Macfarlane chose Yale as its preferred manufacturer for a range of equipment including reach trucks, counterbalance trucks, man-up order pickers and powered pallet trucks.

The UK's largest packaging distributor, Macfarlane Packaging, has cut its total forklift fleet by 20% after introducing a 70-strong forklift fleet from Yale dealer Forkway.

Macfarlane Packaging logistics director Tim Hylton says: "There was a need to consolidate the fleet, to ensure we had the right number of trucks with the right specifications at each site to deliver an excellent level of service for our customers."

Equipment quality and reliability were the key considerations when the firm began looking for a single source supplier in 2012 to support a fleet-wide rationalisation program.

From boxes and bags to labelling and stretch wrap, MacFarlane supplies a wide range of packaging materials and systems to some of the UK's leading logistics providers. Good logistics equipment is therefore essential for Macfarlane to provide reliable stock availability. The performance of its 16 regional distribution centres and three manufacturing facilities are pivotal to the overall success of the business.

After extensive research and once its agreements with existing suppliers ended, Macfarlane chose Yale as its preferred manufacturer, striking a seven-year contract hire deal with Forkway for a range of equipment including reach trucks, counterbalance trucks, man-up order pickers and powered pallet trucks.

The fleet it now runs is about 20% smaller in number than before and includes 17 three-wheel electric counterbalance trucks (two ERP13VC models and 15 ERP15/16/18/20VT trucks); eight gas-powered four-wheel counterbalance units (GLP16/18/25/35VX models); 31 reach trucks (nine MR14 units, 21 MR14H trucks and one MR16H); two man-up order pickers (MO10S); and 11 MP20X platform power pallet trucks. A single MC10 counterbalance stacker truck completes the current line-up.

The reach trucks are deployed within standard 2.4 m (7.9 ft.) wide aisles of racking for pallet putaway and retrieval at heights of nearly 10 m (33 ft.) at some sites, while the two low-level order pickers are used exclusively at the firm's 52,000 sqft. (4,831 sqm) Milton Keynes distribution centre to serve an area of pallet racking dedicated to Macfarlane's dotcom operation, which dispatches about 200 orders a day.

Some of the reach trucks have been fitted with load height indicators to help protect operators, handling equipment, racking and goods from any risk of damage when working at height, while the powered pallet trucks all feature extra-high load guards to protect operators from the possibility of any load shift when unloading double-stacked loads.

All of the Yale forklifts have also been fitted with an onboard telemetry-based vehicle management system that gathers data on individual trucks and drivers as well as overall fleet performance.

With loads ranging from small packages up to mattress boxes measuring 1.5 x 3.0 m (4.9 x 9.8 ft.) and individual pallets carrying goods worth anything up to GBP1,700 (USD2,708), precise, sensitive handling is absolutely critical for Macfarlane, says Hylton. The easily damaged nature of some goods also means it needs trucks that are simple to control and very smooth in operation.

"The reliability of the trucks was incredibly important to us, given the way our business operates," Hylton adds. "We take orders throughout the day, with receipt of goods taking place during the morning and the picking process needing to start very quickly in the afternoon. With only a limited amount of kit on site, we need to make sure it is working at all times."

The value of the contract is confidential.