UK Retailer, John Lewis sells a range of products of various shapes and sizes, presenting an interesting challenge for its warehousing operations. To help maximise storage space, Hyster, with UK distribution partner Barloworld Handling, was the only company able to offer a VNA handling solution that gives John Lewis staff the flexibility to work with walk on racking at heights of over ten metres.

John Lewis, the UK’s largest department store, typically stocks approximately 350,000 separate product lines from its 29 shops, and has a growing online business. With a range spanning electrical, gifts and toys through to garments, beauty and home and garden, the size and shape of the products presents several storage challenges.

“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 ten metres 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.

“Hyster was the only company that could offer a solution” says Ted. “They already had a proven innovation with its VNA and walk on platform. We trialled the concept in London and now have three Hyster C1.5 VNA trucks successfully operating there”.

Hyster’s VNA has a mast strong enough to handle a 3 metre long metal cage and a load of 800kg, allowing a full load to be transported forward or backwards while simultaneously lifting or lowering.

In 2009, John Lewis opened a new warehouse in Avonmouth, UK, and due to the success in London, 3 Hyster VNA C1.5L order picking machines are now used. “We have maximised storage space and spent only a quarter of what we would otherwise have invested on cranes” he says.

The VNAs operate using wire guidance in aisles only 1.7 metres wide with the lattice gates opening a full 2.7 metres giving a two man team walk-on access to the racking. “At ten metres, the cage feels incredibly stable with minimum movement, giving the team an enclosed environment in which to pick and put away stock” he adds.

Hyster P2.0 pallet trucks are also used in the facility together with a Hyster Matrix reach truck with carpet boom and excellent local service support is provided by Hyster’s distribution partner, Barloworld Handling.