RDS supplies on-board weighing systems for the Royal Shakespeare Company's forklifts.

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has chosen RDS South West to supply Liftlog 100 on-board weighing systems for its counterbalance forklifts.

The RSC has a six-week, five-play residency at New York's Park Avenue Armory, which requires the company to transport a full-scale replica of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Designed and built by RSC's in-house team, the auditorium replica that complies with European and US building legislation is a four-tier, 19 m (62 ft.) high structure made up of individual seating units with built-in fork channels that allow them to be easily weighed by the forklift-installed Liftlog 100.

The RSC team previously used a more complex jib and load cell arrangement that was time-consuming to install and remove from the forklift, as it had to move between weighing and lifting tasks.

The Liftlog 100 system has no impact on rated lift capacity and the trucks can operate as normal. RSC logistics manager Gary Wright says the use of the weighing system has significantly speeded up the manufacturing process.

The auditorium, complete with everything required to put on the production, including stage, props, costumes and overhead rigging and winch gear, were shipped to New York in 44 ft. (13.4 m) high cube shipping containers in May.

When the containers arrived in Park Avenue Armory in June, a crane lifted them in a specific order, placing them in their designated positions in the military drill hall to fulfill a secondary role as backstage flooring with timber cladding constructed on top.

"We need to know the weight of each container for supplying to the shippers and crane company in New York so the Liftlog 100 systems will come into their own during the loading process," Wright explains.

He adds that the huge and prestigious project is "very much a British affair", from in-house design and engineering to material and product sourced from the UK where possible, including the Liftlog 100 weighing systems.

RDS supplied two Liftlog 100 systems that are designed and manufactured at its headquarters near Stroud, Gloucestershire. They can be used on any type of hydraulic-based loading equipment.