Log in to MyHeadland – your new customer portal | No access yet? Email marketing@headland.com.au
Whether you’re after a machine, spare part, power tool, or need to book a service call Headland will help you find the right solution in a timely manner.
Fill out the form below and the relevant expert will be in touch with you shortly.
Australia’s premier pool and spa parts supplier is making a bold statement about the future, and it starts in the warehouse. For a business that keeps Australia’s swimming pools running, operational reliability is everything. FLUIDRA Australia and New Zealand, the country’s leading distributor of swimming pool and spa parts, has built its reputation on having the right part available, accurately picked, and dispatched without delay. That reputation rests on a warehouse operation that can actually deliver on the promise.
That is why FLUIDRA’s latest investment is so significant. In partnership with us, their long-term, warehouse automation partner, FLUIDRA is adding two brand-new Hanel Lean-Lift vertical storage and retrieval systems to their facility, bringing their fleet to four. At the same time, their two existing Lean-Lift VLMs will be fully retrofitted and upgraded to the latest technological standards.
And underpinning it all, the entire picking operation will be elevated with the introduction of the latest automated Sabl MultiPick system.
This is not a reaction to a challenge. It is the decision of a business that has seen what smart automation can do and is now doubling down with confidence.
FLUIDRA’s automated storage journey began with a familiar warehousing problem: a growing product catalogue, shrinking floor space, capacity constraints and inventory processes that relied too heavily on manual effort. When we installed two Hanel Lean-Lift VLM systems and the first version of Sabl MultiPick over 10 years ago, the results were immediate. Inventory accuracy reached 100 per cent. Warehouse productivity skyrocketed. Stock traceability became total. And significant floor space was reclaimed as high-density vertical storage replaced sprawling conventional racking.
The Lean-Lift is a self-contained, automated vertical storage and retrieval system. Smart computer-controlled goods to person system retrieves height-optimised storage trays and delivers them to the operator at the ideal ergonomic working height eliminating searching and walking distances, eliminating forklift traffic, and the inefficiencies of traditional shelving.
As Jesse Boyer, Warehouse Manager at FLUIDRA, put it:
“Hanel’s compact technology from Headland perfectly matched our warehouse layout while delivering exceptional efficiency gains and precise inventory control, an ideal solution that exceeded every requirement.”
Those two lifts proved their value many times over. The two new additional Lean-Lifts will sit alongside the existing systems, expanding automated storage capacity without a single extra square metre of floor space. Four coordinated machines will enable concurrent picking across different stock zones, reducing the walking time that silently drains productivity, and giving FLUIDRA the headroom to absorb a growing product range without the warehouse becoming a bottleneck.
While the two new Lean-Lifts expand capacity, FLUIDRA’s two existing machines are receiving something equally important: a comprehensive retrofit that brings them fully in line with current technology. Our goal is clear: make their existing systems future-ready.
Rather than recommending a costly full replacement of structurally sound systems, we bring FLUIDRA’s existing Lean-Lifts up to the latest technological standards for greater efficiency, higher availability, improved safety and an extended service life by integrating current-generation technology into proven hardware. This is exactly what sustainability in industry looks like: preserving high-quality assets and integrating them into the smart warehouse through intelligent upgrades, with no unnecessary waste and no redundant capital expenditure.
The retrofit delivers a meaningful and specific set of improvements. A new 12-inch high-resolution touch display supports maximum ease of use with plenty of space to show vast amounts of information. Updated controllers allow the retrofitted Lean-Lifts to integrate cleanly with contemporary warehouse management and ERP systems, removing the friction of outdated protocols. A significantly faster, more intuitive user interface reduces training time, minimises user error, and accelerates the picking cycle across every transaction.
With the addition of new, improved safety light curtains comes not only increased safety for workers, FLUIDRA will now also be able to benefit from the VLMs operating fully automatic, resulting in further productivity and efficiency gains. The upgraded fleet will also benefit from Hanel’s latest safety and redundancy package. Equipped with a 2nd Safety Circuit and additional 8x Fail-Safe Systems, the VLMs provide extended and continuous operation in case of a failure until a technician can resolve the problem. This dramatically reduces potential costs of breakdowns and product unavailability, and gives peace of mind knowing customer requirements can be fulfilled day in, day out.
All four Lean-Lifts, two new, two retrofitted, will operate as a unified fleet on the same current technological standard.
Completing FLUIDRA’s modernisation is the latest Sabl Warehouse Management, Control and Execution Systems (WMS, WCS and WES), deployed across all four VLMs. With new hardware and software, Fluidra will be able to take advantage of many new features to improve inventory management processes and workflow.
Sabl Put-to-Light (PTL) for cluster picking multiple jobs in parallel from Hanel Lean-Lifts now includes 3” colour LCD displays, giving operators extra pick and job details to boost speed, accuracy, and special handling. While Fluidra uses PTL for high throughput, it also streamlines kitting and BOM preparation.
A new management UI delivers clear visibility of inventory, jobs, locations, and user tasks, with full auditing, traceability, and reporting, critical for stock management and lot/batch control. Using the Sabl REST API, Sabl WMS integrates with FLUIDRA’s ERP for real-time inventory and job transfers, reducing manual steps, data entry, and human error.
For a distributor managing thousands of SKUs, from pumps and filters to heating, sanitisation, and spa accessories, picking errors are costly. MultiPick guides operators with precise, real-time instructions at the point of pick, combining speed with accuracy end-to-end.
With four fully operational Hanel Lean-Lifts and Sabl MultiPick ensuring accuracy at every step, FLUIDRA isn’t just keeping up with demand; they’re positioning to lead.
Floor space is finite, but product ranges keep growing. For businesses like FLUIDRA, expanding warehouse footprint is expensive and disruptive; going vertical is the smarter move. Contact our storage automation experts.
Whether you’re after a machine, spare part, power tool, or need to book a service call Headland will help you find the right solution in a timely manner.
Fill out the form below and the relevant expert will be in touch with you shortly.
