Fleet response to Xmas peak
December 1st 2007

With retailers and their suppliers facing demand peaks, the Christmas period often means more trucks are needed. Briggs can supply trucks at 24 hours notice – and says its NRN reach trucks boost safety for temporary workers unfamiliar with their environment

Christmas is unpredictable and it places immense pressure on warehouse managers to deliver targets. Seasonal demands pose a number of questions when planning the use of your lift truck fleet, when productivity and reliability is essential.

This is where short term rental trucks provide a flexible and economically viable warehouse fleet solution, often at as little as 24 hours' notice.

"Our larger customers, such as the electrical retailers and food companies, actually take up to 30 per cent of their fleet on short term rental," says Allan Parsons, head of short term rental at Briggs Equipment. "Reach trucks are key in helping them manage their seasonal demand. One of our large customers, an electrical retailer, takes 130 Cat trucks from us just to cope with the Christmas period. This year the trend has been smaller electrical products which the retailer block stacks in its warehouse. We provide custom modifications across their whole STR fleet, kitting out over 70 trucks with extra high masts and special carton clamps." To cope with the extra demand for goods and increased movement of stock that Christmas brings, many companies take on extra temporary agency staff. Not surprisingly, Briggs Equipment has found that accidents during this period can increase by as much as 25 per cent.

"The accidental damage which occurs to the machines and products can be put down to the inexperienced operators who have very little time to familiarise themselves with the machines. Working to very demanding deadlines is the main contributing factor to the damage," says Parsons. It is the responsibility of employers to ensure that temporary employees are correctly trained and briefed on the trucks as well as on the health and safety procedures before they start working in the warehouse.

Together with the new generation of Cat NRN series Reach trucks, Briggs says it can help manage safety in the warehouse.

According to the company, the Poweramic mast design improves safety because it increases the driver's ability to see through the mast. The progressive steering technology on these trucks slows down the steering wheel reaction at faster speeds, making the truck more stable.

The safety curve feature also slows down the truck when the driver turns into a very sharp curve, thereby preventing unstable situations and overturning.

Unstable situations are particularly likely to happen when working at heights or with heavy loads. So the NRNs in-built technology automatically reduces the truck's speed when working at height and when carrying heavy loads on the forks. It also adapts the driving speed to the lift height, ensuring that the speed of the truck is limited or reduced at higher lifting heights.

With such powerful hydraulics, accidents can also happen when the driver operates moving parts unintentionally. The NRN's presence detection system prevents this scenario by disabling all hydraulic functions when the truck is switched on but no driver is on the seat.

"Our customers need trucks that can handle the pressure of Christmas and other seasonal peaks," says Parsons. "They expect complete reliability from our trucks, and fast delivery. All our rental trucks are no more than four years old and we have nearly 2,500 to choose from, many of these are warehouse trucks.

"The Reach truck's in-built safety features come as standard and it goes without saying that they go a long way to help reduce accidents and damage in the warehouse when the pressure is on." Call the number below for further information, or enquire online.

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