Smart truck fleet debuts
December 1st 2009

Bespoke forklift truck solution from Palletforce brings loading and racking together in an automatic operation which is proving popular with staff

Palletforce, the UK's leading palletised distribution network, has set new standards for the industry – by creating its own fleet of 'super' forklift trucks.

The new forklifts, which are now being used at the network's £30 million Hub in Burton-upon-Trent, have been cleverly designed with extra technology to make the whole operation more efficient.

Palletforce's operations director Carl Worgan said that the £500,000 project had taken two years to develop and had been a real success story for the network. Each forklift truck has been fitted with specialist scanning and axle weighing technology – bringing together loading and tracking work into one 'smart' operation.

The system, which was designed in collaboration with digital weighing specialist Avery, is the first of its kind in the UK and was created 'from scratch'. It allows Palletforce to track and trace every pallet from the moment it enters its new £30million Hub, in Burton-upon-Trent. Each outlying Palletforce member barcodes its pallets before delivering them to the Hub. Once at the Hub, pallets are then unloaded by specially designed forklift trucks with scanning and weighing equipment built-in.

Worgan explains: "As soon as the forklift touches the pallet, a beam is sent out to read its barcode and the information is transferred to Palletforce's IT server.

"The pallet is automatically weighed at the same point, meaning that we have the pallet's weight and information loaded in one instant movement.

"The Palletforce IT server then transfers a message to a display screen on the forklift truck – telling the driver which of the 96 loading bays to transfer the pallet to." As the forklift truck driver now knows the exact weight of the load, pallets can then be placed correctly on to the top or bottom deck of the outbound vehicle - maximising the weight that can be safely loaded. The system has already proved hugely popular with Palletforce's workers, its 100 member depots and customers, who have all seen benefits from its introduction.

The process speeds up loading and unloading operations each night as thousands of pallets are scanned automatically. Loading errors are also minimised thanks to the onscreen technology.

And the system also ensures vehicles are efficient by working to their maximum safe load potential – therefore helping the environment by cutting the number of unnecessary vehicle movements.

Health and safety a priority The project was driven by a desire to use technology to continually improve health and safety, and ensure that Palletforce's vehicles could maintain a reputation for safe and efficient loading.

Worgan adds: "We wanted to deliver a quality system that could give real business benefits in a timely and cost effective manner – the scanning and dynamic axle weighing technology has fulfilled this requirement and we have now laid a real platform for the future." Everything from sourcing the scanning and weighing equipment, to writing the bespoke IT program has been managed by Mr Worgan and his team over the past two years.

He continues: "We travelled around the world to find the technology to make this system a reality.

"We visited the USA to source weighing equipment to fit into the forklift trucks and managed to find the scanning technology from a manufacturer in Germany.

"With the plans in place we spent time with IT developers to create a system that would embrace both weighing and scanning equipment, and bring the whole operation together in one 'smart' process.

"The launch of the Hub this year seemed the ideal time to introduce the system. Now not only do we have a remarkable new base, we also have the cutting edge technology to support it.

"We can scan, unload and reload pallets between vehicles smoothly to improve our operational efficiency and safety.

"By improving technology in this way, Palletforce and its members can gain a much fuller understanding of what is happening in the Hub in 'real time' and ensure pallets are loaded correctly and for maximum efficiency." Michael Conroy, Palletforce's chief executive officer (pictured), adds: "The new technology at our Hub is the best in the sector and marks us out as a top class player in the wider logistics and distribution sector.

"The important driver for us is ensuring our members have the very best resources to allow them to deliver a high quality service while being competitive in a tough marketplace."

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