Palletforce has invested over GBP1 million (USD1,590,341) to upgrade its forklift fleet.

UK pallet distributor Palletforce has invested over GBP1 million (USD1,590,341) to upgrade its fleet of 40 forklifts to boost efficiency at its central hub in Burton-upon-Trent.

A Palletforce spokeswoman tells Forkliftaction.com News that the company wanted to replace the existing three-year-old fleet with "the very latest and up to date" forklifts. CAT two tonne counterbalance forklifts were selected.

Last year, Palletforce spent GBP500,000 (USD795,183) developing specialist scanning and axle weighing technology that was fitted to each of its forklifts. The technology has now been fitted on its new fleet with additional upgrades including touchscreen and larger scanner memory.

Operations director Carl Worgan says Palletforce is always looking at how it can use technology to drive improvements and increase efficiency.

"The new weighing and scanning technology is something we created ourselves and has proved very successful. These new forklifts and scanner upgrades will further add to the speed and accuracy of our network," Worgan says.

Worgan and his team took two years to develop the technology using software written to meet Palletforce's requirements. It allows Palletforce to track and trace every pallet from the moment they enter the central hub. Staff barcode the pallets before delivering them to the hub.

Once at the hub, they are unloaded by the forklifts, which read the barcode and automatically weigh the pallet. A message then appears on the forklift's display screens, telling the driver which of the 96 loading bays to transfer the pallet to.

Palletforce's GBP30 million (USD47.7 million) central distribution hub was opened last year and acts as a nerve centre for the overnight delivery of palletised goods across the UK and Europe.