Forklift News - Linde secures forklift contract

Linde’s hydrostatic transmission impressed operators at Weir Minerals.

Linde Material Handling Australia has secured a contract to supply slurry equipment specialist Weir Minerals with over 50 forklifts on a five-year, fully maintained lease basis.

"Forklifts have been supplied over a period of months, with the first delivered in May 2008," says Rod Chapman, Linde general manager - sales and marketing.

He tells Forkliftaction.com News that the contract includes LPG units ranging from 2.5 tonnes up to 5 tonnes as well as some battery-electric units, pallet movers and reach trucks.

As part of its ongoing program of quality control, Weir reviewed its forklift operations and decided to rationalise its mixture of hired and owned equipment by selecting a single supplier which would also provide a management service for the forklift range.

In finding a new supplier, Weir looked at a number of companies, before selecting three to participate in practical trial periods at its manufacturing facility in Sydney.

During the trial, the company focused on occupational health and safety, service and maintenance and productivity. Environmental issues were also a concern as was the level of after-sales support and the scope for finding long-term improvement.

Linde made an immediate impression. According to Anita Andrasy of Weir, "All our operators agreed that Linde’s hydrostatic transmission makes it much easier to operate the machines as it’s more user friendly than standard transmissions. The Linde forklifts also had lower emissions than the others – both in fuel and noise."

The Linde Fleet Management System, which reduces misuse of forklifts to avoid potential damage occurring, also played a big part in the company’s decision to choose Linde.

"Before you even start the forklift, you need to do a safety check and start programme. If this isn’t done, then after five minutes it will slow down to 1 or 2km/h and start beeping, letting the driver know they must do the check," explains Andrasy.

She adds, "If the vehicle is damaged in any way, then an email or SMS is immediately sent to a manager and this also helps discipline the operators. The system also reports when a vehicle is due for maintenance."

"Even during the trials, we could see the positive impact that Linde was having on our business – lower costs, better productivity and reduced down time. So far we’ve had no problems with them at all, which proves our decision was the right one!"

Linde also provided Weir with a dedicated account representative to ensure the smooth operation of the fleet.

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