A Beaulieu & Coronet carpet from the 'Styled for Living' range.

Barloworld's "total solutions approach" helped it win a USD15 million contract to replace a major US carpet manufacturer's 415 forklifts with Hyster equipment, the company's CEO Tony Phillips said.

He said Barloworld's approach "added value" to its customer and helped separate it from three competitor companies, to win the Beaulieu of America contract.

"Beaulieu's diverse requirements dovetailed perfectly with Barloworld Handling's ability to provide a wide range of products, superior backup support and our full financing facility through Barloworld Fleet Leasing," Phillips said.

Barloworld industrial distribution chief executive Brandon Diamond said more than half the Hyster equipment had already been delivered to Beaulieu.

Barloworld Handling will replace Beaulieu's forklifts with new and used Hyster forklifts, personnel carriers, aerial work platforms and other floor maintenance equipment over five years.

The company will also provide fleet maintenance for more than 550 materials handling equipment units for Beaulieu, the world's third largest rug and carpet producer.

Beaulieu project engineer Aaron Phillips said: "The thoroughness of Barloworld's assessment of our needs gave us a high level of confidence in the company."