A Hyster Fortens forklift fitted with a paper clamp at Saica Pack's Milngavie site.

Packaging firm Saica Pack has benefitted from three new ultra-compact Hyster Fortens forklifts fitted with specialist attachments.

The Saica Pack operation in Milngavie, north of Glasgow, opened in 1951 and manufactures corrugated fibre board packaging. The 36,720 sqm (395,251 sqft.) facility produces products ranging from simple cases to complex structural packaging designs. It serves the Scottish whisky industry, other renowned Scottish branded products and the food, drink, electronics and industrial sectors.

Ross Yuill, corrugator manager at the site, says few companies could provide forklifts with the compact footprint and capacity that were needed.

"Recycled paper comes into the site on large rolls which have to be stored in a narrow pre-production warehouse," he explains.

Barloworld Handling supplied space-saver versions from the Hyster Fortens forklift range, all with LPG engines for clean indoor use. Two S5.5FTS Fortens forklifts were selected, delivering a length of 2.699 m (8.854 ft.) to face of forks, with a 600 mm (23.6 in.) load centre.

Barloworld says "the S5.5FTS is probably the smallest and most manoeuvrable truck available with 5,500 kg (12,125 lb.) lift capacity, whereas other suppliers were only able to offer Saica Pack a choice of either significantly larger trucks, or reduced load handling capacity".

One of the trucks unloads up to four lorry loads a day and is fitted with a standard single paper clamp and cab to ensure driver comfort. Reels are then transferred to the narrow warehouse where they are stacked vertically up to four-high.

A tippler paper clamp is fitted to the second Hyster S5.5FTS forklift, which can rotate the paper reel from a vertical position to horizontal position and back again for storage and transportation. An onboard computer system helps manage inventory.

"The Fortens trucks are short but powerful, and have proven to be robust in this demanding operation," says Yuill, who has been based at the site for over 20 years. The solid-tyre trucks have a 4.3L LPG engine.

The third forklift supplied is a solid tyre S2.5FT Hyster Fortens truck that transfers bales of waste cardboard from the die cutting process to a despatch area. The operating space was tight and required the 2.5 T forklift with the advantage of a 1.43 m (4.69 ft.) wheelbase and 500 mm (19.7 ft.) load centre.

"We have received a consistently good service from Barloworld and the trucks have proven to be reliable in this demanding application," says Yuill, adding that the trucks are crucial to maintaining the production of 28 million sqm (301.4 million sqft.) of cardboard a year.

The value of the order is confidential.