Flexible forklift deal fits with manufacturer’s expansion plans

The deal is with Briggs Equipment, distributor of Yale forklift trucks, and sees Briggs supplying 34 new Yale counterbalance trucks as part of a five-year Flexihire contract. With plans in place to double in size in the next 10 years, Golden Acres needed an agreement that would enable the fleet size to be altered to match business growth. The company had been using short-term rental equipment on a week to week rolling contract with Briggs, but this required a service engineer to be onsite continuously to repair and maintain the machines. Jim Whittingham, production director at Golden Acres, explained: "We are aiming to double our turnover to £100 million. We're currently in the process of planning to build a new 100,000 sq ft warehouse at our main site in Bretherton, Leyland. We're also purchasing a 200,000 sq ft warehouse, which will be our new distribution centre for all finished produce as well as for our mail order distributions just nine miles away. "Briggs' Flexihire contract will help us to proactively manage our operations to minimise any disruptions to our services. Plus, with the new Yale trucks, we will see significant reductions in repairs and maintenance, improving usage and, therefore, productivity." Mark Welsby, sales executive for Briggs Equipment, said: "We suggested a Flexihire contract to give Golden Acres more flexibility in a time of major change. Now that the older trucks have been replaced with brand new Yale machines, our engineer spends less than half the time onsite and performs only the necessary preventative maintenance to ensure optimum truck utilisation."