Liverpool manufacturer invests £500k+ in new fork lift fleet

A Liverpool-based manufacturer of building products has invested a six-figure sum in a new fleet of fork lift trucks in a move set to ‘lift’ the company to the next level.

Palace Chemicals, located in Speke, has invested in excess of £500,000 in 15 fork lift trucks from Warrington-based Linde Sterling, to move more than 200,000 tonnes of building product each year.

Linde Material Handling is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of forklift trucks and warehouse equipment and has forged a relationship with the company over the past 40 years.

Charlie Clapham, managing director at the firm which is now a leading name in the production of building products, tile adhesives and DIY products, said: “Our decision to replace our existing fleet of fork lift trucks was a necessary step for us as a business.

“We move over 200,000 tonnes of product each year, therefore the mechanical handling of such a huge volume is an extremely key component to our business.

“The replacement trucks from Linde Sterling are the latest in cutting edge technology with a superb management system that tracks all movements of the vehicles to ensure that safety is at the forefront of our logistics operations.”

He said the new trucks arrived earlier this week, and staff were immediately impressed with the additional features and benefits this new technology brings into their working environment which includes dedicated controls to ensure specific trained operator use per vehicle, identification and recording of any irresponsible driving and automated speed adjustment in defined working zones – all made possible by advanced monitoring technology which encourages increasing safety awareness and improves driver competence.

This smart technology also improves fleet maintenance efficiency by identifying under-used and over-used forklift trucks, early detection of any damage or minor impacts and fully comprehensive advanced fault detection by providing detailed usage reports for each forklift truck.

All trained operatives were given a new top-up training course on operating the fleet before they arrived on site and are now aware of the benefits of both the improved handling, safety features and smart technology, which will improve the overall effectiveness of the mechanical handling facilities within the company.