Cohen Recycling Video Case Study – Toyota Forklift

Toyota Forklifts & Cohen Recycling

Announcer: Scrap processing and the recycling of different metals and electronics has become big business over the years. Cohen, a successful family-owned scrap processing company, has been around for nearly 90 years, and operates 18 locations across four states. Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Over the years, Cohen has taken advantage of the strong market for these recycled goods, and leveraged strong partners and machinery on the road to success.

Cohen is in the business of taking in scrap metals, such as iron, steel, copper and aluminum, and recycling them so that they can be turned into new and useful products. They handle about one and a quarter million tons annually. This facility covers 52 acres and is in Middletown, Ohio between Cincinnati and Dayton. And just about every kind of metal scrap can be found here, including sharp pieces that must be moved around the yard safely.

Geoff Rosenberg: We’re a labor intensive business, we’re an equipment intensive business. The forklifts are used at every facility to move any product, but mainly non-ferrous bales, pallets and bulk material containers.

Corporate wide we probably have somewhere around 80 forklifts, and they vary in size from 3,500 pounds up to a 50,000 pound lift. But the bulk of our fleet are 5,000, 6,000 pound diesel forklifts. Three stage, side shift, some with rotation, some with barrel clamps and squeeze, but for the most part your standard 3-way forklift. 52 of those since 2012, the last 52 I might add, are Toyota’s.

Announcer: Cohen began relying on Toyota forklifts, primarily the Core IC Pneumatic Forklift line, because they are reliable and durable in the tough conditions of outdoor work, where dust is everywhere and much of the driving surface is uneven concrete or dirt. But what really sold Rosenberg and the management at Cohen was Toyota’s local dealer, ProLift Industrial Equipment.

Geoff Rosenberg: When we first started out, we were looking for a forklift, we weren’t necessarily looking for an orange forklift. We were looking for a partnership. We were looking for a dealership and a company that was just as interested in what we were trying to accomplish, as what we were. And we were looking for a company that didn’t have the word can’t in their vocabulary, and ProLift has exceeded our expectations.

Announcer: The forklifts in this yard do many of the same operations as they would in a warehouse, except that this warehouse is acres in size and does not have a roof. The trucks move heavy loads of raw metals over uneven surfaces. These bundles of crushed aluminum cans will be sent to a manufacturer to be turned into new cans.

Inside one building on the property a Toyota forklift dumps brass objects into this equipment where it is separated and prepared for recycling. In another building, an electric pallet jack helps workers move pallet loads of scrap as they are sorted.

A fast growing market for Cohen is in recycling electronics. Computers, copiers, monitors and more. This new building receives truckloads of used electronic products. The items are sorted and placed into bins or large Gaylord boxes. Forklifts then pick up the loads and take them to these large shredding machines. The forklifts have rotating attachments to dump the electronics onto a vibrating belt. The belt helps to separate the items as they convey up into the shredder. Once shredded, magnets and other sensors separate the plastic, metal, wiring and other pieces so that they can be accumulated by type for recycling.

ProLift provides ongoing servicing of Cohen’s forklift fleet, including a dedicated technician to make sure the trucks are maintained in top condition.

Steve Feck: I do a lot of the routine maintenance on the trucks, which involves giving the trucks a very thorough check over, lubrication. I have a good relationship with the manager and stuff at all the locations, trying to keep them up to speed, what’s going on with the truck.

It all comes down to a safety issue and a monetary issue. You know, if the trucks are not being properly operated, taken care of, the life of the truck is going to be shorter. Cohen’s really stepped up and they do a good job making sure the trucks are taken care of. They do a good job with trying to minimize any damage to the units themselves.

Announcer: Cohen has experienced just how rugged Toyota forklifts can be in very adverse conditions. Their durability and the expert service that ProLift offers, makes Toyota the forklift of choice at this scrap processing company.

Geoff Rosenberg: Well our expectations in the next couple of years are to have all Toyota forklifts. And what we’ve found over the course of the last four years, and that’s why we have 52 in succession, is they’re tough, durable machines that hold up under our environment. And quite frankly when you combine that with the service and our partnership expectations with ProLift, it’s been a great marriage.