Bulky goods warehousing and distribution specialist Unitrans Asia Pacific has increased its all-Toyota Material Handling forklift fleet with the delivery of 21 order pickers and seven reach forklifts to its western Sydney warehouse.
The reach forklifts and order pickers joined a 50-strong all-Toyota fleet at the 50,000-square-metre distribution centre in Kings Park, NSW, that also includes turret trucks and counterbalance forklifts.
Unitrans Asia Pacific, which is part of the Steinhoff Asia Pacific group, has been a TMHA customer for over 10 years.
“We’ve always found Toyota equipment to be the easiest to use,” Unitrans distribution centre manager Zanko Kotevski says. “The order picker and reach forklifts in particular are lighter and more agile than similar equipment from other brands, making them much easier to manoeuver in the confines of the warehouse.”
Kotevski says the safety features offered on the Toyota equipment were an important consideration for Unitrans, giving as an example the auto slow-down function on the high reach forklifts that slows them down to 2km/h when travelling with a load at height.
In addition, half of the new batch of forklifts have been fitted with weight scales so that if the forks are overloaded a flashing light and siren warn the driver and the machine cuts out, he adds.
TMHA has deployed a full-time Toyota mechanic to the Unitrans site. He has his own workshop, making regular servicing and maintenance easy.
“We really appreciate the convenience of having the mechanic here and the quick turnaround it provides if a machine breaks down,” Kotevski says. “With a busy warehouse like ours it’s important for us to keep downtime to the absolute minimum.”
Unitrans introduced Toyota Raymond swing reach forklifts to its Kings Park warehouse in 2005, enabling it to adopt a narrow aisle configuration and increase storage capacity by over 30 per cent.
For more information call 1800 425 438 or visit www.toyotamaterialhandling.com.au
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