Archive
Feb03
Toyota Forklifts & Reddy Ice
Announcer: The idea of something being frozen in the supply chain is not usually a good thing. We normally like to see things kept fluid but in the case of the nation’s largest manufacturer of commercial ice, frozen is the ideal state.
This is the Denver production and distribution facility for Reddy Ice, a company that manufacturers ice at 68 facilities across 32 states. Denver is one if its newest facilities. At 50,000 square feet it includes an ice production area, a freezer storage vault, and a loading dock.
Reddy Ice relies on Toyota forklifts and pallet jacks to move ice within all of its facilities nationwide. The company had previously used another lift truck brand but switched to Toyota forklifts because of their quality and dependability. Also, because Toyota’s extensive and experienced dealer network matches up well for servicing and maintaining the vehicles.
Joey Tasher: We’re converting all of our units to Toyota. We chose Toyota because of their vast distribution aspects. They have facilities nationwide that really proved to fit better for us.
Announcer: Reddy Ice, as a corporation, wanted a single point of contact to manage forklift needs and since Reddy Ice is headquartered in Dallas, Texas the Dallas area Toyota forklift dealer, Shoppas Material Handling, became their primary supplier. Shoppas coordinates the 800 pieces of Toyota equipment that Reddy Ice now uses within its network and it works with the local Toyota forklift dealers across all 68 of Reddy Ice’s Locations to service and maintain the equipment.
Jason Bratton: Toyota and Reddy Ice Have partnered to provide material handling equipment throughout their facilities all across North America. We’ve helped standardize them on the Toyota product, making sure they have the right piece of equipment for their application. It’s been a great relationship so far.
Announcer: The Denver facility Reaches customers throughout Colorado as well as parts of Wyoming and New Mexico. Those customers include convenience stores, supermarkets, commercial ice users, and airlines. The ice on this truck will fill the drinks of passengers departing today from Denver International Airport.
Work starts early here as the first delivery trucks leave the facility at about five in the morning. That means that ice has to be ready by then for loading.
Manufacturing commercial ice is just a bit more complicated than how we all make ice cubes at home. First, city water is sent through a water softener, a carbon filter, then reverse osmosis, and finally a UV filter. The filtered water is frozen using these large tanks cooled by liquid ammonia. The formed ice is cut into cubes, which are deposited in this storage bin located within the facility’s very large freezer, known as the vault. The temperature in here is a chilly 18°F.
The next step is to bring the cubed ice from the vault for packaging into 5, 10, and 20 pounds plastic bags. The 10 pound bag is the most popular size. The bagged ice is palletized and a Toyota forklift picks up the ice and loads it onto a pallet conveyor. The ice then conveys to a door on the wall of the very large freezer vault. Inside the vault a light illuminates alerting a forklift driver, working with in those chilly conditions, that a pallet is ready for pickup. He opens the door, gathers the load off of the conveyor, and takes it to floor storage where the pallets are stacked several high. The ice will remain in the vault for only a short time before being loaded onto trucks for customer delivery.
This Toyota electric forklift is one of two in Denver equipped with a cascade single double fork attachment so it is able to handle two pallets at a time. The pallets are taken directly from the vault and loaded onto trailers and delivery trucks. The two pallets barely fit through the trailer opening with the single double forks but loading this way is twice as fast. An important consideration when your inventory could simply melt away.
Electric pallet jacks are also used to load trailers. The electric pallet jacks often do double duty here as some of them ride along inside of the trailers so that they are available to expedite delivery upon reaching the customer site. The pallets are simply unloaded from the truck and driven directly into customer storage areas. That’s much easier than carrying individual bags of ice. Even though, they must work in frigid conditions the Toyota forklifts have proven to be up to the task.
Joey Tasher: They have reacted very well to the cold environment as well as to the different effects of in and out of a freezer. Toyota is very reliable, your products are very strong, and provide us the ability to really complete our job in an effective manner.
Feb02
Territory II Sales Manager
Mark covers Lift Truck Supply’s most eastern territory that includes – Longview, Kilgore, Marshall, Nacogdoches, Texarkana, and Lufkin.
With over 15 years in forklift sales in the North East Texas region, Mark is uniquely qualified to evaluate equipment options and recommend material handling solutions that fit your specific operational needs.
1. How did you get into forklift sales?
While working in sales at Schwan’s I was approached by a customer about taking a look at an equipment sales company he had purchased. With a background in sales, customer service, and basic automotive knowledge I felt confident I could transition into equipment sales. I studied hard and learned the facts about the equipment offerings we carried and grew into the position.
2. What aspect of material handling consulting do you find the most rewarding?
Listening to a customer’s needs and being able to help them gain efficiencies or be better equipped to handle the items that give them headaches is a good feeling. We had a customer this past year with an original battery change out station servicing 3 batteries per forklift to keep up with their daily operations. The aging batteries had become a high maintenance item in terms of labor and productivity as well as a potential safety hazard. We were able to survey the time spent watering, changing batteries, and maintenance to the charging station and provide a report that justified the cost of a more efficient battery system and make the working environment safer.
3. When you’re not on the job, how do you like to spend your time?
My kids take up most of my time – running them to soccer games or practice 4 to 5 days a week. When we don’t have soccer or some type of kids sports, the family enjoys going to Texas Rangers games, car and truck shows, or sometimes just cooking and hanging out with friends and family!
If you’re from Longview, Kilgore, Marshall, Nacogdoches, Texarkana, or Lufkin and need recommendations or quotes on forklifts please call Mark at 903.387.8665.
Feb01
Territory I Sales Manager
Scott covers Lift Truck Supply’s central territory that includes – Tyler, Jacksonville, Sulphur Springs, Corsicana, Greenville, and Paris.
Fifteen plus years of forklift sales and service experience has made Scott an excellent resource for questions regarding material handling. As a former mechanic, Scott’s unique insights often lead to increased productivity and efficiency for his clients.
We asked Scott to answer these three questions so you could better get to know him and his thoughts on material handling.
1. Why are Toyota forklifts consistently rated the lowest cost of ownership among forklift brands?
Toyota is the top in quality and durability, which is what you receive with your Toyota forklift, these are forklifts that you can count on for many years in your facility. The ease of operation and maintenance on the machines leads to less downtime and more productivity. Even when I was a mechanic, I preferred to work on the Toyota’s compared to other brands because of the ease of service and space provided in the compartment for the mechanic to reach everything without having to disassemble the forklift. This also factors into the cost of ownership because you’re paying less for tear down time.
2. What’s the most challenging aspect of your job?
The most challenging part is trying to reach everyone in my territory to have face-to-face time with each customer. I try to treat customers the way I would like to be treated if I was the customer. I would like to know who I am buying my equipment from and what type of person they are. This plays into the purchasing process as well, you can tell so much from a person’s personality the first time you meet them that gives you an indication whether this is going to be a good purchase.
3. When you’re not on the job, how do you like to spend your time?
Most of my time is spent with my family – we do everything together. My oldest daughter is in college so we have had to get use to that, but the youngest, which is in high school keeps us very busy with her sport activities. If I am not with them, then most likely I am at the lake trying to catch my limit of fish – it happens very rarely.
If you’re from Tyler, Jacksonville, Sulphur Springs, Corsicana, Greenville, or Paris and need recommendations or quotes on forklifts please call Scott at 903.312.2743.
Jan27
Gourmet Recipe Experts’ spokesman and President, Howard Montgomery, talks about the company and how material handling impacts their business.
Jan21
COLUMBUS, Ind. (Nov. 2, 2015) – Toyota Forklift once again achieved the number one position as the world’s largest forklift brand in Modern Materials Handling’s Annual Top 20 Lift Truck Suppliers list. Toyota’s worldwide sales totaled $7.7 billion, more than $2 billion higher than the second worldwide brand of forklifts on the list.
To be eligible for Modern’s annual Top 20 lift truck suppliers ranking, companies must manufacture and sell lift trucks in at least one of the Industrial Truck Association’s seven truck classes. Rankings are based on worldwide revenue from powered industrial trucks during each company’s most recent fiscal year.
“We are committed to expanding our product line to provide customers with material handling products and services to fit their needs,” said President Jeff Rufener. “Our product innovation and dedication to customers, dealers and associates is why we remain the top forklift brand year after year.”
Toyota introduced several new products to its customers and dealers this year, including a new Reach Truck, a new 80-Volt Electric and a High-Capacity IC forklift. The recent product launch culminates months of product development, with eight new Toyota models and services introduced in the last two years.
About Toyota Industrial Equipment
Proudly manufactured in the United States, Toyota Industrial Equipment offers a full line of material handling solutions including forklifts, automated guided vehicles, fleet management services and tow tractors. Toyota’s commitment to quality, reliability and customer satisfaction, the hallmark of the Toyota Production System, extends throughout more than 220 locations in North America. For more information, visit www.ToyotaForklift.com.
About Peerless Media and Peerless Research Group
Peerless Media produces industry-leading publications and websites – Modern Materials Handling, Logistics Management, Supply Chain Management Review and Material Handling Product News – for the supply chain, logistics and materials handling markets. As a division of Peerless Media, Peerless Research Group specializes in marketing and media research solutions for materials handling, logistics and supply chain marketers.
Jan11
Toyota Forklifts & McCoy’s
Announcer: When moving heavy loads of building products all day long, it is crucial to have forklifts with the muscle to do the job right. That is why McCoy’s Building Supply chose Toyota industrial equipment to move materials at its more than 80 stores located in five southern states.
McCoy’s provides just about everything you would need for building or remodeling projects, including the lumber, block and insulation. One of McCoy’s largest operations is in Pharr, Texas, in the very most southern part of the state near the border with Mexico. It includes a retail store, open to both contractors and do-it-yourselfers.
Manny Gonzalez: On the retail side, you walk in here and you can find anything from plumbing, paint, caulking, electrical. We’ve got just about every category that you can cover to remodel the house, do any upgrades, fixer-uppers, anything that you need.
Announcer: A warehouse attached to the store provides additional stock, that is gathered for contractor pick-up or delivery. A large drive-through warehouse behind the retail store also provides fast loading of larger building materials.
Manny Gonzalez: What they like about the drive-through warehouse is there’s a lot of room in there, they can kind of pull in there. We can still get our forklifts up there and get their product loaded and they don’t even have to leave the truck. It’s real nice.
Announcer: McCoy’s own fleet of delivery trucks are loaded using 6,000-pound capacity Toyota forklifts. The flatbed trucks can be loaded easily from both sides. Like all of the forklifts used in Pharr, these Toyotas features safety glass so that workers can easily view where they are going, as well as see the products better when loading and in transit. The trucks also have many features that add to driver comfort when working all day in the Texas sun.
Ken Townsend: These units all have really ergonomic designed seats with seat belts. They do have the SAS features on all the units. They love the tilt-leveling, the ability to level the forks when they’re unloading. The Toyotas adapt very well to the McCoy’s applications.
Announcer: In addition to its contractor and retail business, the Pharr location also acts as a distribution point to serve other stores in southern Texas. Suppliers bring loads into Pharr. The products are unloaded with the Toyota forklifts, staged and consolidated before being loaded onto McCoy’s trucks for transport to the other stores.
This facility also sits adjacent to a railroad line and it has its own spur. Two rail cars have been dropped off onto the spur and are ready to be unloaded today. With its access to rail, McCoy’s is able to purchase larger volumes at better pricing. These car loads will be distributed among the area stores.
Toyota 10,000-pound and 8,000-pound forklifts with pneumatic tires do the heavy lifting here. They move the loads to staging areas until they are ready for use in Pharr or delivery to the other retail outlets.
These forklifts are just a handful of the more than 250 Toyota units that McCoy’s has used for doing the heavy lifting in its facilities since 2007. There are a few important reasons why McCoy’s has chosen Toyota as its forklift supplier.
Manny Gonzalez: I’ll tell you, being here 25 years, we’ve seen a lot of equipment come and go. As our company has grown, we’ve kind of learned our business more and more throughout the years, Toyota has been a good fit for us. I can speak for this location specifically, with all the expansion that we’ve had and increased activity, the units are great. They’re real user-friendly.
Announcer: Having one brand and one dealer to work with was also part of the strategic decision in choosing Toyota.
Ken Townsend: We want one point of contact. If I can have one point of contact for 88 locations, that’s awesome. Toyota did a great job stepping up to the plate. We’re going to be about 95 percent Toyota forklifts in our facilities, so the important thing going forward is that we keep both people interested in our business and give us a sense of security that we’re paying a fair price for our product and we’re getting superior service. I just don’t think you could ask for more than that.
Jan11
Toyota Forklift & Opustone
Announcer: Few products are as heavy and awkward to handle as natural stone and tile. These massive stones are used for creating beautiful countertops, flooring, and more. They are being stored here at Opustone in Miami, Florida.
Opustone is one of the largest distributors of natural stone products in the state, with operations in Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami. The company specializes in stone used in construction, remodeling, and landscaping. The granite, marble, and onyx slabs come to Miami in containers from quarries in Italy, Spain, Greece, Brazil, Turkey, as well as other parts of the world.
The task of unloading the slabs and moving them around the property is made easier with a fleet of 15 Toyota forklifts. These LPG powered trucks have the muscle to handle loads up to 5,000 pounds. Once in the yard, this truck is equipped with a special telescopic boom attachment and sling that allows the slabs to be moved around and loaded onto delivery trucks.
David Mansur: The slabs are big sheets of granite that goes from 600-1,200 pounds, so the Toyota forklift has been very helpful and have been helping us not only in maneuverability, but also on the safety of the operation as well.
Announcer: The Miami facility is the company’s hub and largest operation. It actually comprises four buildings, some of which are across a city street. Throughout the workday, the forklifts cross back and forth between the buildings with their heavy loads.
In addition to the large slabs, the facility also handles cut stone and tile. These arrive in crates, most of them from Europe and Asia. The forklifts unload the crates and take them to the various buildings where they are floor stacked as many as four crates high. This building also holds some of the tiles in storage racks.
Opustone has been using Toyota forklifts exclusively in all of its facilities for several years now.
David Mansur: We have been operating with different other brands before, other manufacturers. Since a few years, the Toyota equipment has been the ones that has been lasting longer. The versatility in terms of operation because as you see, we have a different, let’s say front of work. Our operation’s kind of complex, and I think that the Toyota has been suitable for this type of work.
Announcer: Part of that suitability is the fact that these Toyota forklifts are designed to be very maneuverable, which helps drivers easily negotiate the tight confines of the stacks of tiles. The see-through masts also enable drivers to monitor their loads, and the masts themselves have three stage, to lift loads high for safe stacking and retrieving.
Luis Penalo: Well this little equipment is ready to large containers. We go around the yard and with not even one pilot, with two pilot you can do anything with the forklift and the capacity of the forklifts are 4,500 pounds, which is able to go to across the street in the other warehouse and load trucks, any large container, like I said.
Announcer: A work cage is also used here. Lifted by the forklifts, the cage allows employees doing inventory to get closer to the products stacked high in the warehouse.
These durable fork trucks work both inside and outside of the buildings. While moving the heavy stone throughout the property, they encounter dust and take their share of abuse as they perform the needed work.
David Mansur: It’s almost like a cage fight. Right? We punish. There is a lot of punishment on the forklift. And as you can see, they react or they perform very well. But the most important is the technical support or technical assistance. In the moment that we need to, our warehouse supervisor or manager will call Toyota, and they will come. And they will either work on site, or they will send another forklift to replace the one that has to be sent to their shop to be fixed. So we operate in very good partnership, I would say, with Toyota local dealers or technical support.
Announcer: Moving these heavy products, loading delivery trucks, stacking and storing tile, these Toyota trucks are up to the rugged task. They offer the flexibility and maneuverability that Opustone needs to remain rock solid in its distribution.
Lift Truck Supply, Inc.
3305 Robertson Road
Tyler, TX 75701
T: 800.873.1828
P: 903.533.9600
F: 903.533.9927
E: info@lifttrucksupplyinc.com
Feb03