Donald Murray Paper, Scotland's leading paper merchant, has upgraded its fleet of warehouse trucks by replacing narrow aisle stacker/order pickers from Atlet with the latest Omni DCR model from the same supplier. The new trucks were selected because they offered the increased performance,

efficiency and reliability that Donald Murray Paper needs to maintain an edge in this demanding and competitive market. The deployment of the new trucks extends a relationship between the two companies which started more than 17 years ago.

"We tend to be a bit more demanding of all our suppliers," says Tom Slater, Warehouse and Distribution Manager at Donald Murray Paper. "Atlet takes the time to understand our business and the service our customers expect from us. They are very responsive to our needs. It's the strength of the relationship which swayed our decision."

Part of PaperCo, the UK operation of the global Paperlinx group, Donald Murray Paper (DMP) has its headquarters and main warehouse in Glasgow with other facilities in Bristol, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Belfast which enable it to supply customers throughout the British Isles. Key to the company's success is its policy of holding vast stocks for immediate off-the-shelf delivery. This releases DMP's customers from the burden of inventory investment while enabling them to call-off orders when needed, often on a just-in-time basis.

The 66,000 sq ft warehouse on the western edge of Glasgow city centre serves an area extending from Carlisle to Inverness. Narrow aisle racking up to 9.4m high provides optimum storage for almost 15,000 pallet locations holding nearly 6000 stock lines. Almost three quarters of orders, from a single ream of paper to multiple pallet loads, are delivered the same day with many customers in the immediate Glasgow area taking advantage of DMP's unique 60 minute service. A recent innovation is an evening and late night delivery service. This was introduced to meet demand from local printers who wanted to extend their own services by offering overnight turnaround. DMP now offers deliveries between 6pm and midnight which is something that its competitors cannot do.

"Business is more competitive so we need to be more efficient and

innovative," says Tom Slater. "Same day delivery is probably the most important part of business and what makes us different. Everybody can supply product but it's all about how you deliver service."

In such a busy environment, with competition from other suppliers, the ability to handle stock in and out of the warehouse is critical to the business. DMP has always invested in the equipment and facilities that enable it to innovate and offer improved services to its customers. The company selected four of the latest Atlet Omni DCR narrow aisle combination stacker/order picker trucks to replace four similar units as part of its ongoing procurement programme.

The new trucks offer significant advantages over the earlier model which had been in use at the Glasgow warehouse for some years. For example, the new trucks have a higher performance rating and the battery capacity has been increased which means more demanding work is possible over DMP's ten hour shifts. Downtime is kept to an absolute minimum by the Omni DCR's energy-efficient regenerative electronics system, which returns charge to the battery when the truck brakes and the rising cab is lowered. This extends the operation time between battery charges. The increased efficiency meant there was no need for spare batteries which saved on costs and freed up space for other tasks in charging and changing facilities. The motors are now AC as standard which promotes improved performance and reliability compared with the DC alternative.

"Uptime is critical to us and with these trucks we are seeing around five per cent less down time," says Tom Slater. "They are even more reliable than the old ones."

The latest Omni DCR also incorporates subtle design changes which help improve operations in the warehouse. For example, with the previous models the task of lifting and rotating the forks to handle a pallet in and out of the racking was a two handed operation. But on the new model the on-board computer can be programmed to synchronise and control the operation with one hand in a smooth and continuous movement. This reduces the overall handling time but also helps minimise the risk of damage to load, racking and truck.

The on-board computer also has more fault finding and self diagnostic capabilities. This includes, for example, displaying information on the truck's built-in console screen so that warehouse supervisors can describe a problem when reporting a fault. Engineers can then predict the most likely fix before they arrive on site so that the truck can be repaired in the shortest possible time.

The warehouse stocks a vast array of items including packed sheet paper, large format sheets, plastic and foam board, aluminium board and specialist items used by graphic designers and sign-makers. Items may be free stock, held customer-owned stock or unpaid stock allocated to a specific customer, enabling DMP to offer a complete range of services matched to its clients' operations and business requirements. The objective in the warehouse is to get orders out of the door as soon as possible and everything is geared towards this. There is no minimum order and the same level of service is provided for all customers. Same day delivery can mean within an hour.

In addition to its four Omni DCRs, DMP also has seven Atlet TP Select low level order pickers, an Atlet OPM medium level order picker and four counterbalance trucks. This fleet provides the wide ranging handling and picking capabilities needed for speed and efficiency. Many of the loads in the warehouse are on the SRA1/2 pallets used extensively in the paper industry. For complete flexibility all pallet handling trucks have been equipped with adjustable forks so that they can work with any load.

Goods arriving from suppliers are offloaded into the low bay area where they are checked and labelled before being handled to the high bay and other storage areas. In the high bay warehouse busy lines are stored at the ends of the aisles so that they can be picked in the shortest possible time. Seventy per cent of picking is completed from ground level using the seven Atlet low level order pickers. These have been supplied with a rising platform which allows items to be picked from ground, first and second level pick faces.

The four Atlet Omni DCRs operate wire guided in the high bay narrow aisle warehouse where they are used for a variety of pallet handling and order picking tasks. The trucks are worked hard and fast to support the depot's round the clock, three shift operation. Each operates for up to ten hours a day completing around 24 pallet movements/order picks per hour.

Orders picked during daytime tend to involve more items whereas orders processed during the evening, including those for late night delivery, tend to be smaller in number but heavier in total. This is partly because items picked for overnight delivery and trunking to the company's other sites are picked later in the day. Under these circumstances a degree of flexibility is required. Inventory is managed using a combination of RF equipment for goods inward tasks and paper-based order picking.

Picked items are handled to the centre aisle -where there is more space for stacking - ready for collection and transfer to the low bay area for order assembly and despatch. During busy periods and when rapid delivery is required items can be handled directly to the low bay warehouse for the fastest possible despatch. The majority of the loading bays are reserved for despatch so that orders can be sent out as soon as they are ready. To prevent delays, any available truck can be used for loading.

Atlet service engineers visit the site regularly to carry out routine checks and maintenance tasks. They can normally be on site the same day in the event of an unscheduled outage. The information provided by the trucks' onboard diagnostic facilities and Atlet's approach to service and support means that the majority of problems can be resolved during the first visit.

"Atlet is more concerned with life of the truck rather than the sale of the truck," says Tom Slater. "Service is critical because it can make or break the relationship."

DMP will continue to invest and innovate. Parent company PaperCo is streamlining its businesses with DMP taking on more delivery and fulfilment roles. In addition to the new trucks for Glasgow, DMP has recently taken delivery of a fleet from Atlet at its Bristol warehouse which has been expanded as part of the company's ongoing investment. The performance and reliability of the trucks in Glasgow were key factors in the decision. This will also reduce the amount of trunking required between the two sites, freeing resources for other customer-facing services.