The Material Handling Blog

Whilst many food service businesses are in the process of returning to work, there has been much to consider and think about whilst planning the reopening and adapting of their food business during the pandemic. Having to plan the implementation of important guidance from the government, and put into place any procedures to reduce the risk of infection as much as possible. Conversely, for those businesses that use materials handling equipment, there are added challenges concerning health and safety; and equipment availability due to changes in demand.

The world of materials handling and logistics is constantly changing, but at the moment, things are more uncertain than ever.  The COVID-19 crisis began at the start of the year, but already it’s caused huge changes to manufacturing, consumer buying habits and ways of working. On top of all this, the UK’s approaching withdrawal from the European Union continues to create uncertainty for businesses on both sides of the channel, especially those that move components or finished goods between the two markets.

Christmas has finally arrived, and the busiest time of the year for many businesses has come to an end.

At their European distribution centre in Belgium, Skechers uses a fleet of 169 UniCarriers trucks to manage their materials handling in their 118,000m² warehouse and ship out thousands of customer orders every day.

The UK is scheduled to leave the EU at 11pm UK time on Friday, 29 March 2019, although if all 28 EU members agree it can be postponed.  As a business, do you want to postpone your materials handling operation?  

Even if your warehouse operation is running smoothly and you’re happy with your forklift fleet, there can still be times when you need a little extra help to meet peaks in demand. Short term forklift hire is often used by logistics professionals to make these busy periods easier, but there’s also plenty of great reasons to hire trucks for short periods even at quieter times of the year.