Linde has begun the roll-out of a national forklift contract with VersaCold Logistics.

Linde Material Handling has delivered more than 100 forklifts to VersaCold Logistics’ Murarrie facility in Queensland.

The forklifts form part of a national contract signed with VersaCold in September last year  to supply around 400 new forklifts to the company’s warehouses in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia.

By replacing its old fleet with Linde equipment, VersaCold has moved from a battery charging regime to a battery changing process.

The Murarrie facility, being the first to implement the new forklifts and a new operational regime, has been able to reduce its fleet from 135 vehicles to 101.

The facility is a full slot managed warehouse with 27,500 pallet positions and 230 staff. The freezer rooms operate at less than –18°C and the chiller rooms are less than 4°C, so the forklifts operate in an extreme environment and must be reliable in these harsh conditions.

According to Doug Seccombe, operations manager for VersaCold, Linde gave a lot of assistance in establishing the battery room in regard to design and operations. "We are very happy with the simplicity and practicality of the new battery changing room."

Battery performance has been so good that it has exceeded the KPIs originally set down. "Instead of getting one shift per battery, we’re getting about one and a half, so it’s much better than I had planned."

He adds that during the tender process and planning, Linde staff assisted in the planning and recommended what equipment should be purchased.

"They measured our entire distribution centre and did their homework to understand what we do. From the first afternoon of live operations, I felt comfortable with what Linde was doing and they assured us that everything would be ok and there would be no interruptions – and there weren’t!"

About Linde (China)

Linde (China) Forklift Truck Corp., Ltd., the Asian base of Linde Forklift Truck was established in Dec. 1993 with a total investment of RMB 1.7 billion, which is the biggest forklift truck manufacturer in China with advanced technology. Since entering China, Linde has developed a comprehensive network of sales and service providing advanced materials handling equipment and professional service. Linde provides the best solutions to improve material handling efficiency and reduce costs.