Weir Minerals has added 55 forklifts

Heavy engineering business Weir Minerals has turned to Rushlift for its brand-new fleet of 55 diverse forklifts with a range of capabilities and lifting capacities.

Weir manufactures mine dewatering solutions and slurry equipment for the global mining and mineral processing industries. Keeping component parts flowing between processes at the Todmorden plant, right through to final assembly and dispatch, requires a highly diverse fleet of forklifts able to withstand tough conditions in close proximity to materials that can be at temperatures of up to 1,400 deg C.

Wanda Healy, WME operational procurement manager at Weir Minerals, explains: "We have worked with Rushlift for a number of years and have always had great service. Our onsite Rushlift engineer is very reliable and maintains the fleet well, so that was an important consideration too.

"We also wanted a fleet of vehicles that we were certain we could rely on," she says. "Our business is heavy engineering, so we need really robust trucks that can work in punishing conditions. The Doosan series 7 trucks had a number of essential features that were included as standard. A critical point was that the Doosan diesel counterbalance trucks have completely sealed oil-cooled disc brakes, which prevent dust and grit getting into the brakes - important for safe braking and low maintenance."

Of the 55 vehicles supplied by Rushlift to Weir Minerals, the vast majority were Doosan products - gas, diesel and electric counterbalance models, across a vast range of capacities, from the latest electric B15R-7 three-wheeler, to Doosan's heavy-lifting DV250S-7 with a capability to lift loads of up to 25 T. Most of the vehicles delivered to site were gas counterbalance trucks with capacities between 2.5 and 4.5 T, although other models rated up to 9, 12 and 16 T were also supplied, along with Doosan powered pallet trucks, pedestrian stackers and reach trucks.

A critical consideration in selecting Rushlift was the company's ability to provide any truck that Weir Minerals required, regardless of make, and that included a Genie scissor lift and cherry pickers, a Hoist compact gas counterbalance truck, Jungheinrich VNA trucks and a JCB telehandler.