Making space work better

Struggling for warehouse space? We find out more about how Combilift can optimise your available warehouse capacity, as well as provide the handling solutions to help your business run more efficiently.

Demand for warehouse space continues to outstrip supply according to industrial and logistics property expert, Colliers.

The situation is particularly acute in certain hotspots such as London, the home counties and locations in the midlands near major motorway networks. The continued high level of online sales – 26% of total UK retail sales in March 2022 – is said to be a key contributing factor to lack of available space. This will also have a knock-on effect on manufacturers who may have been looking to expand storage capacity.

‘Improving not moving’ could therefore be the answer to warehouse woes – assuming you know where to start with what can be a daunting task. Materials handling specialist, Combilift, has over two decades of experience in helping companies of all sizes and from varied industries maximise the capacity, safety and efficiency of their warehouse and storage facilities.

A team of 10 design engineers at Combilift work on this popular, free of charge service, and provide diagrams showing how a warehouse can be configured according to the capabilities of the company’s products – according to Combilift, this process can double the amount of available space.

Combilift developed the world’s first IC powered 3-wheel, all-wheel drive, multidirectional forklift in 1998 and has since grown to become the largest worldwide supplier of customised and specialist handling solutions, exporting to 85 countries.

But as CEO and co-founder Martin McVicar points out: “We have always seen Combilift as much more than a designer and manufacturer of forklifts and other handling solutions. Space is one of the most valuable assets our customers possess, and if our trucks can make it work better for them in terms of storage density then everyone benefits.

“The ongoing demand for warehouse space coupled with ever rising business costs means that space optimisation is now more important than ever,” continued Martin. “Additional benefits of course also include avoiding the operational headache for management and the workforce of relocating to new premises, the lack of bureaucracy associated with new builds or extensions and leasing extra offsite storage.”

One company that let Combilift do the hard work for them was Farrell Furniture, and this company’s experience is just as relevant for companies in the glass, glazing and fenestration sector that want their current premises to work at optimum capacity.

Farrell’s joint CEO, Brendan Farrell, said: “We were using a 3t conventional counterbalance truck which wasn’t overly efficient and Combilift took a wholly different approach from other companies that want to sell you something – I’d call it more solution based.

“We gave them the plans of the warehouse, the dimensions of the sheet materials, the sizes of the crates of veneer and aluminium that we use in production. They came back with detailed plans that showed us how using one of their trucks could make a massive difference to the management of our space.

“So, before we had even decided to go with their products, they had proved to us that we could generate over 30% more valuable storage in our warehouse – which was a pretty persuasive argument and a refreshing attitude as to how to get customers on side!

“Our premises are around 100,000 ft², with as little as possible – just 15,000 ft² – being given over to storage,” continued Brendan. “The warehouse is the same size as it was when we got our first Combilift – 150ft x 60ft – but over the last few years we have quadrupled in growth.

“This is testimony to how Combilift’s original layouts future-proofed us,” he concluded. “For any company experiencing growth or increased volumes of stock, I’d recommend talking to Combilift first before they even think of moving or building new facilities – they could potentially save themselves a lot of money and hassle.

“Getting help from the experts to improve the performance of our warehouse was an absolute eye opener.”