August 28, 2008 - In a recent review of its handling operations Polyflor, the UK’s leading supplier of commercial flooring, handling 66,000 tonnes of vinyl product across 10,000 pallet locations, needed to ensure it chose a forklift fleet that was truly fit for purpose.
Chris Jenkinson, head of procurement at Polyflor, says, “We focused on the lifetime cost of the machines, and much of this cost is about operator comfort and productivity. We needed machines with a reputation for robustness and reliability, which would be able to handle the demanding nature of the application and win our drivers over.”
At Polyflor’s main site in Radcliffe near Manchester, the fork lift trucks have to work 24 hours a day moving rolls of flooring weighing up to 1700 kg. The operators have to navigate around production areas and across to the warehouse and storage areas, taking long shuttle runs outdoors and up steep inclines across uneven surfaces.
It soon became clear that the Cat product was the operators’ choice. The product handled well, and felt safe and robust in the applications. It had the power for handling the heavy rolls across difficult terrain in the longer shuttle runs as well provide the manoeuvrability to manipulate the roll cages for the 1.8m warehouse aisles.
Briggs Equipment supplied a mixed fleet of 35 machines consisting of 2.5 tonne LPG trucks, 3 wheel electric counterbalance trucks and platform power pallet trucks for the warehouse. In addition, 2.5 and 3 tonne diesel machines were supplied for the longer shuttle runs in the production areas.
The electric machines required special modifications for handling the long rolls of vinyl. The 2m rolls are loaded horizontally but stored upright to allow them to fit in the 1.8 metre narrow aisles. The Cat machines needed to be able to perform the crucial handling operation of rotating the roll cages, each containing 12 rolls of 140 kg vinyl, so Briggs fitted special rotator attachments onto the trucks. In addition, the power pallet truck, which handles up to 2.5 tonnes of material, was fitted with special load wheels for the heavy duty application.
The final consideration was about how to measure and evaluate the performance of the fleet in operation. Polyflor took a novel approach to this and decided to monitor how many hours the trucks were not working. Chris Jenkinson explains, “We run a cost accounting financial model and this means that it is more useful to us to understand the costs involved if a truck is not working and the reasons for this. This goes counter to most measurement systems but Briggs listened to us and was able to design an IT solution to meet our needs. Through Briggs we now have a good measurement and reporting system that will ensure we get the extra mile out of our fleet.”
Polyflor produces 20 million sq metres of flooring every year and exports to more than 60 countries from its UK base.
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Briggs Equipment UK
Briggs Equipment UK Ltd is a leading materials handling service provider and sole distributor of Yale Materials Handling products in Great Britain. Providing a wide range of equipment for a broad customer base, Briggs provides innovative, tailored and cost effective solutions on a nationwide basis. With its headquarters and national support centre in Cannock, Briggs people assist and advise in the delivery of long term solutions that enable customers to develop more efficient and results driven businesses.
For further information please contact:
Tiffany Clowes
Changeworks Communications
T. + 44 (0) 1785 247588
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Scott Bullock
Briggs Equipment
Orbital Way
Cannock
WS11 8XW
T: 01543 430 455
W: www.briggsequipment.co.uk
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