Nissan Italy established its headquarters in Capena, located on the Via Tiberina in the province of Rome, to respond effectively and promptly to the needs relating to the sales and distribution of automotive spare parts for the Italian market. Italy is the Japanese brand's third largest market in Europe: a growing market means a growing demand for spare parts and an increase in expectations in terms of service and storage capacity.

The Nissan Italy distribution headquarters in Capena is the main distribution center for spare parts for the automotive industry at a national level. The warehouse’s spare parts come from either the two European production plants in Spain and the UK, or from Japan transiting through the Amsterdam and Barcelona warehouses. Active since 1988, the spare parts center is a service area that covers 10,000 square meters, of which 7,500 are operational, and it handles roughly 6,000 lines per day.

The storage level of the center is complex: Nissan uses warehouses that are 6 meters high where thousands of parts are stored, each with a bar code and radio frequency. In 2014 the spare parts distribution center handled as much as 1,369,000 order lines in output, totaling almost 92,000 shipments. Every day the warehouse handles roughly 200 orders for shipments to 16 dealers simultaneously, and manages them through circa 50 lines. The references managed in total are approximately 35,000: the warehouse is divided by spare part type based on weight, size and volume, and the codes with the highest movement frequency are located near areas at operating height. The spare parts, albeit of different weights and sizes, move in standard wooden crates made in three sizes; they’re 2.3 meters deep and range from 70 cm to 2.5 meters in height. This depository solution allows storage of very large components, such as sheet metal, within the same crates.

The warehouse personnel was closely involved in the collection phase so as to find the best solution for the moving requirements when handling small and medium size stocked spare parts.

Logic and logistics of the Yale brand
The collaboration between Nissan Italy and Yale dates back to 2002 when the dealer Antonelli Carrelli Elevatori Srl, based in Rome, won the contract bid for the maintenance of the existing fleet of trucks, made up of 43 machines from different suppliers. The partnership was the prelude to a long commercial collaboration which, in 2005, saw the first delivery of Yale forklift trucks: four MO10-43. Antonelli’s professional approach bore fruit, especially in the face of the competition’s attempts to get back into the market, and in the following two years Nissan Italy increased its fleet, initially by purchasing another eight MO10-43models, then two ERP16AAF forklifts, an MS15X stacker and two MP20XD platform pallet trucks.

Customer needs above all: a winning strategy
In 2011 Nissan Italy decided to renovate the entire fleet with full-service formula, so the Company started searching for the best partner capable of responding to this particular need. In spite of the competitors Antonelli once again proved to be the right choice: "I decided to adopt a rather simple strategy: when you are numerically weak, it makes sense to avoid direct conflict and to move the challenge onto more congenial grounds," says Cristiano Antonelli, from Yale Roma dealership. “I suggested to Nissan Italy innovative formulas to renovate the fleet. The company, a very forward-thinking decided to adopt them”. The participants to the competitive bid were asked to take over the entire fleet and replace it with other machinery, including some new machinery, while maintaining the recent purchase of 17 machines. Out of all the suppliers only two were left, including Antonelli. The Rome dealer proposed a buy-back value of the trucks tailored to suit Nissan Italy’s needs. An offer that met Nissan Italy needs: Antonelli bought the entire package at a price that was most convenient for the client and then provided 7 MO AND AC and 3 ERP 16VT newly produced trucks to replace the older machines, thus keeping a total of 43 trucks in use. "This is the Nissan story, - concludes Christian - a story of August nights spent thinking of a winning strategy”.

Thanks to the flexibility of the renting and sales of commercial proposals, including used products, Yale provides solutions tailored to suit every company, with a primary emphasis on the client’s needs.

Today Antonelli Carrelli Elevatori, Yale's exclusive distributor for the ​​Rome area, provides service and maintenance twice a week at the Nissan Italy headquarters for the rented fleet of trucks, including the high and medium level storing machinery and electric and frontal platform pallet trucks.

ANTONELLI Carrelli Elevatori
Antonelli Carrelli Elevatori’s mission today is the same that inspired its founder Nicola Antonelli in 1967: passion, method, commitment. For almost fifty years now its aim is to meet the needs of industrial handling and warehouse logics with professionalism and propriety. As exclusive Yale distributor for Rome and surrounding areas, it offers short and long term rental services, training courses for truck operating personnel, technical assistance, genuine parts supplies, organizational and management consulting for every aspect regarding Industrial Logistics.