Baronet Coffee is a fourth-generation, family-owned roaster, packager, and distributor that ships coffee and coffee products across the United States. Founded in 1930, with roots going back to 1918, the company roasts millions of pounds of coffee every year.
When Baronet moved into a larger facility and added staff, shipping and receiving became the bottleneck. The fix was the Big Joe PDSR30, a 3,000 lb. walkie reach stacker. New team members learned it fast, it fits Baronet's narrow aisles, and within one day the team knew it had found the right truck.
A food manufacturing facility built for flow
Baronet laid out its 50,000 sq. ft. facility on purpose. Green, unroasted coffee comes in one door. From there it moves in a straight line through roasting, packaging, and shipping, then leaves through the far door. About 35 employees run the operation.
In a line-flow food plant like this one, a slowdown at the dock backs up everything behind it. That is where Baronet felt the pressure.
The bottleneck in shipping and receiving
Baronet's older trucks in the back were big, bulky, and took a lot of training to run. As the team grew, that training time added up.
"There were some pain points in the shipping and receiving department that this solved immediately," said Mike Vilarino, Business Integration Manager at Baronet. "We needed something that was flexible and new team members would be able to learn very quickly. This PDSR was able to solve for that."
Walk-behind maneuverability with real reach
The PDSR30 pairs the tight turning of a walkie straddle stacker with the reach of a pantograph. The pantograph extends the load past the straddle legs to place or pull a pallet, then retracts for compact turns. Power steering, sideshift, tilt, and proportional hydraulics give the operator fine control at every height.
That control matters in Baronet's racking, which includes narrow aisles and pass-through racks.
"It allows us to reach and side-shift, which is really important on our narrow racking and the fact that we use some pass-through racking as well," said Chase Martin, Process Engineer at Baronet. "Being able to manipulate that pallet to put it exactly where we need has been instrumental."
Faster training, safer handling
Almost everyone on Baronet's warehouse team is trained on the PDSR30. Larger forklifts call for more classroom time. The walk-behind design gets new team members productive quickly.
"It gives us the flexibility to be able to go up high or down low or in the middle of our racking and move product around very easily and safely," Vilarino said. "And I can't stress that word safely enough."
Because the PDSR30 is electric, there is no exhaust and no fuel handling around the product. In a food facility, that is one less thing to manage.
Operators reach for it first
Once the whole team was trained, Martin noticed a shift. Even operators certified on rider trucks started choosing the PDSR30 for everyday order picking.
"People definitely gravitate towards the Big Joe," he said. "It's very easy to just grab it, come out on the aisle, pick what you need and get out of there."
What changed on the floor
- The dock bottleneck cleared. Shipping and receiving keeps pace with the rest of the line.
- New hires get up to speed fast. Almost the whole warehouse team is trained on the PDSR30.
- Precise placement in tight racking. Reach, sideshift, and tilt put pallets exactly where they belong in narrow and pass-through racks.
- Easier order picking. Operators grab the PDSR30, pick, and move on.
For Baronet, the decision came quickly. "After one day, we knew that this was the truck," Vilarino said. "It didn't take that long."
Want to see it in your own aisles? Contact your local Big Joe dealer to schedule a demo of the PDSR30 or other Big Joe walkie stackers.
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