Scanning and weighing technology boosts Palletforce forklifts
1 min read
Pallet distribution business Palletforce has invested more than £1m in a new fleet of high-tech forklift trucks. The company has upgraded its fleet of 40 forklifts to improve efficiency at its £30m central distribution hub which it opened last year. The new vehicles are two-tonne Cat counterbalance models, supplied by Briggs Equipment.
Palletforce spent £500,000 developing specialist scanning and axle-weighing technology that was fitted to each of its forklifts last year. Now the technology has been fitted to the new fleet with additional upgrades including a touchscreen and larger scanner memory.
The technology took two years to develop, and was the first of its kind in the UK. It allows Palletforce to track and trace every pallet from the moment of arrival at its central hub in Burton-upon-Trent.
Each outlying Palletforce member barcodes its pallets before delivering them to the hub. Once at the hub, they are unloaded by the forklifts, which read the barcode and automatically weigh the pallet. A message then appears on the display screen on the forklifts, telling the driver which loading bay to transfer the pallet to.
Operations director Carl Worgan said: "The new weighing and scanning technology is something we created ourselves and has proved very successful. These new forklifts and scanner upgrades will further add to the speed and accuracy of our network."
Pictured (left to right) are operations director Carl Worgan, chief executive Michael Conroy and central operations manager Richard Southern.
