Tag: forklift technology|forklifts|sustainability

BYD Forklift Europe, the world’s leading manufacturer of New Energy Vehicles (NEVs), has brought a selection from its range of 100% zero-emission forklift trucks to Fruit Attraction 2021 in Madrid at its stand 6B01 in hall 6. BYD is using its presence at the show to demonstrate to the Spanish and European fruit and vegetable industry the many cost savings and operational benefits of running an emission-free materials handling fleet.

With the unique BYD Iron-Phosphate Battery at the heart of each of its products, BYD forklifts enhance a business’s green credentials whilst also offering significant cost savings and operation benefits. Furthermore, BYD Iron-Phosphate Batteries come with the most advance design, highest levels of safety and an industry-leading 8-year (or 10,000-hour) warranty, offering companies in the fruit and vegetable sector a safe, reliable, and long-term materials handling equipment partner.

Fruit producers will also be reassured to learn that BYD has an established professional dealer network covering 100% of the Iberian Peninsula, ensuring fast and local service and support.

Visitors to BYD’s stand in the ‘Auxiliary Services’ area of Fruit Attraction will be greeted by a selection from its fast-charging BYD Iron-Phosphate Battery powered range of equipment, including:

• The eye-catching BYD ECB20S, BYD’s latest forklift truck. Displayed at an exhibition for the first time in Europe, the BYD ECB20S completes its three-wheel counterbalance range. This fully-equipped workhorse offers a tremendous amount of options, and like all BYD Iron-Phosphate powered equipment it allows you to top-up the battery at short intervals during operator breaks, ensuring highest levels of availability around the clock.
• Two versions of its popular stacker truck, the BYD EPS14, one with a fold-down platform and one which is walk-behind. With a nominal capacity of 1400kg and lifting heights of up to 5400mm, these stackers can comfortably handle most internal operations found in a busy fruit processing environment.
• The versatile BYD PTW20S pallet truck, for heavier nominal loads up to 2000kg, can be used to load and unload trucks swiftly and efficiently, as well as in areas such as a warehouses where space is at a premium.

Any business in this sector operating a forklift truck or a fleet of materials handling equipment will already most likely be using electric-powered equipment. The main difference is that, most of these will be powered by traditional lead-acid batteries which are not only notorious for spilling acid and leaking gasses, but also run with a considerably reduced capacity the more they are used.

That’s why manufacturers of forklifts are rushing to embrace lithium-ion technology, as it eliminates these health and safety issues and offers longer-lasting batteries with a greater operational window. However, as a sector-leading innovative company, BYD is a step ahead of the game as its 100% maintenance-free Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries offer many more benefits than standard lithium-ion batteries.

For example, they can be charged from 20% battery life to 100% in just 60 minutes. The efficiency of the BYD Iron-Phosphate Battery means the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a BYD forklift can be as much as 60% lower than an equivalent lead-acid battery powered rival.

BYD is unique amongst forklift makers in that it designs, manufactures and develops its own batteries and battery management systems (BMS), the same tried-and-tested technology that sits at the heart of its market-leading range of electric buses that can be seen in major cities and airports across Europe and the rest of the world. Additionally, BYD produces critically-acclaimed passenger cars and trucks, ensuring its technology is operating successfully in the most challenging and demanding conditions.

“BYD understands the business of fruit and vegetable producers and processers, and have developed a range of products that are very well suited to handle the lifting and moving challenges they face,” says Ignacio García, BYD Forklifts Country Manager Iberia. “With a growing network of dealers in the region and a range of safe, reliable equipment, BYD can also help companies operating in this industry sector to enhance their green credentials.”

Visitors to Fruit Attraction 2021, which is taking place in Madrid on 5th-7th October, are invited to visit the BYD Forklift stand to find out how to reduce their logistics costs, optimise their operational efficiency, and demonstrate a quantifiable improvement in their environmental profile which they can use to help win new customers and retain existing business.

Any logistics services provider or online fulfilment company that is perceived to be merely paying lip service to ‘green’ issues or is inactive when it comes to corporate sustainability strategy, not only risks seriously undermining its own brand and reputation – but also those of its clients.

That is the warning from Paul Mulcahy, Toyota Material Handling UK’s Quality, Health and Safety and Environment (QHSE) manager.

“There was a time when it was dismissed by sections of the business community as ‘just another fad,’ but corporate sustainability is now seen as deeply intrinsic to the success of any modern company,” says Mulcahy.

He continues: “Sustainable practices have emerged as a strategic imperative and many companies – particularly retailers and online traders – are using sustainability to increase customer loyalty.

“Consumers increasingly show a preference for brands and products with authentic sustainability stories. As a result, today’s multi-channel retailers need to be able to demonstrate a genuine commitment to sustainable goals and they expect their logistics services providers or online fulfilment partners to be in a position to do the same.

“Of course, this is having a knock-on effect on materials handling equipment (MHE) companies too, because logistics and fulfilment operations obviously prefer to work with suppliers of forklift trucks and other types of MHE that are as serious as they are about sustainability – and not just treating the issue as another marketing veneer.

“For example it would be difficult for Toyota to provide forklift fleets to the UK’s biggest supermarket retailers or an organisation such as Amazon, if we didn’t have robust sustainability strategies in place.

“Companies only want to deal with businesses that share their values and this attitude is passing down through the supply chain. Ultimately, everyone – from the biggest retailer or manufacturer to their smallest supplier – will have to focus on its responsibility to operate sustainably.”

More than just ‘green’

Contrary to popular belief, there is more to a corporate sustainability strategy than simply being ‘green’, as Mulcahy explains.

“Ask a room full of people from the business community what ‘corporate sustainability’ means to them and the chances are most will immediately mention environmental issues. But environmentalism isn’t the whole story.

“When adopting a corporate sustainability strategy, businesses also have to consider their social, economic and cultural impact. In other words, a sustainable company will engage in business practices that are good for people as well as the environment.”

Sustainability has been high on Toyota’s agenda for many years and every 12 months, Toyota Material Handling UK undergoes an assessment by EcoVadis, the leading sustainability rating company. The assessment focuses on the company’s commitment not only to the environment, but also to labour issues and human rights, sustainable procurement and ethics.

In November 2020 Toyota was granted an EcoVadis Platinum award. The highest possible score, the award ranks the company within the top 1% of the 61,000+ organisations around the world that undergo the EcoVadis programme.

“Receiving an EcoVadis Platinum award enables us to build trust with our customers, suppliers and other stakeholders, and encourages all of us within Toyota Material Handling UK to continue integrating sustainability into the way that we work,” says Mulcahy.

As part of its ongoing commitment to seek out new sustainable initiatives, Toyota Material Handling UK has recently established a sustainability group comprising team members with widely varying roles from across the company. The group’s job is to identify ways that Toyota can contribute more to society and its local communities.

“Adopting even seemingly insignificant sustainable practices can have a major impact in the long term, so nothing will be overlooked. After all, it is said that If every office worker in the UK used one less staple a day, 120 tonnes of steel would be saved in a single year!” adds Mulcahy.