Edgar Edmondson warehouse capacity boosted with TMHA

Toyota forklifts’ tight turning circle helps triple warehouse capacity for Edgar Edmondson.

Family-owned producer of commercial cleaning products Edgar Edmondson has taken on a new Toyota Reflex RRE.M reach forklift, following a pair of Toyota OSE100 low level order picker forklifts delivered by Toyota Material Handling Australia (TMHA) in September.

The new equipment expands Edgar Edmondson’s fleet of Toyota forklifts to roughly 14, with the company’s national operations manager Richard Edmondson explaining that the company’s connection to TMHA goes back further than most.

“We got one of the first Toyota forklifts in Australia, second hand from another Marrickville warehouse. It was one of the first forklifts into the country in the 70s. That was our first forklift,” he says.

Edmondson says that the durability and reliability of the Toyota forklifts are key reasons for remaining loyal to the brand.

“Reliability is the number one priority for us. If you have a forklift down for a day, that’s the equivalent to losing $20,000 in sales on that picking day, and we have very few days where a forklift is not operating at full capacity,” he explains.

“It’s an exceedingly harsh environment for forklifts to be operating in – usually they like to operate in very flat, smooth warehouses – and these guys don’t skip a beat.

“If they were a lot of other brands, they’d probably break down every second day, but these don’t break down. I’ve got nothing but positive things to say about TMHA products.”

The new Toyota forklifts offer Edgar Edmondson sustainable and emission-free performance, with its battery-electric powertrains providing a quieter working environment for warehouse staff.

In particular, the new Toyota forklifts were chosen due to their tight turning circle, which have helped maximise space in one of Edgar Edmondson’s warehouses.

Edgar Edmondson recently acquired a competitor and subsequently refurbished its warehouse, with the new forklifts helping to turn what would be 50 to 60 picking bays into 180 picking bays; effectively tripling the efficiency of the warehouse.

The pandemic has proven a challenge for Edgar Edmondson, with one part of its business – servicing hotels and the hospitality industry – effectively drying up, while the other – cleaning products for hospitals and schools – drastically expanding.

Edmonson says that TMHA (Sydney) major account manager Paul Cooper helped find tailored solutions for the company through the ups and downs of the pandemic.

“He’s been contactable, he’s been communicative, and he’s done everything he could in that period to assist us such as getting us new rental forklifts at a very good rate just to keep us functioning,” Edmondson says.

“He is the reason our 180-pick face bay has continued to be filled and functioning, so I am very grateful for that.”