A fleet of vehicles as desired

Until 2008, Jürgen Stucke and Ihno Wucke not only ran a digital and screen printing shop, but also a kind of forklift museum. "A wide variety of devices from all kinds of manufacturers, it was very colorful in our hall," says Wucke. This included some machines that had clearly passed their prime. However, with customers ranging from Germany's largest discounters to animal specialists, a uniform strategy is required.

Teamwork. One transports the pallets, one serves as a working platform at the printing press: the Mitsubishi forklift trucks working together. Image: Büscher Lagertechnik

"After a thorough inspection of all our warehouse trucks, the result was that the Mitsubishi forklift trucks are much less prone to faults than all the others," says Wucke. Despite the older model years, the operating times remained almost perfect, with no downtimes to report. To coincide with the construction of the new company headquarters in Monheim in 2008, the managing directors decided to make a radical cut: to replace the entire fleet.

This is where Tim Büscher and the team from Büscher Förder- und Lagertechnik came into play. As a Mitsubishi forklift truck dealer based in nearby Solingen, Büscher recommended the right Mitsubishi models to the Rheinpark team for their customized fleet: two FG 25 gas-powered forklift trucks, high lift trucks from the AXiA series and PREMiA low lift trucks.

Intra says: Clean!

A uniform fleet makes many things easier: one contact person at the manufacturer or dealer when purchasing and later when servicing, a limited variance in operating resources, simpler training for employees and so on and so forth. Sounds simple, but is by no means common practice in many German warehouses and logistics centers. The example of Rheinpark Druck und Medien and Mitsubishi shows how it works - of course also with another manufacturer, I will refrain from making recommendations here!

"Rheinpark employees often use the pallet trucks as work platforms at the printing machines," says Tim Büscher. Instead of transporting the raw material from the floor to the machines, they use the back-friendly version. Due to the size of the posters and banners that can be printed at Rheinpark, the machines are equipped with a fork extension. In addition, the two gas stackers are equipped with a higher load capacity than would be necessary in most cases. "The weight of paper and plastics should not be underestimated," says Büscher.

High-quality devices pay off

Hardwork. Ihno Wucke and his employees can print banners up to 2.5 meters wide and almost infinitely long. You need strong forklift trucks for this amount of material. Image: Büscher Lagertechnik

The quality standards that Jürgen Stucke and Ihno Wucke have for their own products are also applied to all the equipment in use in the hall. "We work in shifts with 14 employees. This means that the forklifts are used a lot," says Wucke. "In addition, the gas forklifts in particular are often started cold, so if you don't have high-quality machines available, you won't enjoy them for long."

The managing directors of Rheinpark Druck und Medien have not regretted replacing the company's entire fleet and using only Mitsubishi forklift trucks, also thanks to the service. "We were fed up with poor quality and downtimes," says Wucke, "and thanks to Büscher and Mitsubishi we have been able to work without any worries since 2009."

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