OZ Design Furniture supplies its 28 stores
in the ACT, NSW, Queensland and Victoria
and carries out Sydney home deliveries via
the distribution centre located at Rouse Hill in
Sydney’s north-west.
Company personnel worked with TMHA
Sydney staff for 10 months as the building
plans were finalised to decide the most
suitable mix of forklifts, stock pickers and
turret trucks.
TMHA offers a ‘one-stop shop’ solution for
material handling equipment needs and the
final list of OZ Design Furniture equipment
included examples of the various forklift
models in the TMHA portfolio.
The pride of the OZ Design distribution centre
fleet is a Toyota BT Vector VCE150A turret
truck with a capacity of 800kg to a lift height
of 11450mm with a customised load handler
to suit OZ Design’s unique 2500mm pallets.
The fleet also includes Raymond 9600
CSR90 turret trucks, Raymond OPC30TT
order pickers with customised platforms and
Toyota 7FBE three-wheel battery electric
forklifts.
In addition, OZ Design Furniture has enjoyed
the customer benefits of the ‘One Toyota’
family by financing its forklifts through Toyota
Fleet Management, using Hino and Toyota
trucks, and the distribution centre manager
drives a HiLux pickup.
Built on a greenfield site, company director
Richard Taaffe said the Rouse Hill facility
replaced three separate warehouses in
Sydney’s west.
“This centre reflects everything we learned
from all our previous warehouses and my
earlier background in automotive spare parts
supply, including the input from TMHA major
accounts manager Simon Brompton and his
colleagues,” he said.
“Stage one of the distribution centre has
5000m2 of laser-levelled floor space and a
1000m2 mezzanine. Stage two will see that
expanded to 21,000m2.
“The aisles are 1.85m wide and the racking
is 12.2m high, so we use laser lights, wire
guidance and control magnets in the floor for
alignment in the aisles and safety.
Mr Taaffe said OZ Design adopted
specialised, custom made 47-inch pallets to
eliminate overhang and protect larger stock
items.
“Many of our products exceed the traditional
1168mm pallet,” he said.
Mr Taaffe said OZ Design has a good
relationship with TMHA and Toyota Financial
Services, built on working with Simon
Brompton, “who pointed us in the right
direction, and of course the Toyota product”.
“Toyota equipment of all varieties just runs.
The 7FBE forklifts are great machines with
good safety features.
“By adopting an all-electric forklift fleet, we
have no problems with noise, dust or fumes.
“Toyota does our main service every six
months and we do the weekly or monthly
checks.”
The OZ Design distribution centre has 13
self-levelling loading docks, arranged in a
saw-tooth pattern, so its Toyota forklifts can
unload 40ft containers.
In a busy week, the centre receives 35
containers of stock, sends several semi-trailer
loads to both Melbourne and Queensland,
and dispatches 200 Sydney home deliveries.
Simon Brompton said the consultation
process for the centre began in November
2014, based on the initial building plan, and
the equipment order was placed in August
2015.
“The Toyota BT turret truck was assembled
and commissioned in February 2016,” he
said.
The Toyota BT Vector VCE150A is a
powerful man-up forklift designed specially for
OZ Design’s over-sized pallet handling.
Its clear, open front offers safe, highly
effective operations in very high racking
systems. A unique articulated steering
system provides excellent manoeuvrability
outside the aisle and during aisle transfer.
OZ Design Furniture opened its first store in
Auburn, Sydney, in 1979.
The Australian owned and operated business
has since grown to 28 stores along the
eastern seaboard, with a reputation as one
of the leading aspirational furniture and
homewares brands.
Combined expertise in
state of the art furniture
distribution centre
A major furniture and homewares company used expertise fromToyota Material Handling
Australia (TMHA) to help plan and equip its state-of-the-art distribution centre.
TMH Torque
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1800 425 438
OZ Design Furniture’s company director Richard Taaffe
TMH Torque
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1800 425 438
