Emtec introduces JCB Teletruk technology26 November 2018

Louvres and acoustic products manufacturer Emtec has introduced JCB Teletruk technology, improving operational efficiency by freeing up outside space at its High Wycombe-based production and distribution facility.

The outdoor area at Emtec’s site is constricted, so the loading yard doubles up as the staff car park. This means that prior to the Teletruk’s arrival, the company was often forced to ask personnel to remove their cars from the car park if a trailer-load of goods arrived at the site during office hours.

Comments Emtec products’ operations manager Tim Wright: “We attempted to schedule deliveries before 08.00 and after 17.30 – before the majority of staff arrive for the day and after they have gone home in the evening – when the yard/car park is empty, but, of course, this is not always possible.

“Quite simply, with an average trailer measuring some 2.5 metres wide, unloading or loading with a standard two tonne counterbalanced forklift truck required all of our available yard space to allow the lift truck to manoeuvre safely around the vehicle to load or retrieve pallets, so we frequently had little option but to ask staff to move their vehicles. This, as you can imagine, caused considerable irritation as well as no little disruption to the working day.”

Switching from a counterbalanced forklift to Teletruk technology has provided the solution to Emtec’s problem. With telescopic reach, the Teletruk can access curtainsided trailers from just one side and, with a Teletruk, a curtainsider requires a width of just six metres within which to be loaded or unloaded.

Now, trailers arriving at Emtec’s High Wycombe site park up to be processed by the Teletruk against a side wall in an area of the yard where no cars are left. The space would previously have been too narrow for a counterbalanced machine.

Furthermore, the gas-powered Teletruk loads or unloads each delivery in around 30 minutes, allowing Emtec to complete more trailer turnarounds at the start and end of each day.

Adds JCB’s Teletruk general manager, Paul Murray: “The Teletruk’s functionality means the area required to load and unload goods at Emtec’s site has been greatly reduced. By introducing a single JCB Teletruk, Emtec has optimised the exterior floorspace available at its site and, as a result, deliveries do not disturb staff from their daily routines.

“A great deal of thought and planning goes into the internal design and layout of a warehouse or storage facility, but the efficient use of outside space is frequently overlooked.

“But this is changing as more and more warehouse operators and third party logistics and fulfilment specialists switch on to the importance of optimising every square metre of a site’s external capacity.”

Adam Offord

Related Companies
Emtec Products Ltd
JCB Heavy Products Ltd

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