For many small to medium-sized warehouse operations, it can be challenging to find equipment that improves efficiency but doesn’t break the bank or require specialized training. That was the dilemma that faced coffee roaster and distributor Baronet Coffee when it moved its operations to a 50,000-square-foot facility in Windsor, Connecticut. The company, a fourth-generation family-owned and -operated business, has moved several times since its founding in 1930. But this time it ran into a hitch: The large forklifts it was accustomed to using were creating pain points in the new facility.
Specifically, the narrow aisles and high shelving at the new site made it difficult for the company’s forklift trucks to maneuver through the warehouse. Plus, those big, bulky forklifts required operators with specialized training. And while the warehouse has some 35 employees, not all of them had the necessary credentials—which left the operation vulnerable to staffing shortages and bottlenecks.
So Baronet Coffee launched a search for a flexible, low-cost truck that could maneuver in small spaces and would be easy for team members to operate. For help with the selection process, it tapped Big Joe Forklifts, a Downers Grove, Illinois-based company that makes electric lift trucks.
LOW COST, HIGH FLEXIBILITY
The company found what it wanted in Big Joe’s PDSR, an AC walkie reach stacker with power steering that offers a 3,000-pound lift capacity and can reach heights of up to 189 inches. What makes this model ideal for the Baronet Coffee warehouse is the combination of a tight turning radius, low operating cost, and flexibility.
The PDSR uses a pantograph, which is a mechanism that extends the loads being handled beyond the straddle legs to lift or lower products and can be retracted for compact turns. The PDSR also features power steering, side shift, proportional hydraulics, and tilt, which allows operators to reach and side-shift within the narrow racking and in pass-through racking as well.
“Being able to manipulate that pallet, to put it exactly where we need it, has been [a huge plus for the operation],” explained Chase Martin, process engineer at Baronet Coffee, in a video. “The walk-behind truck gives workers the flexibility to go up high or down low or even into the middle of the racking and move product around very easily and safely.”
THE RIGHT FIT
After one day on the job, Baronet Coffee knew the PDSR was the right fit.
“Big Joe’s PDSR really fit the niche really well for us, Martin said in the video. “It’s a unit that isn’t as big as a forklift, and we don’t need people that are certified to drive it. But it does all of the things that we need it to do—getting up high, reaching, tilting side, shifting—to make our day-to-day order picking easier. From an operational standpoint, this is definitely a big success for us.”
Mike Vilarino, business integration manager at Baronet Coffee, agrees, adding that one of the lift truck’s biggest strengths is its ease of use. “People definitely gravitate toward the Big Joe PDSR. It’s very easy to just grab the truck, [go] out on the aisle, pick what you need, and get out of there,” Vilarino said in the video. “The PDSR is a huge value to Baronet due to the fact that the training requirements for operators are minimal—we’re able to get people up to speed very, very fast, and they’re able to perform their job duties in a timely and safe manner.”
