Toyota’s battery boost
February 1st 2005 Toyota forklifts is helping motor manufacturing counterpart, Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK (TMUK), to improve productivity at its Burnaston plant.
The two have collaborated to develop two advanced three-tier battery changing stations for Toyota forklifts at the plant – which is currently investing £50m to increase capacity from 220,000 to 285,000 vehicles a year.
The new battery change system, says Toyota, ensures maximum productivity and uptime for the 94 Toyota electric 7FBMF forklifts and 150 tow tractors in use at the site. Already in use at the assembly lines, the battery changing stations are now being introduced in stages to the Toyota materials handling fleet.
According to the company, productivity is enhanced in numerous ways: the sideways exit battery transfer on the electric forklifts takes change-over time down to around 3 minutes; the stations are manned by a single operative (rather than two with the previous overhead method) and the two bays are stationed well apart on site to minimise the distance travelled for battery changing.
The new bays have eliminated damage to batteries and significantly reduced damage to trucks, says Toyota. Its sideways exit battery transfer is available on its 24/7 electric counterbalanced, reach, pallet and stacker trucks. More articles from Toyota Material Handling (UK) Ltd: | 
