Pets at Home, the UK's leading specialist retailer of pet foods, pet-related products and accessories, has chosen Toyota Material Handling UK as its materials handling supplier at its new distribution centre in Northampton.

Pets at Home was established in 1991 and currently operates from over 290 stores. Due to continual business success, Pets at Home have recently opened a second distribution centre in Northampton.

Pets at Home has selected Toyota Material Handling UK to supply the trucks for its new operation. The fleet includes over 40 counterbalance and warehouse trucks including the highly productive Toyota Tonero engine-powered forklifts, BT Reflex reach trucks, BT Levio ride-on powered pallet trucks and BT Optio low-level order pickers.

The fleet features unique and innovative technologies that are designed to improve safety and productivity in the workplace. This includes Toyota's System of Active Stability (SAS) on counterbalance forklifts which constantly monitors forklift operations and automatically takes corrective action when it senses factors that could lead to truck or load instability, and the tilting cab on the reach trucks helps to reduce operator neck strain and fatigue.

Alan Billington, regional sales manager for Toyota, explains: "One of the key factors in Pets at Home's decision was that they needed visibility of their fleet so that they could effectively manage costs. All the trucks on-site are fitted with a Toyota Wireless Information System which collects and sends information straight from the truck to a central management system. This technology is part of our Toyota I_Site fleet management that gives customers the tools to control their materials handling fleet and proactively respond to any issues."

The Toyota I_Site fleet management system provides practical information for customers about their fleet. By monitoring, analysing and understanding this information, Toyota is able to help customers to get the best utilisation from their equipment helping to increase productivity and reduce costs, but also improve safety.

"Toyota I_Site fleet management will help Pets at Home to ensure that their fleet is always operating at the highest standard, helping to reduce costs. By working closely with Pets at Home, we have been able to specify the right equipment and service support for their growing operation" concludes Alan Billington.