Forklift operator loses court case
NEW YORK, NY, United States

A 44-year-old forklift operator who lost his right leg while working on a TCM forklift has lost a lawsuit against the forklift manufacturer and its distributors.

Strongin, Rothman & Abrams, the law firm that represented TCM Manufacturing USA Inc, Mitsui Machinery Distribution Inc and Acculift Inc, said in a press release that the jury was unanimous in its decision.

“The defendants were successful in proving the accident was caused by the fault of no one but the plaintiff,” the statement said.

Benvenito Marte Ozoria had his right leg amputated after being hit by the forklift at Urban Foundations Engineering, in Queens, New York, on December 12, 2003.

In a two-week trial at the New York State Supreme Court, Ozoria claimed the forklift’s park brake failed because it was capable of being placed in a “false brake” position.

Ozoria’s expert witness Dr Robert Ehrlich testified that the hand brake was capable of being pulled back and released without retracting to the “off” position. It gave the operator the false impression it was engaged.

The defendants presented an accident reconstruction analysis and testimony by expert witness Dr John Johnson, TCM, Mitsui and Acculift representatives, and Ozoria’s work supervisor. They introduced product literature to show Ozoria had failed to apply the park brake and follow forklift safety procedure when he parked the forklift on a slope, and that he failed to lower the forks to the ground and tilt the mast forward. The defendants successfully proved the forklift was properly tested and inspected.

New Doosan US forklift president appointed
WARRENSVILLE HEIGHTS, OH, United States

Michael J Lavelle has been appointed Doosan Infracore America Corp US forklift division president.

Lavelle has been Doosan vice president of sales and marketing for the past 10 years. He replaces Tom Yoon, who has been reassigned to Doosan’s South Korean headquarters in an overseas sales and marketing managing director posting.

Lavelle has 33 years’ experience in the forklift industry. He began his career with Clark Equipment in 1974. He has held sales, rental and leasing, and management positions in the industry.

Doosan Infracore manufactures 3,000lb to 36,000lb (1,360.7kg to 16,329.3kg) gas, LP, diesel and electric forklifts.

Lavelle said he looked forward to leading the organisation, its employees and its dealers to greater heights.

Click here to read Lavelle’s profile.

Materials Handling + Logistics Middle East

Materials Handling + Logistics Middle East is the regions premiere event for the full range of products and services required by the Warehousing, Transportation Services and Logistics industries.

Visit the show and see over 125 exhibitors from 20 countries representing the leading brands in Warehousing, Transportation Services and Logistics from across the globe!

Also see the DIC / transPARK Demonstration Area, showcasing new and innovative products in the industry.

If you want to visit Materials Handling + Logistics Middle East, register now to attend. Please visit www.materials-handling-dubai.com to register.

Crown uses RFID to manage indirect materials
NEW BREMEN, OH, United States

Crown Equipment Corp, of New Bremen, Ohio, has used RFID technology to make its tool crib inventory system available to workers 24/7.

Before Crown implemented the CribMaster Accu-Port inventory management system, employees sacrificed precious time picking up tools from the crib.

The system allows employees to access a secured area using their RFID employee identification badge. Workers selected the required tool by retrieving a tagged bag from a coordinate system. The bag contains the labelled tool and an RFID tag.

Workers remove tools from the bags and place the bags in a “mailbox” for restocking.

The tagged bags are reused to minimise tag costs and saved time in restocking.

Crown Equipment buyer and supervisor Brenda Hughes said:
“We really needed to get product to the operators on the machines. We felt our replenishment was effective but unavailability for all three shifts was hurting production.”

Crown wondered if it were possible, using RFID technology, for employees to walk into a crib, pick up supplies and return to work.

Their research uncovered the CribMaster Accu-Port, an off-the-shelf inventory management system specifically for managing indirect materials.

CribMaster partnered with Symbol Technologies to provide the antennae and readers to power Accu-Port and designed a plug-n-play portal specifically for managing indirect materials. The system uses passive RFID technology and Gen2 passive tags.

Hughes said Crown’s daily inventory usage had reduced more than 20 per cent since implementing the Accu-Port crib and it took less than four months for a return on investment.

Other cost reductions came from eliminating staff needed to man a 24-hour tool crib. Having a central crib reduced employees’ travel time, increased tool accessibility and enabled employees to grab what they needed and go straight back to work.

Hughes said there could be nine to 10 Accu-Ports across Crown facilities by 2010.

Expose your business with a Forkliftaction.com ShopFront!

The ShopFront is your company’s showroom in one of the busiest business portals on the internet. Check out its capabilities with these examples (click a link below to view the ShopFront):

North America:
• 400 staff Hyster dealer
• Manufacturers of specialty lift trucks, die handlers and AGVs
• Suppliers of forklifts to Chile
• Complete forklift power solutions

Europe:
• Spark arresters & exhaust cleaners – United Kingdom
• Complete range of material handling solutions – Ireland
• Manufacturers of forklift attachments – Italy
• Wheel and transmission solutions – United Kingdom

Australasia:
• Fleet management, Rental, Hire software suppliers - NSW, Australia
• Complete Forklift power solutions - all states, Australia
• Supplier total fleet management – NSW, Australia
• A leading forklift brand in Queensland – QLD, Australia

Asia:
• Forklift Truck Manufacturer, China
• Pallet Truck Manufacturer, China
• Forklift Truck Manufacturer, China
• Fork Arms Manufacturer, China

Want to search the Business Directory? Visit www.forkliftaction.com/directory.
For more information or to list your company, email us @ info@forkliftaction.com Phone: +61 7 3369 9090 – Fax: +61 7 3369 9096.

Forklift features in TV challenge
XIAMEN, China

A singer drove a Linde E16C forklift and used it to fire three lighters in a Chinese TV show challenge.

Yin Xiangjie, a well-known Chinese singer, used the forklift to light three lighters in 200 seconds with help from his partner, Yu Wenhua.

The task was part of CCTV-3’s “Star Challenging” TV program. The Linde E16C forklift also featured in other challenges aired on CCTV-3.

CCTV is China’s national television network.

Safety seminars free for all
SYDNEY, NSW, Australia

Safe handling of LPG and changes to Australian Standards are two topics on the table at a series of free forklift safety seminars across NSW, starting next month.

The half-day seminars, hosted for the first time by WorkCover NSW and the Australian Industrial Truck Association (AITA), are aimed at middle management.

“We’re expecting managers and supervisors from the shop floor,’’ said Ian Blume, from WorkCover NSW. “They’re the ones with the influence to impact on safety procedures.”

Blume will speak about workplace health and safety, traffic management and warehouse layout.

Standards Australia forklift committee chair Stan Palmer will detail proposed changes to the Industrial Truck Code and invite public comment.

LPG Australia industry development manager Phil Westlake will speak on safe use of LPG in forklifts and changes to the Australian Standard for storage and handling.

“This is an area that is rarely discussed,” Blume said. Westlake would also give details on recent recalls of LPG cylinders.

Seminar co-ordinator Todd Brennan, of safety consultant Forkpro, said his talk would focus on the “hierarchy of control”.

“I’ll be speaking on the subjects of lateral stability, which is the thing that kills most forklift operators, and pedestrian interaction with forklifts, the other major fatality causer. Simply painting lines on the ground these days is not a suitable control measure.”

Forklift attachments and their bearing on operation will be handled by industry stalwart Norm Crompton, of Cascade Australia.

“Norm has been around forklift attachments for 100 years,” Brennan said. “He’s very knowledgeable about the effect attachments have on forklift stability and load capacity.”

Barrister Martin Shume will update the audience on the legal consequences of shop-floor incidents.

“His role is to scare the hell out of people,” Brennan said.

For more information and booking details see Forkliftaction.com’s events calendar at www.forkliftaction.com/events/default.aspx.

SALES REPRESENTATIVE

Forkliftaction.com, publisher of this international industry publication and web portal, is looking for a motivated sales representative to join the team.

If you feel you can develop a good raport with Forklift Dealers, Rental Fleet Companies and Parts & Components Suppliers to the industry, please contact us.

We need someone to represent us in the Australian and New Zealand market from our offices, based in Brisbane.

For more information on this exciting work opportunity, click here, or contact the Forkliftaction.com team: email info@forkliftaction.com, fax +61 (0)7 3369 9096 or phone +61 (0)7 3369 9090 and ask for Ann.

Move to bigger warehouse
CHELTENHAM, Victoria, Australia

Stoddart Food Service Equipment has relocated to a new 800sq m warehouse at Cheltenham, Victoria.
The move from Clayton means four times the floor space, 6m high pallet racking and delivery of a new general-duties Nissan forklift, general manager Brad Shadforth said.
He hopes the move, which brings the company closer to Melbourne’s Moorabbin airport, will mean quicker deliveries to customers in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.

CITA 2007 3rd China International Forklifts & Parts Exhibition (Shanghai)

Asia's biggest professional, annual grand ceremony for forklifts & parts, CITA 2007 3rd China International Forklifts & Parts Exhibition (Shanghai) is the best platform for any buyer, seller and professionals from all over the world to display high quality products, advanced technology and communicate with Chinese partners face to face.

Click here for the full text of this release, including pictures.

Warehouse Safety Solutions introduces the latest product to their range.

Early Alert is a state of the art pedestrian warning system that uses in ground loop technology. The magnetic field detector is base on the principle of steel or metal objects moving towards a magnetic field detector. Approaching forklifts cause changes to the weakness of the magnetic field, this signal is sent to a central control unit and triggers the warning lights, alarms or gates in the workplace.

Click here for more information on this product, including pictures.

FLTA offers financial incentive to promote safety
ALTON, United Kingdom

The Fork Lift Truck Association (FLTA) is offering discount vouchers to help forklift owners and operators make their work environments safer.

Click here for the full Fork Talk feature, including pictures.

Dave Hoover: Pre-shift safety inspections
NEWARK, OH, United States

Almost every country requires inspections of powered industrial trucks before they are used. In the US, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OHSA) states ...

Click here for the full Safety First feature, including pictures.

Michael Lavelle
WARRENSVILLE HEIGHTS, OH, United States

Michael Lavelle began his forklift career on January 2,1974, at Clark Equipment Co’s then branch in Cleveland, Ohio. Thirty-three years later, to the day, he was named president of Doosan Infracore's lift truck division.

Click here for the full Industry Profile feature, including pictures.

Alicia Whiffen, Combilift Australia
SPRINGVALE, Victoria, Australia

Alicia Whiffen may have missed her calling as a circus juggler. She enjoys keeping several balls in the air at a time. Whiffen, 28, is business and administrative manager for Combilift Australia, a new division of MHF Imports that imports Combilift and Aisle-Master forklifts from their manufacturing base in Ireland.

Click here for the full Industry Profile feature, including pictures.

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