Translift, have been waging a war on wasted storage space for over 50 years. With their industry know-how and a wide range of materials handling equipment from leading brands, Translift Bendi have the right solution for any application.

Paul Berrow
Managing Director of Translift

Their diverse product portfolio is built up of the Standard and Premium range of Articulated Forklifts, the innovative Drexel Swingmast Forklifts and a comprehensive selection of warehousing equipment, meaning anything else is a waste of space.

Paul Berrow, Managing Director of Translift spoke to Warehouse & Logistics News.

Paul, you have been in your role of Managing Director at Translift Bendi for over a year now, how do you feel things have gone?

Has it really been 12 months? Time flies when you are having fun. Yes I am really happy with the progress we have made but having gone from Sales Director to Managing Director, it has been a big change for me and the focus has had to be more than just selling. As MD, it makes you listen to customers, employees and the industry alike. It is that feedback that is helping us move towards our goal of Translift being the number one Articulated Truck provider in the UK.

It has been interesting times with Brexit and all the issues surrounding it. However, we are quite upbeat about the coming changes as we now have a green cost-effective solution in the form of the ECO Bendi, which has proved to be a popular choice with customers preferring to go down that cost-saving route. The ECO Bendi gives end users narrow aisle benefits at a fraction of the cost.

How has your role changed on a day to day basis?

My role has changed massively over the past year. There will always be that bias towards sales because of my previous position but my role more recently has been focussed on getting the right people in the right areas of the business and setting various targets for the different divisions. Everybody in the Translift team has an important part to play if we are to be successful in achieving our goals and providing the best possible service to our customers.

Despite the changes in my role, I still meet customers on a regular basis and I enjoy a hands-on approach on the various projects I am involved with.

Bring us up to date with things at Translift Bendi.

It’s been a busy couple of years at Translift with significant investment in several key areas surrounding service and all-round customer support. Having invested in new, state-of-the-art service software, and added additional new and returning engineers to the service team, we are in a great position to focus on the basics, providing the best possible after sales support to our client base.

We have also concentrated on improving workplace safety and efficiency, implementing various training programs for our engineers covering health & safety, fire and general best practice. Some exciting plans in the pipeline could see the development of engineer bays which will help us become more efficient in the works. With new fitters and painters being brought in, our Redditch depot is still responsible for manufacturing the new Nano Bendi, Mini Bendi and full ECO range of Articulated Forklifts.

Has the range of trucks offered to customers changed in anyway?

Yes, but in a good way! We can still offer the same Bendi Trucks that have been saving our customers space since the first trucks we sold in true early 80’s to British Gas. Even though the Translift business has been through changes over the past couple of years, we still offer the same range of Articulated Trucks that we launched with great success 10 years ago including full service and parts back-up, no matter how old the truck is.

The changes to the range come in the form of a wider selection of Articulated Forklifts with a choice of over 15 different models across our narrow aisle product portfolio. We have a solution to suit any site, layout or budget, meaning our customers don’t have to compromise on choice.

What new service support solutions are you offering your customers for 2020?

We’re offering the same support as we do so now, however, with the new support system in place along with a larger profile of mobile engineers, our service team is better equipped than they have ever been. As a result, we are able to offer more efficient service and parts support to our valued customers.

Describe your relationship with Landoll?

Landoll want to sell more trucks in the UK and having them as a partner is a win-win for us. They are constantly striving for better results with their equipment, which helps us in the field as we can offer our customers equipment that is at the forefront in build quality, performance and reliability. Landoll are well aware of the UK market’s strategic importance and having their UK based parts & stock hub close to our Redditch depot has proven to be a huge benefit to Translift and our customers.

How does having two articulated truck ranges benefit your customers?

Having two Articulated Truck ranges to choose from means our customers have more choice and we have the ability to supply the right equipment for any application such as cold stores and double deep operations. Our Bendi Forklifts operate in the smallest aisle widths compared to any other manufacturer and being the only company to offer both front and rear-wheel drive options means that end users do not have to compromise on specification.

What recent advancements in spec have been made to the Translift Bendi range?

As mentioned earlier, Landoll are constantly striving for better results with their equipment and one of the latest developments is the Landoll Bendi Deep Reach Forklift. This Bendi Articulated Forklift uses unrivalled deep reach pantograph technology to give end users better aisle performance and higher capacity at full reach & maximum lift height, outperforming anything else in its field.

In addition to the exciting deep reach developments, I also wanted to focus on something that goes back to the days of Freddie Brown and the heritage of the company, our Tilt Test results. Industry standards are set at 4%, however, when Freddie first developed the Articulated concept, he wanted to make sure everything was not done to the minimum so he built-in an additional percentage to ensure maximum safety and stability without loss of performance. To this day, Translift still overcompensate on tilt tests, currently running at 6.5% compared to the industry standard, providing the most stable and safe Narrow Aisle Truck in the market.

How future proof and flexible are your solutions?

Articulated Forklift Trucks are future proof in many ways. The solutions provided by Translift help end users better utilise what they already have with cost, time and space saving benefits. As a result, you tend to find customers continue to adopt narrow aisle solutions as there aren’t really any better alternatives in the industry.

What do you see as the biggest opportunities in the coming year for Translift Bendi?

Definitely our Rental Division! In order to offer our customers the very best service, we have made significant investments in our rental department. Translift now have over 450 machines that are available for short, medium or long-term hire. Headed up by our Rental Manager and having brought 2 mobile engineers on-board, solely focused on rental equipment, we are looking forward to a very prosperous 2020. The year could also bring a brand-new Rental facility at some point. Exciting times are definitely ahead!

Translift Bendi

01527 527411

sales@translift.co.uk

www.translift-bendi.co.uk

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