Amazon has ordered a fleet of six Flexi Truck articulated forklift trucks for its DXB3 fulfillment centre in Dubai Logistics City, UAE.
The e-commerce site launched in the UAE in May 2019 and, spread over 32,700 square metres and stocked with more than 4 million products, the DXB3 site is Amazon’s largest fulfillment centre facility in the country with in excess of 650 staff employed there.
Amazon’s new Flexi Trucks feature digital electric motor technology that allows all independent drive, hydraulic and unique power-steering motor functions to be controlled digitally – ensuring the most productive, energy-efficient and safe driving performance throughout the working day.
The control systems at the heart of the Flexis deliver higher productivity combined with significantly reduced operating and maintenance costs, while the trucks’ VNA functionality and ability to work both inside and outside the building, make it the ideal choice for Amazon’s UAE operation.
Operational efficiency at the Dubai facility is further enhanced thanks to an integrated lead-acid battery charging solution that dramatically reduces Amazon’s overall energy consumption.
Featuring ‘call-forward’ alert technology to identify the most appropriate fully charged battery when a change is due, the charge system allows Amazon to operate with only two batteries per truck on a three shift usage pattern to minimise materials handling fleet running costs.
Flexi Trucks are manufactured in the UK by Narrow Aisle Ltd. International sales account for some 40 percent of Narrow Aisle’s business and a global network of partners provides a full range of after sales support services to Flexi Truck users in some 63 countries worldwide.
Narrow Aisle Ltd’s managing director, John Maguire, commented: “The Flexi Truck’s iconic articulated design is ideally suited to the modern fulfillment centre operation.
“To achieve optimum online order fulfillment performance it is important to deploy the most suitable materials handling equipment and the Flexi Truck articulated forklift-based intralogistics solution delivers hugely improved productivity and increased safety for warehouse staff as they carry out a range of picking duties at both lower levels and at height within warehouse aisles.
“Furthermore, the Flexi’s ability to work in very narrow aisles means 30% more pallet and shelving locations can be designed into storage systems compared with traditional wide aisle operations.”