Stickley, a furniture manufacturer based in Manlius, N.Y., has been creating heirloom-quality pieces for more than a century. Pride of craftsmanship is a cornerstone of their thriving business, so if furniture gets damaged in the warehouse, it matters.

And, although it didn't happen often, damage happened enough for the Stickley family to investigate another materials handling solution and make the move to a wire-guided very narrow aisle (VNA) system.

Furniture in the warehouse would be damaged by the platform of a lift truck, due to the truck's inability to travel down an aisle without swaying back and forth. If an operator traveled too quickly, the truck's rocking motion between its rail guides was enough to increase the possibility of coming into contact with furniture in storage locations.

At the same time, Stickley's fleet of rail-guided orderpickers was breaking down too often, with the truck's poor condition exacerbated by wear inflicted by the rails.

The Stickleys chose new orderpickers that feature a no-tune guidance system, with trucks that automatically pick up and learn the wire frequency without need for adjustment. In addition, it provides a smoother transition from manual to guided operation.

Stickley runs platforms on its trucks, so they're 4 feet longer than traditional orderpickers. And, they operate with about 5 inches of clearance on each side of the aisle between the furniture and the racks. Even with the extra load and little room for error, Stickley found the new wire-guided orderpicker to run straight and true.

Now operators can move faster without fear of causing damage, resulting in greater efficiency and improved productivity.

The Raymond Corporation 607-656-2311 www.raymondcorp.com