As a subsidiary of Heineken International, Heineken Ireland produces beer brands such as Heineken, Murphy's, Amstel and Coors Light. Founded in Cork in 1856, Heineken now employs 485 people and supplies two million barrels a year to bars, hotels, restaurants, supermarkets and wholesalers.

Up to 20 trucks loaded every day
"Empty drums arrive every day and have to be loaded from the truck onto a conveyor belt to take them to the production area," says Matt Hardy, Industry Manager at Hyster Europe. "At the same time, full drums are collected and stacked in the storage area for dispatch. On average, 20 trucks are loaded and unloaded every day."

"Handling the drums is quite challenging as they are not always packed on pallets, have different dimensions and can be quite high," adds Hardy. That's why the Special Truck Engineering team developed a raised driver's cab for the new Hyster J3.5XN trucks, which offers improved visibility. In a standard truck, the driver cannot see over high loads and has to work in reverse due to limited forward visibility. With the elevated cab, however, the driver can see over the load and work in forward mode, which significantly increases comfort.

Reversing camera ensures greater safety
Hyster has also equipped the trucks with blue pedestrian warning lights at the front and rear, red pedestrian warning lights on the sides, a camera for reversing and an automatic parking brake. In addition, the trucks have cab heating, an overhead guard with UV protection, a suspended seat with high backrest and a mini-lever module.
A special KAUP beer keg clamp ensures that the trucks can efficiently transport kegs of different sizes and numbers without having to change the attachment.

Carbon dioxide emissions reduced by 112 tons per year
As the Hyster electric forklift trucks are quiet, longer shifts are also possible at night, even though the site is in the middle of the city center. In addition, electric forklifts protect the environment: by switching from diesel to electric forklifts, Heineken has reduced its CO2 emissions on site by 112 tons per year.

Tracker increases productivity
The Hyster Tracker fleet management system is used to increase productivity. It monitors and analyzes truck usage and battery usage and helps to reduce costs. "For Heineken International, reliability and efficiency in the distribution chain are top priorities," says Hardy, explaining that Heineken relies on Hyster forklift trucks at many of its 70 locations worldwide - including Italy, France, Poland, Slovakia and Russia, as well as Ghana, Nigeria and Egypt.