Single supplier sugar solution
April 1st 2008 Windsor Komatsu and
Access recently secured a
contract with British Sugar to
provide a materials handling
solution for its new purpose
built screening and bagging
warehouse at
Wissington Sugar factory,
Norfolk. The five year
agreement covers all
equipment provision and
maintenance.
British Sugar required a
single supplier that could
match equipment
requirements with a superior
after sales service and high
levels of flexibility to support
the operation. To comply
with strict health and safety
and food hygiene standards
all equipment had to be
electric powered, operating
on a 24hr shift pattern, 5.5
days a week. Battery
handling and recharging was
a critical factor within the
remit. Close consultation
with British Sugar ensured
the requirements were
accurately identified and the
final proposal specified 7
Komatsu FB18M-2R 3
wheeled counterbalance
forklifts, with 4 Crown
RD5280s reach trucks.
To meet the up-time
requirements of the
application, two batteries
were provided with each
truck. Enersys was
contracted to install monorail
cranes in two locations for
the counterbalance trucks
and a battery tugger
attached to a Komatsu
powered pallet truck to
manage the reach truck
battery exchanges. High
frequency battery chargers
and additional roller bed
positions were incorporated
at each charging area,
preventing double handling
of exhausted batteries and
minimising health and safety
issues.
Since the initial contract
was agreed Windsor has
provided an additional diesel
powered forklift.
Windsor places great
emphasis on building longterm
partnerships. Local
depots with direct lines to
the service manager result in
a quick response, keeping
downtime to a minimum and
providing a focused team
with in-depth understanding
of individual customer needs.
"When choosing a supplier
we were looking to form a
partnership with a company
with integrity, high levels of
service and a local presence.
Windsor were able to meet
all our criteria and
understood from the start
exactly what we were trying
to achieve," says Trevor King,
British Sugar purchasing
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