Six new Hyster electric lift trucks which feature special engineering to meet the demands of brewery operations have been provided to the Heineken Ireland site in Cork.
The Heineken site in Cork, founded in 1856, employs 458 people and ships two million kegs per year to pubs, hotels, restaurants, supermarkets and wholesalers. As such the brewery’s yard operations are intense, loading and unloading on average 20 lorries each day.
“Empty kegs arrive every day and have to be unloaded and placed on a conveyor to take them to the production area,” says Matt Hardy, industry manager for Hyster Europe. “At the same time, full kegs are collected and stacked in the storage area ready for despatch. These are challenging loads as they are not always palletised, they vary in size and are often very tall.”
To help overcome these challenges, the Hyster Special Truck Engineering Team developed a raised operator compartment for the six new Hyster J3.5XN lift trucks which improves all-round and upwards visibility. In a standard truck the operator would not be able to see past tall loads and would normally have to work in reverse due to the limited forward visibility. The raised operator compartment enables operators to see over loads and operate in the forward direction where a standard truck could not, enhancing operator comfort.
To further support operators and enhance comfort, the lift trucks were also supplied with Blue Pedestrian Awareness Lights (PAL) front and rear, red side PAL’s, a reverse camera, an auto park brake, a cab heater, UV protection overhead guard glass, a high backed suspension seat and mini lever controls.
The new lift trucks also feature a specialised Kaup Keg clamp attachment which enables efficient lifting of non-palletised kegs of multiple sizes and quantities without changing attachments. This is critical to the operation when lifting either 18 x 50L kegs or 24 x 30L kegs at a time. The electric Hyster® forklifts also include mud flaps to protect the attachment from road debris for optimal durability.
“The reliability of the new Hyster lift trucks is essential for keeping the operation flowing,” says Colin McNeely, sales director Ireland,for Briggs Equipment, the exclusive Hyster distribution partner for Ireland. “Maintenance and daily check downtime is minimal, and the batteries are charged at the end of the shift ensuring maximum uptime during busy periods to maximise efficiency.”
For quick and easy battery replacement, the electric Hyster forklifts have been provided with side battery extraction. Briggs Equipment Ireland is located close to the Heineken brewery and provides a full service contract which includes a total battery management service, removing the need for drivers to be involved in any battery maintenance.
To enhance productivity, the Hyster Tracker telematics system is used for fleet reporting. This monitors both truck utilisation and battery life, ensuring optimum management of the fleet to reduce costs. Two Hyster® H2.5FT LPG forklift trucks and one Hyster® R1.4 Reach truck are also used within the goods area at the Cork site.
