For more than 30 years, wood wholesaler Holz Tusche has been using Hyster® forklift trucks. Not only because purchasing and maintaining the trucks is costeffective, but also due to the trucks’ robustness and durability.
“With us, forklift trucks are being pushed to their limits every day,” says Ralph Tusche, Managing Director of Holz-Tusche GmbH & Co. KG, where 5.6 x 2.07 metre wooden decorative panels must regularly be lifted to heights of more than six metres for storage.
“The lifting height and the size of the panels means that a particularly rigid triplex mast is required on the forklifts,” says Andreas Wiegers, Managing Director of Hyster® dealer Wiegers Gabelstapler. “The sturdy triple mast also has the advantage of fitting through entrances and doorways in the company’s old warehouses when it is retracted.”
Around 800 different wood designs, primarily used for shop, kitchen and furniture construction, are stored at Holz-Tusche. In addition, there is a range of solid and sawn timber boards, as well as parquet wood for various purposes.
In 1934, Josef Tusche, the grandfather of the current owner, founded the business. In 1958 a sawmill was added, but this was discontinued in 1976 due to the relocation of the family business. In 2011, Holz-Tusche invested in new cutting lines, which can now be used to process materials of up to 5.6 m.
The business took over an 11,000 m2, air-conditioned warehouse in Marsberg, Germany in 2013 and just one year later, a fully automated storage area, with capacity for up to 21,000 wood panels, was put into operation. Here, the wood panels are stored and picked using automatically controlled vacuum cups, making it is possible to deliver the products on demand, as quickly as possible.
The extensive company premises, including the warehouses, have particular logistics demands. The forklifts sometimes have to travel long distances, for instance, and must also be constantly ready for use. A total of 17 Hyster® trucks form the backbone of the logistics operation and since 2010, the fleet has gradually switched from diesel to LPG fuel. To prevent the gas from running out, the Hyster® trucks in the fleet are equipped with two gas bottles so the operator can switch to the new bottle right away when it is needed.
“We’ve been thinking for years about the use of zero-emissions electric forklifts to protect the environment and the performance of forklifts equipped with lithiumion batteries is particularly interesting to us,” says Tusche. “However, at the moment we lack space in our premises to create the necessary infrastructure for charging this type of forklift truck.”
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