Ruan Transportation Video Case Study – Toyota Forklift

Toyota Forklifts & Ruan Transportation Management Systems

Announcer: Many third-party logistics providers select Toyota as their material handling partner due to their well known safety features and the product quality, durability, reliability, and overall value. That’s important when serving a range of clients and moving many different kinds of goods. Toyota material handling products have the power to keep products moving and provide superior uptime to continue to hit deadlines and shipment schedules.

This facility is Ontario, California, and is owned by DC Logistics, a contract logistics provider with seven distribution facilities throughout the Western United States. DC Logistic shares a client with Ruan Transportation Management Systems, a family owned, asset-based 3PL, where together they provide transportation and distribution services for new and used lead acid batteries. Doing the heavy lifting for both companies are Toyota forklifts and electric pallet jacks. In fact, Ruan recently purchased hundreds of electric pallet jacks from Toyota that were customized to include an integrated scale. These electric pallet jacks allow for accurate weight capture and will compete over 300,000 deliveries across the US annually.

In metro markets, Ruan typically uses smaller delivery trucks because few facilities they deliver to have loading docks. These trucks are easier to maneuver in metro areas and around retail buildings. The pallets of batteries are delivered using Toyota electric pallet jacks that ride along on the Ruan trucks and a battery operated lift gate.

R. Frederiksen: The nature of our deliveries require our drivers to utilize a lift gate, trailer, electric pallet jack to make deliveries into the retail or wholesale outlets.

Announcer: This delivery is being made to the automotive department of a large retail store. Upon arrival, the truck driver positions the pallet jack to pick up the load.

R. Frederiksen: The maneuverability inside the trailers is something that we hear from our drivers that are realizing that every day as something that’s better than previous pallet jack options that we’ve utilized in the past.

Announcer: The pallet jack and its load are moved to the lift gate and lowered to ground level. From there the load is simply maneuvered into the store. But the delivery job is not finished yet. Since automotive batteries are among the most recycled products in America, the driver also picks up used batteries that customers exchange when buying new batteries. These are stored in an adjacent room at this location. The pallet jack quickly retrieves the batteries.

R. Frederiksen: We also have these pallet jacks outfitted with a scale that allows us to weigh the return material. It’s certified for trade and it gives our customers, and their customers, the ability to have very accurate pickup information with regard to weight.

Announcer: The scale feature is something that Ruan worked directly with the Toyota forklift factory to add to their electric pallet jacks and helps Ruan provide a competitive advantage and added efficiency for their clients. From there the pallet jack moves the load onto the lift gate and then into the truck. The batteries will be taken back to the distribution center and then into recycling streams. Partnering with Ruan is DC Logistics, which handles the storage of new and used batteries as well as the recycling component of the reverse supply chain. DC Logistics also leverages Toyota forklifts and pallet jacks in their daily work.

Robert Pier: We’re a family owned company. We’re warehouse distribution and transportation. When we opened up the warehouse business, we tried other products but Toyota has been the best product we’ve used so far. All we have is Toyota now at every facility in California, Arizona, Nevada. Between all the facilities we have, I would say, approximately 40 Toyota forklifts and approximately 25 electric pallet jacks, and we use them daily.

Announcer: While Ruan works primarily with the Toyota factory to improve its fleet and then with many local dealers across the country for maintenance, DC Logistics works directly with its local Toyota dealer, Southwest Toyota Lift, to continually upgrade its fleet and to perform maintenance on the vehicles.

Rod Streiff: I’ve been doing business with DC Logistics for 10 years now, been great partnership for us. I met Robert five years ago and solidified our relationship and our friendship. It’s been fantastic. We’ve been there for them, and they purchase everything from us.

Announcer: Another DC Logistics facility is in City of Industry, California. This building begins work well before dawn, handling the heavy car batteries for a leading battery manufacturer. Toyota forklifts unload pallets of batteries from inbound trucks and then cross dock them to Ruan’s outbound delivery vehicles. It’s heavy work, as these pallets of batteries weigh several thousands pounds each. But these Toyota Core IC Cushion forklifts have the lifting power to easily do the job.

Robert Pier: Working with Ruan has been a pleasure. We’ve been with Ruan for nine years, and it’s a good partnership. They’re based out of our facilities. We load their trucks and it’s been a good partnership for the last nine years. Great company.

R. Frederiksen: Working with Toyota has been great thus far. As we’ve come across different things that we’ve needed to tweak with this new equipment and this specialized application. Again a new piece of equipment coming in operation, the response of their dealer networks, the response of their quality folks at corporate, has been incredible, and we’ve been able to solve issues very quickly. Not only was Toyota’s pricing competitive, but their world class manufacturing and the quality of their equipment was second to no one. So it was a great fit for us and it was something that we were happy to do.

Robert Pier: The reason we chose Toyota was the quality of the product. So it outlasts the other product, it has better weight capacity, better turning ratio, so the product overall is the best product on the market today.

Announcer: In joining together, Ruan, DC Logistics, and Toyota forklifts perform powerful work in distributing batteries.