Processing more than 2,000 orders a day for its portable spas, Watkins Manufacturing, Vista, Calif., quickly outgrew its manufacturing center and built a new one to keep up with increasing demand. Just as important, the company wanted to maximize floor space devoted to manufacturing activities, and minimize space for storage of spa components and finished goods.

The result is a single facility that includes a 110,000 square foot warehouse with high-density, very narrow aisle storage. A fleet of very narrow aisle (VNA) trucks stores and retrieves items as needed.

"Maximizing space utilization in our new facility has allowed us to store more components in less space and reach new production and efficiency goals," says Damian Leal, warehouse manager for Watkins. "We opted for a unique man-up orderpicking/stacking forklift that allows our operators to accurately store pallet loads and easily fill production orders."

All of the components needed for the following day's orders are retrieved from the warehouse by the 61-inch wide trucks, and delivered to the production line at night. These parts range from small electrical resistors to complete pump/motor assemblies. Retrieval is expedited by a rack design that allows storage locations to be accessed from either side of the rack.

In addition to retrieving components for production, the trucks also move completed spas to shipping areas. Since the upgrade to the new facility and new trucks, the company, which previously had 20 people supporting the fleet, now requires only 11, redeploying the others to different positions in the company.

Also at night, the facility conducts cycle counts to monitor the exact number of parts available in the storage locations. All the trucks are man-up, which is helpful in making cycle counts.

"Without the man-up feature, each forklift operator would have to pull the parts from storage, count them and then restore them," Leal explains. "I am happy to say that we are operating at a 98% accuracy rate on our daily cycle counts."

All trucks handle up to 3,000 pounds and travel at top speeds of 6.5 miles per hour and lift speeds of 82 feet per minute. They also have a maximum turning radius of 98.3 inches for mobility. The cab provides unobstructed views of the forks, load and aisle, while offering safety bars and a foot guard for the operator's protection.

With a new manufacturing facility in place and thanks to the new fleet of lift trucks, Watkins is able to keep pace with a business that continues to improve. "And there are no signs of slowing," concludes Leal.