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ANCILLARY AIDS TO PRODUCTIVITY continued
Page 76
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The Aerola system aids Brooke Bond tea deliveries
UROM the distribution warehouse attached to the Brooke Bond tea factory at Redbourn, Herts., pallet loads of tea are dispatched to distribution points in East Anglia and the Midlands, involving round trips of up to 200 miles daily. The + lb. tea packets, in 6 lb. paper parcels, are formed into pallet loads weighing about 15 cwt.
All the vehicles at Redbourn are equipped with USI tailboard loaders which greatly speed up vehicle turn-round times. My visit, however, was to view the Duramin Aerola system, installed in an 84-ton Foden van. The system utilizes retractable roller tracks let into the vehicle floor to fit standard pallet frames and I was interested to meet transport manager Mr. T. J. Bird and driver Terry Newton, who has driven the Aerola-equipped vehicle for the past year.
Both expressed themselves as well satisfied with the equipment, which had worked perfectly. I checked for myself that a loaded pallet could be moved without difficulty once the initial inertia was overcome. Terry told me the equipment needs care when off-loading on a pronounced slope, though floor locking devices in the floor roller channels are fitted as a safeguard; they also protect the load if the driver should inadvertently travel with the rollers in the loading position.
Two rollers had become detached from one train, I noticed, but pallet movement was not seriously affected. There was also a little wear visible on the light alloy channels. Regular cleaning of the roller housings is, of course, necessary.
Terry Newton told mc that two men could easily load or offload the vehicle in + hour. During my visit—perhaps because the warehouse finished early on Friday13 loaded pallets were put on the vehicle in much less time than that.
The occasional worn or broken pallet can cause difficulty with any system; a proud screw-head on a rubbing strip snatched a pallet during my visit, but the load of tea survived intact.