The Samuk delegation to the Hangcha factory in Shanghai.

A UK forklift distributor has organised a visit to China to bolster staff and dealer confidence in its Shanghai-based principal.

Staff and dealers of Samuk Lift Trucks Ltd subsidiary, Samuk HC, of Bedfordshire, UK, visited the Hangcha factory in Shanghai last month.

The team took a magnetically levitating train (Maglev) which cruised at 430km/h from Shanghai, and was surprised to see views of urban skylines instead of paddy fields, the May 2006 Samuk HC newsletter said.

The dealers and Samuk staff were impressed by the factory's "European standards" and the product quality.

"China will play the major part by producing popular ranges of trucks at competitive prices, reminiscent of the Japanese after World War II. The difference being, it took Japan 30 years to overcome suspicions of Asian products. In the global market, it will take China only five years to establish leading brands," the newsletter said.

Sir Neville Bowman-Shaw.

Samuk Lift Trucks has a joint venture with Hangcha to distribute Chinese forklifts in the UK and some European countries. Samuk was founded by Sir Neville Bowman-Shaw who also founded Lancer-Boss. He received the Fork Lift Truck Association lifetime achievement award in 1996.

Corus, one of the world's leading steel producers, has leased more than 20 Samuk forklifts in the last eight years from Samuk dealer Wheeled Loaders (UK) Ltd. Its Scunthorpe facility has just received a HY70D seven tonne forklift and a HY100D 10 tonne forklift.