The standard range of warehouse trolleys is not suitable for all users. No two warehouses are identical; their trolley requirements differ. A UK-based warehouse trolley manufacturer will supply made-to-order trolleys.
The competitive edge
Many retailers such as Joules and Crew Clothing have experienced a downturn in business in their high street shops. They have responded by increasing their e-commerce operations. The competition in online retail is strong, particularly in the garment industry. The businesses that are successful have great customer service, fast dispatch and few order processing errors.
An efficient warehouse depends on the best equipment, packing tables, shelving and trolleys. They use a trusted and reliable equipment supplier. Trolleys need to be made from tubular steel, designed or modified for particular product types, with strong casters that make them easy to push and steer.
Bespoke trolleys are a multi-person task
Your warehouse trolley supplier will have an in-house designer, but the best trolleys are not designed by just one person. Invite the designer to the warehouse to talk to both management and the staff that use trolleys every day.
A warehouse manager may already have an idea of what sort of trolley is needed. This does not have to be recorded in complex CAD software, a rough sketch is a good starting point – even a “back of an envelope” sketch is fine. The designer’s job is to take the sketch and refine it to form the design of a prototype warehouse trolley.
In other cases, the designer can simply observe the current warehouses processes and how items are manually handled, then suggest modifying an existing design. Sometimes all that is needed is to make a standard trolley in a custom size.
Trolleys come in a standard blue colour, but sometimes a business wants trolleys that match the brand colours. A warehouse trolley manufacturer will supply trolleys in a range of colours.
It is important to have a prototype trolley made for testing. The pickers should use the trolley for a few days and be encouraged to comment on what they feel about it, or how it could be modified.
Once the management and workers are happy with the prototype, and a quote is accepted for the cost of the job, the new trolleys are fabricated. A warehouse trolley supplier is used to making small batches of equipment, so minimum order quantities of bespoke trolleys are low. If a manufacturer does all the production of trolleys in-house, the cost of bespoke trolleys is kept down, and the amount spent could be recouped through the increased productivity the new trolleys create.
Durability
It is false economy to save money by buying cheap trolleys made from inferior materials. Trolleys should be made with tubular steel finished with powder-coated paint to make it rust and scratch-resistant. Tubular steel is lightweight and strong to make trolleys that last
Wheels and casters need to be well made and efficient, with wheels that won’t mark floors and casters that easily turn to make steering easy.
Steely Products is a warehouse trolleys supplier you can trust. If you’d like to learn more about us, use our form below and we’ll be in touch.
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