Laithwaite’s Wine looks beyond the truck to maximise efficiency

Laithwaite’s Wine began in 1969 with just one man – Tony Laithwaite. LindeMaterialHandling_120_03LindeMaterialHandling_120_05Tony had a passion for wine and wanted to share quality goods with friends and family. Forty years on, and Laithwaite’s Wine delivers wine directly to more than 700,000 customers, and Tony’s ethos is evident through every aspect of the business today.

Its main hub of activity takes place in a 178,000ft², purpose-built warehouse in Gloucester, within close proximity of the ports. The bulk storage in the warehouse stores 16,500 pallets in racking, reaching 14 metres high. To help the business deliver quality wine, on time, to customers’ doorsteps, Linde recommended a fleet of 38 trucks including powered pallet, reach, counterbalance and K trucks.

Last year Laithwaite’s Wine acquired eight of the new K trucks just before the Christmas peak. Team Leader, Mike McFarlene, has been impressed with the results, saying, “Christmas is exceptionally busy for us here at Laithwaite’s Wine and efficiency is essential. The new K trucks achieved 100% uptime throughout October to December and we’ve seen an increase in productivity by up to six pallets per hour. This has really made a difference to helping us meet our customers’ demands.”

T 0845 608 5000
www.linde-mh.co.uk