Reliability on tap
April 1st 2009 Yale's latest gas-powered Veracitors are showing their
bottle at Greencore Mineral Water in Lennoxtown, Scotland
Yale Europe materials handling has
supplied Veracitor GLP20VX forklift
trucks to Greencore at Lennoxtown,
a leading producer of customer branded
still and sparkling mineral water.
Greencore Mineral Water source and
bottle 230 million litres a year of the purest
natural water for many of the leading
supermarkets.
Yale Europe has supplied lift trucks since
the facility opened in 1987. The latest
contract is for 5 Yale Veracitor GLP20VX
Series counterbalance forklift trucks, used
in the raw materials store and to offload
pallets of bottled mineral water, then
transfer the full pallets direct to trailers for
despatch or into the warehouse.
Recent expansion at the plant includes a
dedicated drive-in racking store, where
palletised bottles are stored in marshalling
lanes, prior to shipment. Having a compact
design (1157mm overall width), the
Veracitor suits the drive-in racking.
According to the company, the
Techtronix transmission developed for the
new series has transformed the trucks'
ability to operate in intensive loading
applications like those at Greencore at
Lennoxtown. Auto Deceleration System
(ADS) braking available with the Techtronix
transmission, automatically slows the truck
when the driver releases the throttle, for
example, when the truck approaches the
off-load conveyor to collect the loaded
pallet. When combined with Auto Speed
Hydraulics, Automatic Inching Control and
Throttle Response Management, the result
is intelligent forklift truck control, designed
to maximise productivity by maintaining
operating speed and response in a high
productivity environment.
"Yale has always provided us with
excellent service from its depot in Glasgow
and the improvements to the latest Veracitor
VX 2.0 tonne capacity forklift trucks has
helped to make our operation even more
efficient," says warehouse manager at
Greencore in Lennoxtown, Jamie McNair.
"We are handling over 300 pallets per
shift, so forklift reliability and productivity
was very important in our decision to
continue working with Yale."
Changing gas cylinders is an important
part of maintaining high serviceability
levels. To make this operation easier, Yale
has introduced the EZ-Tank Drop-Down
Bracket, where the operator simply rotates
the gas cylinder down into a lower vertical
position, to remove and replace the
cylinder without causing back strain.
"Consumption of bottled water in the UK
is estimated at only a quarter of the bottled
water consumed in Continental Europe,
making this a business with significant
growth potential, which we are well placed
to meet with the assistance of suppliers like
Yale," concludes McNair. More articles from Yale Europe Materials Handling: | 
