load protection storage l


The handling of fragile loads by forklift can lead to breakages. However, a load cushion from Jayline can make a dramatic difference, as retailers such as Bargain Booze are finding out.


Damage limitation U


nfortunately, it is all too easy for fragile loads to suffer when they are picked up and set down either within racking or on


to a delivery vehicle by lift trucks. Forklift operators – often with tight schedules to meet – rarely take the care they should when picking up or depositing pallet loads - their sole aim is often to get pallets shifted in the time window allowed and breakages are often the result.


Of course, apart from the cost involved, damage to palletised loads can become a source of conflict between suppliers and their customers. And anecdotal evidence suggests that, since the introduction of regulations that require UK companies to recycle or reprocesses the packaging used to contain the finished products they manufacture or sell, companies have cut back on the amount of packaging they use to protect their products and this has led to a sharp increase in the amount of losses from stock damaged as it travels through the supply chain.


For example, one of Britain’s premier off licence and convenience store chains – Bargain Booze – saw a sharp upturn in breakages and stock damage at its national Distribution Centre following the introduction of the packaging waste regulations. “The new packaging rules led many of our suppliers to cut back on the amount of packaging they use during the transit of their products,” explains Graham Woods, Bargain Booze’s operations manager.


“Pallet loads of bottles and canned drinks are easily broken and if one bottle or can is smashed or split on a pallet the liquid contents spills out and can ruin a significant percentage of the entire load – thereby multiplying the cost.”


The solution


Companies like Bargain Booze have been able to reduce the costs that they


incur through stock damage caused by inadequate product packaging by fitting a newly developed load cushion to the forks of counterbalanced trucks operating at its NDC.


Made in the UK from heavy duty moulded rubber, the patented protectors fit to the rear face of a fork lift truck’s forks and absorb the impact of an incoming load. Quite simply, they provide a cushioned barrier between the load and the back of the forks. As the pallet is picked up, the protector prevents the load from hitting the truck’s forks or the fork carriage with sufficient force to cause damage to the load.


In Bargain Booze’s case, the load protectors have virtually eliminated stock damage within the NDC. “The load protectors have saved us literally thousands of pounds,” says Graham Woods. “The return on our investment was almost instant. It is a very simple solution, but innovation does not need to be complex and we have not seen anything like the protectors on the market that addresses the problem of palletised load damage so neatly and cost effectively.”


Available in a choice of sizes to fit 4” (105mm),5” (130mm), 6” (160mm) and 8” (200mm) forks, the protectors – which are manufactured in the UK by Cotswolds-based Jayline Products Ltd – are suitable for use with a wide range of materials handling equipment, including counterbalanced and warehouse trucks and are quickly fitted using a simple yet robust strapping system.


Damage = cost


Another company with completely different handling needs to Bargain Booze and for whom product packaging is not an issue, is Bunkabin. Bunkabin is the UK’s leading supplier of on-site facility units. The company’s Bunkabin range includes various purpose-built sleeping


accommodation cabins as well as toilet


and shower facilities which are hired to a wide range of customers from events organisers to construction sites. The cabins are built at Bunkabins’ purpose built factory in the north west and hire stock is held at a 10 acre yard at the same site. Another open storage facility near Luton offers additional space and serves customers south of the midlands.


With dimensions similar to a typical cargo container and weighing some two tonnes, the cabins are made from steel which is laminate coated to ensure a smart exterior finish. They are designed to be handled by lift truck and feature ‘pockets’ near their base into which a lift truck’s forks can slide. Unfortunately, if the fork lift truck operators do not show sufficient care when handling the cabins, the walls can be dented and the laminate coating scratched, leaving the units looking tired and in need of repair within a short space of time. “Our cabins are delivered directly to a customer’s site by wagon and are loaded on to vehicles by a fleet of Nissan counterbalanced forklifts,” explains the company’s transport manager, Andy Seddon


"We had a problem with damage caused by the lift trucks as they handled cabins around our site and loaded them on to trailers. The damage done is only cosmetic – dents and scratches in the steel do not affect the structural stability of the cabins – but the scratches look unsightly and the units have to go back to the factory to be made good before they can be re-hired.”


Bunkabin has, in Andy Seddon’s words, “all but eliminated” the damage problem by fitting Jayline Products’ innovative load cushions to the carriages of their lift trucks."


"Our simple device is helping a wide range of companies eliminate stock damage from their supply chain,” says Jayline’s Peter Kimberley. It is a simple solution to an old problem, but simple solutions are often the best. ● www.jaylineproducts.co.uk


www.PressOnShD.com October 2011 ShD 67


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