Harrogate Water Brands has taken delivery of a fleet of three new Cat lift trucks, supplied by Impact Handling.

Harrogate Water Brands, owner of Harrogate Spring Water and Thirsty Planet, has taken delivery of a fleet of three new CAT forklifts, supplied by Impact Handling.

Impact Handling secured the order following a thorough tender process, impressing Harrogate Water with the flexibility of the materials handling solution it presented and the quality of the products in the CAT range.

The order consists of a GP18N 1.8 T gas-powered truck, a larger GP30N 3 T gas-powered truck and an EP20PN 2 T electric truck.

The GP18N will be used to transport up to 2,000 pallets a week from the production line to Harrogate Water Brands' innovative transfer warehouse with a 300-pallet capacity. The larger GP30N will also be used intensively, collecting pallets from the transfer facility and loading them onto the delivery trucks assigned to take the pallets to Harrogate Water Brands' off-site storage warehouse.

Specified for its suitability for operating indoors, the EP20PN electric forklift will be used primarily to move raw materials into the production area and onto the production line.

Simon Knaggs, operations manager at Harrogate Water Brands, says the site produces up to 3 million units of water a week and needed a materials handling fleet that could withstand intensive use.

"We held a trial to test trucks from a number of different brands we were considering for the order and found that the CAT lift trucks ... offered the premium build quality and features we were looking for," he says.

The two gas-powered models are equipped with powerful and easy-to-service engines with low emissions.

The EP20PN complements the gas models, designed to cope with intensive lifting duties and to deliver the electrical power and performance needed to maintain faster work cycles for longer periods of time.