Noble Foods get on board with the BT Levio powered pallet truck

The BT Levio LWE130 powered pallet truck with on-board charging from Toyota is the ideal choice for Noble’s fleet of lorries.

Noble Foods historically Dean Foods is a leading supplier of fresh eggs to major retailers. The 85 year old company based in Hertfordshire has recently moved into the desserts sector with a product portfolio that includes Happy Eggs, Golden Lay and GÜ Chocolate Puddings.

Noble Foods and Toyota Material Handling UK have a long standing relationship which has been developed over the past 10 years. A large proportion of the Noble Foods business operation involves collection and delivery of produce, specifically eggs, to and from farms across the UK. In order to complete orders and deliveries Noble Foods lorries travel large distances and team members will both drive and handle the goods.

The application, which involves the manoeuvring of products on board lorries can be intensive and require high levels of manual handling. The equipment needed for this would need to protect workers and reduce manual handling as well as being available at each stop throughout the shift. Noble Foods trialled a number of products, from different providers before choosing the BT Levio LWE130 powered pallet truck with on-board charging from Toyota for their fleet.

The LWE130 is an entry level powered pallet truck ideal for use on the back of lorries. It’s compact size and low weight allows it to be easily transported and stored with limited impact on the usable space on the back of the lorry. With ergonomic steering and BT Castorlink system for optimum stability the BT Levio provides easy horizontal movement in low intensity operations, decreasing manual handling and increasing safety for the driver and load.

On-board charging, an option for the LWE130, was also added to the truck for Noble Foods allowing opportunity charging on the lorry whilst travelling from destination to destination. The gel battery which is fitted to the LWE130 works in line with the intelligent vehicle charging system to ensure the truck is only charged while the lorry is moving, always giving highest priority to the lorry’s battery during charging to guarantee no loss of power to the lorry itself.

Mick Tucker from Noble Foods commented: “When looking for a solution to our manual handling needs we trialled a number of products. We finally decided on the BT Levio LWE130 due to its proven record in this type of application. We are confident that the product we have chosen will decrease the risks involved in manual handling for our drivers, helping to increase their productivity and with smoother operation of the new powered pallet trucks decrease costs occurred from damaged goods.”

Jeff Morley, Key Account Manager for Toyota Material Handling UK added: “When we assessed the needs of Noble Foods we were able to suggest a product that is ideal for what they do. They needed to decrease manual handling, decrease costs of damage to goods and have a product that could be used at any time. The LWE130 is perfect for all of these.”

Jeff added: “When speaking to Noble Foods it also became evident that they would need a flexible agreement that would be able to adjust to external influences on demand when needed. A tailored rental contract was therefore arranged to take into account fluctuations that may occur.” A fleet of 21 BT Levio LWE130 powered pallet trucks are now in place at Noble Foods and have already helped to improve health and safety for drivers and decrease costs from damaged goods.

For a limited time you have the opportunity to win a new BT Levio LWE160 powered pallet truck in a prize draw run by Toyota Material Handling UK. Enter the prize draw by visiting the Toyota website www.toyota-forklifts.co.uk and click on the banner. All entries will win an instant win prize and be entered into the grand prize draw which will be drawn at the end of February 2012.

For more information about Toyota Material Handling’s range of product and services visit www.toyota-forklifts.co.uk or call 0870 850 1409.