Truck-mounted forklifts

Truck-mounted forklifts (TMFs), that enable quick, convenient transport of goods, originated in agriculture. A Dutch tulip bulb farmer, named Hessel Kooi, was said to have developed the first TMF to move tulip bulbs from fields to distributors. Cecil Moffett, of Irish TMF manufacturer Moffett Engineering Ltd, made tractors long before he developed a forklift and Princeton Delivery Systems’ founder produced a TMF to transport sod for his nursery. by Christine Liew  Read more

Jungheinrich wants to set standards in RFID
HAMBURG, Germany

Forklift manufacturer Jungheinrich AG is co-ordinating an RFID technology research project that counts Kion Group (Linde & Still brands) as an active member.

The three-year IdentProLog project, promoted by the German Ministry of Education & Research under the motto “research for production of the future”, aims to set cross-sector standards for RFID (radio frequency identification) in industry and trade.

Ralf Baginski, Jungheinrich’s head of basic development, said the consortium’s main interest was to develop “basic technologies” for RFID communication between forklifts and load carriers.

“The aim is to have them increase the efficiency of material flows in industry and trade.”

IdentProLog participants wanted to use RFID technology to develop “intelligent” and “communication-enabled” pallets, and forklifts with corresponding identification technology.

“With the result that, in future, forklifts will not only transport more material but also be bearers of information,” a Jungheinrich statement said.

The consortium, under the umbrella of Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Technische Logistik, includes PSI Logistics GmbH, Deister Electronic GmbH, Kuka Roboter GmbH, the Institut für Fördertechnik und Logistik, and the Institut für Transport – und Automatisierungstechnik.

RFID uses radio waves to automatically identify objects. An RFID tag is a microchip attached to an antenna. The antenna enables transmission of digital information that can be transferred to a computer.

RFID has an advantage over bar-code systems as tags can be read simultaneously instead of singularly. RFID tags are attached to pallets, products and forklifts and can be scanned as a unit load moves through a dock. Companies can share information with customers and suppliers about the location of individual products anywhere in the supply chain.

Baginski said interested companies were welcome to join the project.

JLG reports sales up, profit up
McCONNELLSBURG, PA, United States

Telehandler manufacturer JLG Industries Inc has set aggressive five-year goals after recording dramatic financial gains.

For the fiscal year ended July 31, compared with FY2005, JLG’s sales increased 32 per cent to USD2.29 billion from USD1.74 billion. Profit jumped 161 per cent to USD149.3 million from USD57.2 million.

The 2006 results include a once-only, pre-tax gain of USD14.6 million from the February sale of JLG’s Gradall excavator business to Alamo Group Inc and USD1.9 million for charges associated with early extinguishment of debt.

“We achieved other significant milestones in 2006,” CEO Bill Lasky said. “We completed our manufacturing realignment and capacity expansion in preparation for the Caterpillar alliance and a projected increase in demand for JLG access equipment.”

An updated five-year JLG strategic plan targets sales of USD4 billion by 2011 and a diversification of channels to market so no single source represents more than 30 per cent of revenue. “We want to drive cost and waste out of our products and processes and institutionalise Six Sigma [quality initiatives] throughout the company,” Lasky said. JLG wanted “to add a third core business by 2011” through acquisitions, alliances or joint ventures.

Lasky gave an update on the next steps for JLG’s private-label Caterpillar Inc program under a 20-year strategic alliance.

JLG intended to consolidate as many as eight telehandler product lines, extract costs and design new models without impacting end-user comfort zones. JLG was working with Caterpillar on telehandler redesigns, initially for the European market. JLG had “now grown into number one in the world with different families” of telehandlers, and that business was “our greatest opportunity for cost reduction”, Lasky said.

JLG began shipping Caterpillar-branded telehandlers to European dealers on July 26 and anticipated a November start for shipments to dealers in the United States and Canada.

Jim Woodward, chief financial officer, said JLG might invest in capability for larger aerial booms and create an engineering technical centre. Engineering resources were “now scattered across six locations”, Woodward said. JLG was contemplating consolidating to a single location in McConnellsburg.      

Woodward said JLG wanted to lower manufacturing expenses and “get more than the rate of inflation out of our products. We must be more successful this year”.

Lasky said a Service Plus site would open in Atlanta, Georgia, in October. A five-year plan for expanding after-market business called for annually opening perhaps two more Service Plus sites in locations to be identified.

JLG had opened a Service Plus site in Houston, Texas, for repair and maintenance, reconditioning, and training on all JLG manufactured products, and, earlier, had established an initial site in McConnellsburg.

In January, JLG said Joe Dixon had joined the firm as president of the JLG Service Plus Inc subsidiary.

Fortune magazine’s 2006 list of the 100 fastest growing companies placed JLG 22nd on the basis of profit, sales and total return over three years. JLG’s total shareholder return ranked 17th.

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Bolzoni looks at fork market
PIACENZA, Italy

Bolzoni SpA may enter the forks market through a possible acquisition, the company said in a 324-page initial-public-offering prospectus.

The intention was listed under the heading “Launch of a new category of products”. Bolzoni seeks a listing on the Italian Stock Exchange.

No further details were available about the possibility of a market entry or acquisition, Carlo Fallarini, Bolzoni marketing & sales director said. Bolzoni manufactures forklift attachments and industrial materials handling equipment at plants in six countries.

Movers & Shakers

ROCESTER, United Kingdom
JCB has appointed Matthew Taylor as its first chief operating officer. He will continue in his current role as managing director, JCB Sales. Taylor will oversee daily operations of JCB globally, except for North and South America.

Graeme Macdonald is the new president of JCB Inc (The Americas), based in Savannah, Georgia, USA. JCB’s North and South American operations will be merged and overseen by Macdonald.

JCB managing director and CEO John Patterson is now also JCB Inc chairman. Taylor and Macdonald will report to him. Patterson will develop the group’s strategy in the Americas and Asia to achieve long-term sales growth.

MILWAUKEE, WI, United States
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) has named Rex Sprietsma as director of statistics & market information. He will oversee AEM’s domestic and global equipment market data reporting programs. Before joining AEM, Sprietsma worked at WestfaliaSurge for 27 years in market research & analysis posts.

“Half-hearted efforts” trigger convictions
ADELAIDE, South Australia, Australia

SafeWork South Australia has warned businesses using forklifts after “half-hearted” efforts to manage risks have resulted in three safety convictions.

In the last three weeks, three workplace injury convictions in South Australia involved forklifts.

SafeWork SA executive director Michele Patterson said the cases had resulted from apathy.

“Workers have been injured because of poor assessments of safety risks and half-hearted efforts to manage them,” she said.

In the most recent case, Corporate Flooring Pty Ltd was convicted and fined AUD35,000 after pleading guilty to two breaches of the South Australian Occupational Health Safety & Welfare Act 1986, a SafeWork SA statement said.

It said the South Australian Industrial Relations Court heard that, in April 2004, a German backpacker, then 24, suffered a broken lower leg when she was run over by a forklift. She had fallen from the tynes after being invited to ride on the forklift. She had been in Australia just four days.

Industrial Magistrate Richard Hardy found the company had offered no adequate information or instruction on forklift safety, no supervision, no written procedures on health and safety practices and no communication to employees.

Last week, Herbalife Australasia Pty Ltd was convicted and fined AUD18,750 after an employee fell about six metres to the ground and suffered wrist and elbow injuries. The employee was being lifted in a metal cage on the tynes of a forklift to remove louvres from an overhead air conditioning duct.

The cage was “not designed as a personnel box” and not secured.

Also this month, De Ville Australia Pty Ltd and Vermont Holdings Pty Ltd were fined AUD72,000 after a roller door installer standing on a forklift fell three metres and then had a heavy metal cage fall on him.

In his judgement, Industrial Magistrate Stephen Lieschke said the two companies had shown “a high degree of complacency” and such incidents resulted when forklifts were “informally adapted for non-standard uses”.

RFID comes to town
MELBOURNE, Victoria, Australia

One-day interactive training sessions in electronic produce code (EPC) and radio frequency identification (RFID) will be held in November in three Australian cities.

The Australasian Production & Inventory Control Society (APICS) and GS1 Australia will run short courses in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney for the manufacturing, wholesale, distribution and services industries.

An APICS/GS1 statement said the courses provided a thorough introduction to RFID.

“By the end of the day, participants will have the tools necessary to consider their own RFID business case, including an understanding of RFID pros and cons, how to evaluate RFID technology vendors, launch a pilot project, and plan for successful RFID deployment,” the statement said.

RFID systems would be compared with existing systems, such as bar codes. Case studies and return on investment would be examined. The courses would consider what to do when planning RFID implementation.

The APICS 3.5-hour morning sessions cost AUD400 for non-members. The optional afternoon GS1 EPC sessions cost AUD200 for non-members.

The statement said the afternoon sessions would explain EPC, standards, principles, Generation 2 EPC and how EPC supported “collaborative commerce and seamless supply chain management”.

GS1 Australia is a not-for-profit company that administers global standards, such as numbering and bar codes, EPC standards for RFID, data synchronisation and e-messaging standards.

APICS is an Australasian non-profit membership organisation that fosters practical knowledge and education for manufacturing and supply chain businesses.

In Europe, the second annual RFID conference and exhibition is in Amsterdam on October 25-27, 2006. It will include education seminars on the technology infrastructure required to support RFID-enabled businesses, what RFID “can and can’t do” and its relevance in the supply chain.

In the United States, Wal-Mart has announced plans to enable a further 500 stores and clubs with RFID technology, a statement said.

Wal-Mart executive officer Rollin Ford said the cost of the technology continued to fall and Wal-Mart was “aggressively moving forward” with RFID-enabled technology and adoption of Gen 2 tags.

He said benefits of RFID included reducing out-of-stocks and excess inventory.

Further information: www.gs1au.org

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Vulkoprin introduces completely NEW WHEEL CATALOGUE!

Since 1964, Vulkoprin has been manufacturing, in Belgium, polyurethane elastomere Vulkollan® under Bayer license and is especially known for its high quality wheels, castors, rollers, tyres and technical parts. Today Vulkoprin is one of Europe's leading manufacturers in the "wheel industry" and is exporting to more than 50 countries worldwide.

Click here for the full text of this release, including pictures.

Nissan Forklift First to Receive Foreign Trade Zone Status

Nissan Forklift is pleased to announce the approval of Foreign Trade Zone status. The new Foreign Trade Zone, a sub zone of the Foreign Trade Zone at the Chicago-Rockford International Airport, will allow Nissan Forklift to streamline the customs process, and reduce or eliminate duties or tariffs on parts that it imports, in addition to completed machines it exports.

Click here for the full text of this release, including pictures.

PiggyBack® Performance Shown to Improve Delivery Efficiency and Customer Service

Princeton Delivery Systems, Inc. now offers three, specifically designed PiggyBack® Delivery Systems models...their PB70, PBX, and unique “4-Way” models. Each of these rough terrain units has a proven ability to deliver a wide range of building materials over typical site terrain. This ability comes from both to their own, unique performance capabilities and the exceptional stability and reliability engineered into all PiggyBack models.

Click here for more information on this product, including pictures.

WWP’s NEW WP60-13

Driving system gives smooth, steeples acceleration and infinitely variable speed control, and it utilizes regenerative braking which reduces heat of motor and increase power of battery. The anti-rollback system delivers maximum power when required for uphill starts on loading ramps. The system also provides improved speed control during travel on uphill or downhill gradients. Drive performance can be adjusted by using programmer unit.

Click here for more information on this product, including pictures.

AEM conference to examine global trends
MILWAUKEE, WI, United States

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers’s (AEM) 2006 annual conference, on November 5-7 in Boca Raton, Florida, has a line up of speakers to examine global business trends affecting forklift companies.

Click here for the full Fork Talk feature, including pictures.

Dave Hoover: Let yourself feel others’ pain
NEWARK, OH, United States

Last week I read a tragic story in the local paper. A man in his early 20s was killed when a tracked excavator swung around and pinned him to a fixed object on a construction site. Normally I would skip to the next article, since I read accident investigations all the time and hear about accidents almost every week, but something caught my eye and I continued to read.

Click here for the full Safety First feature, including pictures.

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