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VNA handling solution
12 December 2012
To help maximise storage space at the warehousing operations of department store, John Lewis, Barloworld has provided a VNA handling solution that gives John Lewis staff the flexibility to work with walk on racking at h

To help maximise storage space at the
warehousing operations of department
store, John Lewis, Barloworld
has provided a VNA handling
solution that gives John Lewis staff
the flexibility to work with walk on
racking at heights of over 10m.
John Lewis typically stocks approximately 350,000 separate product lines from its 29 shops, and has a growing online business.With a varied product range the size and shape of the products presents storage challenges.
"Mattresses, washing machines, sofas and other large and heavy goods all have to be stored carefully while maximising the space available in our warehouses," explains Ted Weager, senior project engineer for John Lewis. "We wanted to store products at heights of over 10m which is easily achieved for palletised goods, but not when large items need manual handling." John Lewis had previously used aisle cranes in some of its operations, but wanted to find a flexible solution that was more cost effective. A specialised order picking forklift with a long cage on the front looked like a possibility.
"Barloworld was the only company that could offer a solution. They already had a proven innovation using the Hyster C1.5 VNA machine with a walk on platform and lattice gates on both sides" says Weager. "We trialled the concept at the Park Royal facility in London and now have three machines successfully operating there."
John Lewis typically stocks approximately 350,000 separate product lines from its 29 shops, and has a growing online business.With a varied product range the size and shape of the products presents storage challenges.
"Mattresses, washing machines, sofas and other large and heavy goods all have to be stored carefully while maximising the space available in our warehouses," explains Ted Weager, senior project engineer for John Lewis. "We wanted to store products at heights of over 10m which is easily achieved for palletised goods, but not when large items need manual handling." John Lewis had previously used aisle cranes in some of its operations, but wanted to find a flexible solution that was more cost effective. A specialised order picking forklift with a long cage on the front looked like a possibility.
"Barloworld was the only company that could offer a solution. They already had a proven innovation using the Hyster C1.5 VNA machine with a walk on platform and lattice gates on both sides" says Weager. "We trialled the concept at the Park Royal facility in London and now have three machines successfully operating there."
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