MHW Magazine News and stories from the Materials Handling Industry
Leading UK manufacturer of health and food formulations for major blue chip companies, Contract Foods' 50,000 square foot premises in Redditch are stacked high and deep with product.
With effective use of warehouse space a key priority, Contract Foods uses a modern forklift fleet from M&W TOYOTA Handling to transport goods efficiently, exceed health and safety requirements and ensure productivity is as high as possible.
Contract Foods employs three TOYOTA 7FBRE Double Deep reach trucks that lift pallets, each weighing one ton, up to 6.3 metres high. One of which is fitted with an onboard camera.
Jon Cheswick, Operations Manager at Contract Foods explains: “The warehouse's double deep racking means that the driver would be effectively blind when the truck retrieves the second position at full mast height. The camera allows the driver to view the load easily and safely.”
Contract Foods has taken advantage of TOYOTA's Platinum package for its 7IC truck. Fitted with similar mini-levers to the reach truck, operators also benefit from front and back screens fitted as standard that protect them from inclement weather.
Fitted to the entire fleet is TOYOTA's Events Analysing Recording System (EARS), which allows Jon Cheswick to monitor the movements of trucks and drivers.
Jon explains: “Health and safety is a very important issue and this system means that drivers have their own fobs so that only authorised drivers can use the forklifts. The software also allows me to monitor truck reliability and continue to maximise the productivity of the fleet.”
In addition to maintaining Contract Foods' existing fleet, M&W TOYOTA Handling has supplied two new 7SM12 stackers which are fitted with onboard chargers.
Jim Davies, sales executive at M&W Toyota Handling explains how this equipment saves on warehouse space: “As the stackers have an onboard charger it means that the trucks can be charged at the nearest available plug point, which removes the need for a charging bay in the warehouse.”
Jon Cheswick concludes: “All these improvements to our fleet have generated some excellent cost savings. The recording system allows me to have a real insight into the trucks' workload and manage the fleet as effectively as possible.”
Contact sales@toyotahandling.co.uk
