When Home Base of Irvine, Calif. decided to introduce its House2Home superstore retail concept, it wanted to create an in-store environment to dramatically display products. Tall shelving, it was determined, would serve as dividing walls, making for a great backdrop for displayed products. The shelving also would store extra inventory.

But Home Base had to overcome the difficulties and safety issues of storing and retrieving inventory from tall shelving and to do so in an environment benefiting both employees and customers. A specially designed aerial lift platform with ultrasound sensors proved to be the solution to these issues.

Large rolling ladders have been used in tall shelving layouts. But they consume large floor space areas, are difficult to store when not in use, and are hard to move through narrow aisles. Employees have to climb up and down the ladders, and then risk tripping or dropping merchandise. What's more, ladders are a dangerous temptation to customers when they are left unattended.

An electric-powered, vertical personnel lift appeared to be the solution. But one drawback had to be overcome for this equipment to work for House2Home superstores: The risk that as an elevated worker started to descend, he might not see a customer, coworker, or merchandise beneath the lift platform and thus might strike the person or object.

House2Home contacted an aerial work platform manufacturer about its safety concerns. After months of development and testing, the manufacturer demonstrated a self-propelled vertical personnel lift with a unique obstruction sensing system for the retailer.

Using six ultrasonic transducers mounted on the underside of the aerial platform, the sensing system transmits sound waves and then reads the echoes. If an obstruction is within the detection zone, lowering of the platform stops until the obstruction is removed.

House2Home initially ordered five of these lift units for use in five test store locations in late 2000. The company purchased another 18 lift units after finding the first five units to be productive and beneficial. More units have been ordered for use in 42 new stores House2Home will open in the near future.

The sensing system is mounted on a personnel lift with a 21-ft working height and a 500-lb platform capacity. Its platform measures 28 x 48 inches.

The lift units ordered by House2Home have a stock picker platform feature. When used with proper personal protection equipment, employees can fold back the front side of the platform railing so they can replenish or retrieve stock. Heavy merchandise doesn't need to be lifted over a railing with this feature. Instead, it can be slid on or off the platform. This option greatly reduces the potential for back strain from lifting heavy objects.

Working with this personnel lift manufacturer "has been great," says Bill Garcia, fleet/delivery manager for House2Home. "We knew what we wanted for overhead access." The company developed it. "And now," adds Garcia, "it's the only piece of motorized equipment that we allow on the floor of any House2Home facility." The lift unit "saves us time and contributes more to team member and customer safety than any other piece of equipment we own."

JLG Industries
717-485-5161
www.jlg.com