifts that could work in such aisles without compromising essential versatility needed to cope with yard work was the articulating kind produced by the award-winning Translift Bendi.
A centre point steering truck, the Bendi can swivel its mast through 200 deg, allowing it to work in aisles only 1.6mt wide.
This ability means that compared with cb trucks and reach trucks, the Bendi can yield up to 50% and 33% more pallet locations respectively without expanding the storage cube.
"The Bendi was the most versatile and appropriate truck for what we needed," said Gary Buchalter, bpi films' director of operations.
Guided by paper pick lists, during the day Bendi drivers remove 1-tonne reeled pallet loads from the racking for placing outside under a canopy, where a cb truck takes over for lorry loading.
However, the Bendis also help with loading curtain-sided lorries when required.
At night the second Bendi puts the day's film production away into the 7-mt high racking.
To cope with such heights, the Bendis needed special, high lift masts.
Being thoroughly safety conscious, bpi films also had safety options fitted, including driver's keypad, reversing bleeper and headlight.
Many forklift accidents are blamed on drivers but accident examinations show that 25% of them are caused by controllable, environmental factors.
A keypad ensures that only properly trained drivers can use the trucks.
The reversing headlamp, rarely seen in warehouses, recognises the fact that 60-year old drivers need six times as much light as a 20-year old to discriminate objects in dim light.
However, the Bendi also has safety advantages inherent in its design.
It gives drivers, for example, better load vision than cb and reach trucks when interfacing loads with racking beams.
Lack of rear end swing also means less likelihood of truck and rack damage.
The ability to move more pallets per hour is yet another Bendi advantage.
This derives from its inherent design issues and versatility, which allow users to cut out double handling usually associated with a mix of cb and reach or VNA (very narrow aisle) trucks.
Typically, a Bendi is 20% more productive than a reach truck.
Able to lift 1,350 kg to 7.2 mt, the electric Bendis work around 2,000 hours a year, covered by a full maintenance, five-year lease contract for peace of mind.
As a customer-focused organisation, bpi films offers various delivery options, including next-day delivery throughout the UK, so truck reliability and good after sales service are crucial.
Training was supplied by Translift Bendi and the trucks were supplied through bpi films' main forklift dealer, Linde.
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