Travis Perkins Plc is the largest supplier of buidling materials in the UK

The company includes some of the leading brands within the building and home improvement markets such as BSS Industrial, PTS, Keyline, City Plumbing Supplies, CCF, Wickes, Benchmarx, Tile Giant, Toolstation and, of course, Travis Perkins. The organisation has over 1,950 outlets across the UK.

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To manage the materials handling operations at its expanding BSS National Distribution center in Magna Park, Lutterworth. BSS is a leading distributor of heating, pipeline, process and mechanical services equipment to the building services and industrial sectors. Travis Perkins plc needed a replacement fleet of forklifts – a mix of VNA, electric counterbalance, reach and order picker trucks to operate on a 24 hours a day 5 days a week shift pattern.

Sarah Button, MHE Manager for Travis Perkins plc explained “We needed a supplier who understood our business and could help us improve our efficiency – particularly improving the already impressive BSS throughputs and service to our the BSS National branch network.”

The BSS National Distribution Centre is a narrow aisle operation allowing stacking and picking up to 10,300mm. Key products moved include all kinds of large plumbing parts, piping connections, central heating boilers and radiators. Linde installed the 26 mixed fleet over one weekend without any disturbance to the BSS operation. The new fleet consists of Linde K trucks, new V modular trucks, new R16 HD reach trucks, E16C counterbalance trucks and a T16 powered pallet truck.

Linde National Accounts worked hand in hand through the detailed tender process with Linde’s dedicated and highly experienced VNA team. Our combination of tailored assessments and the modular construction of our VNA trucks provided BSS with a bespoke design to meet the needs of their application, the Linde V truck also has the capacity to go higher than the previous supplier. The VNA trucks are all equipped with RFID ASA which allows us to map the truck’s operation in the warehouse. Due to the varying heights and widths of aisles in the warehouse the RFID automates the trucks to reduce damage to the warehouse infrastructure and the trucks themselves and also increases health and safety.

These trucks also include the innovative Linde tilting barrier. The tilting barrier reduces the clearance between the operator and the load in the racking by 100mm, but the ergonomic design of the barrier allows the operator to reach up to an additional 500mm into the load giving better access to cases at the back of a pallet and optimising the order picking process. To guarantee safety, the barrier only tilts when the truck is stationary, and in guided applications when the truck is operational in the aisle.

Sarah Button continues: “From start to finish I have been impressed with Linde’s approach, in particular the experience and knowledge of the VNA application and the flawless execution and delivery of the equipment. Linde have gone beyond just a supplier of equipment but have provided us with a solution that will really improve the efficiency of our business.”

Linde has worked closely with Travis Perkins plc to become more than just a supplier, but a materials handling partner. Linde took the time to understand the precise business needs of BSS throughout all stages of the tender process and with our team of experts we proposed a fleet of trucks designed to meet their business needs, including a unique after-sales support facility that fully supports the BSS 24/5 shift pattern.