Efficient materials handling is a key element in the successful operation of any timber business. Getting it right requires teamwork and a transparent business partnership between the customer and the supplier.
Finding a company that can provide this teamwork as well as effective aftersales support, can be a challenge – particularly in the constantly changing environment of modern businesses and new product offerings.
Materials handling equipment is one of the larger items in the investment programme of a successful timber business and making the right decision before entering into a long-term agreement is therefore essential.
Linde, one of the largest manufacturers of materials handling solutions, employs 32,000 people worldwide and produces over 120,000 units per year in its own factories. Its product range can be found working in a vast variety of industrial and commercial applications including car manufacturing, airports, seaports, warehousing and distribution, in addition to the timber industry.
Its range extends from 1-tonne to 52-tonne capacity and includes pallet and reach trucks, order pickers, electric and engine-powered counterbalance trucks, container handlers, tow tractors and, of course, the timber industry’s workhorse, the sideloader.
“Sideloaders are synonymous with the timber trade and they form an important part of our Merthyr Tydfil production programme, particularly for the UK where we have a dominant market share,” said Bob Tarbutt, sales development manager based at Merthyr.
Of its eight manufacturing sites, two of the most important are located in the UK. The modern Basingstoke facility produces electric counterbalance and reach trucks as well as tow tractors, while the purpose-built Merthyr Tydfil plant, which incorporates an impressive testing ground, produces 2,000 units per year in the Linde ‘heavy truck’ range from 5-tonne to 52-tonne capacity, including the sideloader.
The ultra-modern Merthyr Tydfil plant has over 300 employees, involved in design and development, procurement, production through to testing.
Investments
While some components, such as castings, are sourced externally to Linde’s specifications, the vast majority of the manufacturing process is carried out in-house – ongoing investments at the plant include automatic robotic welding for the mast assemblies.
The comprehensive testing procedures at Merthyr Tydfil have two key purposes: research and development; and to ensure that all statutory requirements and standards are met. A typical post production test sequence for the sideloader takes around five hours.
“Our manufacturing credentials go back to the 1960s,” explained Mr Tarbutt. “The Linde hydrostatic transmission system, which provides so many operational benefits, is a perfect example of the company’s commitment to innovative technological development.”
With the acquisition in the 1980s of the leading European brands Fenwick in France and Lansing in the UK, Linde invested heavily in the modernisation of the Basingstoke plant and developing the Merthyr Tydfil site to design and produce leading-edge products.
With its nine national network companies deploying 1,000 locally-based service engineers, together with comprehensive local parts inventories and overnight parts deliveries to the service engineers vans, Linde aims for a fast and effective response. “We provide local support through 23 regional customer centres strategically located throughout the UK,” explained Mr Tarbutt. “This gives our customers a total support package on a local basis with local knowledge and a fast response culture.
“The ability to produce equipment in volume and to support that equipment anywhere in the world has stood the Merthyr plant in very good stead. Business is currently very buoyant.”
