Gray & Adams opens a new door to increased efficiency for Heron Foods

Fast-growing retailer Heron Foods turned to the UK’s leading manufacturer of temperature-controlled road transport equipment to help it meet the operational challenge posed by the changing profile of its business.

As with all of Heron Foods’ trailers, the interiors have two longitudinal lanes configured in an approximate one-third/two-thirds width split.A host Carrier Vector 1950 MT refrigeration unit provides temperature control to the wide lane, while two MVS700 evaporators cool the narrow lane.The new trailers are also fitted with 1,500 kg Dhollandia tail-lifts – the 13.6-metre versions are fitted with retractable lifts but due to space constraints the urban variants have column lifts.

Previously, Heron Foods has carried only chilled product in the wide lane of each trailer; the narrow lane, which had a moving bulkhead door, was for frozen product.However, increased customer demand for frozen foods has prompted the addition of a moving bulkhead door in the wider lane.This affords Heron Foods the opportunity to utilise the wider lane’s higher capacity for frozen product, and switch the chilled to the narrow lane.

Roof-mounted and easily deployed or stowed, the moving bulkhead door offers excellent insulation properties, so that temperature integrity between compartments is maintained.

Heron Foods’ Head of Logistics Karl Dawson explains: “As the profile of the stock that we’re selling in our shops changes, we might, for example, find ourselves in a situation where we want to fit 20 cages of frozen in a lane that will only hold 15.Rather than leave them off, we can now flip the lanes, so we’re using what was the frozen lane to carry chilled and ambient product, and vice versa.

“We discussed various options with Gray & Adams but settled on this low-cost solution, which is simple but highly effective.The increased flexibility it offers is already proving invaluable.In fact, it’s working so well in enabling us to maximise productivity and efficiency, that we may retrofit additional moving bulkhead doors to a number of other trailers on the fleet, too.

Heron Foods is a highly space-sensitive business.Given their locations, room for storage is at a premium at many of its stores, so the retailer has developed its own roll cages, which are slightly smaller than the industry standard.These cages have two sides rather than the usual three, and these sides detach from their bases.The bases can then be stacked, and sides carried in other cages, all with the aim of minimising their footprint.

Heron Foods acquired its first Gray & Adams trailers in 2013 and has not looked back since.Karl Dawson continues: “Gray & Adams’ build quality is second-to none, while its trailers are designed specifically to accommodate the unique dimensions of our roll cages.

Together with colleagues and representatives of Grayrentals, Mr Dawson has toured Gray & Adams’ production facility in Fraserburgh, where Heron Foods’ trailers are built.“I also speak regularly to Gray & Adams Sales Manager Stewart Massie, and we’ve hosted him on several visits to Hull,” adds Mr Dawson.“The time and effort the manufacturer’s team have put into understanding our operation, and the way we work, underpins the success of our relationship.