Longhe UK Ltd, the UK arm of China’s premier forklift truck attachments manufacturer, specialises in supplying forklift truck attachments of the highest quality and reliability to the warehousing and logistics, earthmoving, construction and rail Industries. Lily Fu and Andy Carr, two former JCB procurement specialists, set up Longhe UK Ltd in 2016 at the behest of Longhe’s Chinese owners. Lily Fu, Director and General Manager of Longhe UK, spoke to Warehouse & Logistics News.
Warehouse & Logistics News – Lily, how did you come to set up Longhe UK?
Andy Carr, our Business Development Manager and I had a very close working relationship with Longhe in China when we worked as procurement specialists at JCB. I also worked on the global procurement side for 10 years. Passionate about international business between China and UK, Longhe always planned to set up a UK subsidiary. When we left JCB, they were keen to get our services on board and so the Longhe UK journey began.
WLN – Can you tell us a bit more about Longhe, your parent company?
The Longhe Intelligent Equipment Manufacturing Company has been trading globally for 10 years. Based in South East China, it has over 350 employees. Since its inception in 2008, Longhe has grown to become the quality leader in forklift truck attachments in the Chinese market and has an enviable reputation in the industry. In 2015, our Longhe Singapore office was also established to cover South Asia regional customer needs. To expand our business scope, Longhe is also involved in a wide range of other commercial sectors besides attachments, including automated warehouse systems and caravans.
WLN – What quality standards do you work to?
As a national high-tech enterprise, Longhe strictly complies to ISO9001:2008 and ISO3834-2, and has self-owned intellectual property, national patent, CE, TUV and SGS certifications for many products. We have established “production, learning and research” strategic partnerships with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other leading research institutes and universities. Our philosophy is to manufacture high quality products that are competitively priced.
WLN – So what’s your vision for Longhe UK?
Longhe UK’s aim is to deliver first class service and best quality to our UK and European customers, and meet all the needs of the broad spectrum of customers who come to us for proprietary forklift truck attachments and tailor made items. We are committed to serving the material handling industry, maintaining our reputation as premier solutions providers, and above all, to providing our industry with a professional, experienced and reliable source of help for resolving material handling equipment challenges.
OEMs are the key driver for our business. We are working to improve our customer service to OEMs with local contact and full engineering support in the UK. Based on our bilingual culture background, we can act as a consultation agency enabling OEMs here to deliver a better performance and overcome the language and culture difference.
WLN – Where are you based? Do you cover the whole UK?
We’re based in Derby and cover the UK and Ireland.
WLN – What are your core products?
Our cores products divide into two categories: for forklift trucks, they include a comprehensive range of proprietary forklift attachments, both hydraulic and mechanical. We offer rotators, bale clamps, tyre clamps, revolving fork clamps, single and double pallet clamps, pallet Inverters. For OEMs, we produce a wide range of heavy-duty bespoke attachments, fabrications and machined parts, typically for fitment to telehandlers, tractors, compaction vehicles and excavators.
WLN – What are your lead times?
We hold a large stock of attachments in the UK, available for next day delivery. For non-stock items, it’s about 10 weeks.
WLN – Who are your target customers?
Our key customers are OEMs like JCB. We are also exploring the opportunities from other heavy industrial (yellow goods) companies.
OEM companies across the engineering sectors who are interested in our bilingual culture sourcing and engineering consultation expertise are welcome to be our customers and use our procurement services. It helps them reduce the risk in the international procurement process.
WLN – What support and other benefits do you offer?
We have 24/7 service support nationwide. We also offer two years warranty for all our attachments and hold spare parts here for next day delivery.
WLN – What sets your forklift attachments apart from other people’s?
As previously stated we offer UK stocks, competitive prices and proven quality. We provide servicing and refurbishment and hold spare parts here in the UK. We have been trading globally for over 10 years and enjoy a good reputation with our worldwide customers.
WLN – Do you buy and sell used and reconditioned attachments?
Yes we do. We have a limited number at present, but will have more in the future.
WLN – Do you publish customer case studies?
Yes, we have case studies on our website for an overhead block clamp solution for a builders’ merchant customer of Neckar Forklifts, the Kion Baoli Forklift dealers, and an aircraft tyre clamp for Lektro Mechanical Handling, Bridgestone Tyres’ Cesab truck dealers.
WLN – Finally, are you going to be exhibiting at any UK trade shows?
We will be at IMHX 2019 and look forward to meeting Warehouse & Logistics News readers there.
LONGHE UK LTD
Tel: 01332 742637
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