Ibstock Brick Ltd is pleased with the 4-tonne Hyster Fortens forklifts working at its St Helens, Merseyside facility.

UK brick manufacturer Ibstock Brick Ltd is so pleased with its three new 4-tonne Hyster Fortens forklifts that are working at its St Helens, Merseyside facility that it has ordered two more.

Ibstock's Roughdales factory is one of the manufacturer's 24 facilities in the UK that manufacture clay products. The facility operates seven days a week and manufactures over 30 million bricks a year for both domestic and commercial projects.

Locally quarried clay is crushed and mixed with water, extruded and then cut into bricks.

The resulting shapes are then dried and fried in a kiln to about 1,050 degree Celcius temperature, cooled, and then bound in packs of 500.

The site has three Hyster Fortens H4.0FT forklifts equipped with double pallet handlers. One forklift is used to support the production process while the other two are used for two eight-hour shifts, five days a week, offloading the packs of 500 bricks from the production line and storing them in the stockyard. The forklifts also load trucks for customer deliveries.

The Hysters are the first of the brand to operate at an Ibstock site, supplied and supported by Barloworld Handling.

Bill Padmore, the stockyard foreman, says the drivers appreciate the forklifts' small ergonomic touches like the e-hydraulic mini-levers on the adjustable seat-side armrest.

To boost stability on uneven surfaces, a Hyster stability mechanism fitted to the forklifts gives the drivers a smoother ride and reduces driver fatigue over the shift.

A Barloworld Handling spokeswoman says the mechanism is a passive mechanical system that uses gravity to optimise steer-axle geometry.

"It reduces truck [sway] by limiting the articulation of the steer axle." The mechanism is maintenance-free and found on Hyster Fortens forklifts with capacities up to 5.5 tonnes.

The forklift's "auto deceleration system" allows the operator to slow the forklift down without braking through electronic control of the forklift's DuraMatch2 transmission. The "controlled power reversal" feature enables the driver to change direction smoothly without removing his foot from the accelerator pedal - also through electronic control of the transmission.

Ibstock has ordered two additional Hyster Fortens forklifts, an H1.6FT and H2.5FT.