For companies who operate in competitive environments and who rely on an efficient materials handling operation, having a trusted partner makes a considerable difference. 
They ensure that materials handling assets are up to the task, preventing equipment downtime which inevitably affects productivity if supply links in the process fail.
They need to be the single point of contact for all needs, one call to fix everything from a routine service call to a mini crisis with decisions made and solutions found in quick time scales often on-the-spot.
Having a locally operating partner who understands the customer’s business and knows their fleet of forklifts and drivers like a shepherd knows his sheep, provides a high level of trust and confidence, so allowing companies to shift more responsibility to their handling partner for this area of the business.
Then when decisions need to be made customers can deal direct with a senior decisionmaker to achieve on-the-spot decisions without the need to hang around waiting for authorisation from higher up the corporate tree.
TCM works with its independent UK wide network of dealers to provide an offer which gives a local and personalised dimension. As dealers are autonomous businesses they make all the essential business decisions which ensures that customers deal direct with a local decision-maker, meaning a very personalised customer offer, faster resolutions and rapid response to problems or needs.
And as autonomous businesses, TCM dealers offer something extra and unique. Essentially a best of both – a flexible approach to doing business, backed by the considerable corporate strengths of a global forklift truck manufacturer, with world-class product development, engineering technology, plus extensive training and technical capabilities. It’s the ‘local dealer plus a global leader’ combination that makes a strikingly different offer.
As independent business dealers can make their own choices and decisions and offer a level of flexibility that often is outside the corporate boundaries of big organisations who simply cannot be as inventive. It means that customers get a more tailored service and experience ensuring that they get exactly what they need from a single source and trusted local business, but with the advantage of the additional capability and capacity at manufacturer level to provide extra support where necessary.
And in practice this approach resonates with companies that count on a reliable and robust materials handling operation. Especially when the business is driven by tight deadlines and demanding customer lead-times.
Having the reassurance that a trusted materials handling partner is working diligently, providing effective support which is efficiently managed, ensures that a key area of the operation is well looked after. And that is just how Riviera Produce – a major food producer with a reputation for product quality and on-time order fulfilment likes to operate.
It’s a familiar story in the food production sector when fresh produce has to be collected, selected, packed and loaded for consignment within hours.
Those nutritious vegetables we enjoy with our Sunday roast and countless other meals involves growing, harvesting, selecting, preparing, packaging and delivering, plus extensive quality management and standards compliance. So just for us to consume a simple forkful of broccoli there is a technical and fast-moving enterprise that sits at the heart of our essential food supply chain.
Riviera Produce is a major player in this area of the British fresh foods industry. Based in a very attractive part of Cornwall, (which itself can’t fail to produce happy vegetables), Riviera Produce focus on brassicas and courgettes, supplying the main national supermarket multiples on a daily basis.
With over 6500 acres in its own farm estate and partnerships with other growers, fresh produce is brought together at its central operation – an impressive synchronisation of logistics and processing working seamlessly in continuous harmony.
Their materials handling operation is a masterclass in what appears to be an effortless theatre of complex stock movements. Produce is rapidly transported from tractor trailer, to cold store, then on to supply the highly efficient selection and packaging lines.
Unsurprisingly, as the business is essentially offering fresh produce, it’s all about time and quality. So produce has to be tracked and moved through the system in strict date order.
Rivera Produce work with their materials handling partner, Lift West a TCM network dealer that serves the South West region, to supply and support this essential part of the business’ activity.
According to Matthew Wiggins, operations manager at Riviera Produce, forklifts are at the core of their physical operation. “Obviously they are the mechanical workhorses that lift and shift the large amount of fresh produce that flows through the business every day, so we need a very reliable fleet and efficient equipment.”
Most of the forklifts are tailored to suit their duty and working environment with adaptations or modifications to optimise their functionality and performance. “We adjust each truck to the user and application where necessary and safe trucks are set to match the skills of the driver and work at higher manoeuvring and hydraulic lift speeds to step up productivity. And in other areas the trucks are similarly adjusted for slower operation to maintain a safe working environment. We also have some trucks adapted with extended fork reach to enable us to offload tractor trailers from both sides and therefore halve the offload time of incoming produce.”
The processing operation works 12 hour days plus a night shift, to supply the highly demanding requirement for high quality fresh produce from major supermarkets and their even more demanding customers.
Around up to 5 million supermarket trays are produced each year, that’s about 100,000 pallet loads that have to be handled through the operation and eventually loaded for delivery. And all done to tight timescales and order schedules.
Maximising forklift utilisation is therefore also crucial. Many of the trucks have large bespoke batteries that can work a double shift without recharging, giving extra capacity to a busy forklift team.
Typically, for a well-run business that manages its efficiency closely, they factor only a small amount of spare capacity for the forklift fleet. So they need and expect trucks to be reliable and dependable. Their range of TCM gas and electric trucks is maintained by Lift West’s own service engineer who is dedicated to Riviera Produce’s business and located at the site 3 days per week as part of the contract.
This proactive preventative approach keeps unplanned maintenance or breakdowns to a minimum and ensures that forklift availability is maximised.
Matthew is convinced that having a locally based forklifts partner is a considerable benefit, “It means I deal directly with an expert who knows and understands our business. I have a single point of contact and can deal direct with the key decision-maker to agree business issues or resolve problems. And significantly I can get things done decisively without having to wade through call-centres or remote decision-makers. We depend on rapid response and support, and that is what we get”.
It’s also made a real difference to the life-cycle cost of the forklift fleet which is structured on a 5-years contract hire and replacement cycle. It means a fixed revenue cost with no capital outlay and a tightly managed maintenance plan. Having control over costs, especially as trucks reach the later stages of their service life, where running costs can inevitably start to rise, offers clarity and better budgetary management.
Overall it has delivered savings in the order of 20%, compared to their previous arrangements. A very useful operational saving in any business that wants to control and reduce costs whilst maintaining maximum productivity.
As a Director of Lift West Paul Schock is Riviera Produce’s key point of contact and responsible for all aspects of managing their needs from developing and tailoring the business contract, to ensuring that service, support and problem-solving are all bang on customer expectations. “I am effectively the ‘go-to-person’ for all their requirements. I can effect and action decisions on the spot to ensure that the customer is fully supported without delay or red-tape.”
Lift West is the leading forklift dealer in the South West region, forging strong relationships with major customers based on trusted and reliable partnerships.
Still owned by its original founder, the values of the business have remained the same as when they were first established; to provide a personal service and the best customer orientated offer in the industry.
Tel: 01844 219265
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