Jungheinrich has supplied Wavin with new and refurbished forklifts.

Wavin, a water management and drainage systems supplier, has updated the forklift fleet at its Chippenham site with nearly 60 new and refurbished Jungheinrich units.

Wavin's logistics trainer Keith Rowles says the company's fleet faced increasingly diversified loads.

"We needed to ensure our safety needs were met for the next five to seven years," Rowles says. Wavin has manufacturing, warehousing and distribution facilities at Chippenham. The site has 30 acres (12.14 hectares) of covered and open storage and houses one of Waxin's three main regional distribution centres.

Jungheinrich supplied Wavin with 10 2.5 tonne, 15 3.0 tonne and one 3.5 tonne capacity counterbalanced forklifts from its DFG range.

All of the trucks are fitted with Kaup fork spreaders that allow loads measuring up to six metres wide to be picked up.

The DFG 2.5 and 3.5 tonne LPG forklifts have hydrostatic drive, making them suited to intensive operations. Wavin's trucks spend a lot of time shuttling between the factory and the store.

There are 22 aisles of pallet racking at the site. Each racking features eight storage levels with the ground and first floor levels used for order picking, and the upper levels accommodating replenishment stocks.

A fleet of 20 refurbished Jungheinrich low-level order pickers, three very-narrow-aisle combination stackers and a reach truck undertake picking. Six pedestrian pallet trucks were supplied for general use in the plant.

The order pickers have undergone a major overhaul at Jungheinrich's used truck refurbishment plant at Dresden, Germany.

Jungheinrich's division sales manager Russ Palmer says a growing number of companies are ordering mixed fleets of new and used forklifts.

"Typically, the operating costs of a used Jungheinrich truck will be the same as a new model," he says.