Investment in greater automation.
We have taken a step closer to greater automation across our business with the delivery of our largest individual order of Mechanical Handling Equipment to date. The arrival of 26 brand new Cesab machines along with five new Prins Tigers, is also the largest single order for local supplier Prins Forklifts UK Ltd based at Lympne, Kent and completes an order totalling 58 vehicles.
The new equipment includes:
- 7 x LPG 1.8 tonne Cesab M318 forklifts
- 2 x Electric 1.6 tonne Cesab R316 internal warehouse reach trucks
- 3 x Electric 2.0 tonne Cesab P320 ride-on pallet trucks
- 7 x Electric 2.0 tonne Cesab P220 pedestrian pallet trucks
- 1 x Electric 1.6 tonne Cesab B316 internal 3-wheel forklift
- 1 x Diesel 2.5 tonne Cesab M325 forklift
- 5 x Diesel Prins Tigers
This is in addition to vehicles already supplied:
- 6 x Diesel 1.8 tonne Cesab M318 forklifts
- 2 x Diesel 2.5 tonne Cesab M325 forklifts
- 2 x LPG 1.8 tonne Cesab M318 forklifts to the new East Kent Storage site (EKS)
- 1 x Electric 1.6 tonne Cesab P216 pedestrian pallet truck to EKS
- 5 x Diesel Prins Tigers
Prins will also supply us with 14 short term hire Prins Tigers for this year’s harvest alongside six standard diesel and LPG machines. These are all needed due to our acquisition of new orchards in 2017 and the growth in fruit volume due to orchard replanting over the last several years, totalling over two million new fruit trees.
Steve Everard, Director at AC Goatham & Son comments: “We are working hard to speed up many of our processes across the business. These new machines will help enable the business to facilitate the faster transport of fruit from the trees to cold storage and during the busy harvest period we need reliable vehicles. Having a local company like Prins who can come out quickly to deal with any service issues is vital, to ensure the smooth running of our business at its busiest time. This is a step closer for us in finding more automated solutions within our business and we have worked closely with Prins to achieve this.”
All of the machines have been built to order at Cesab factories in Sweden, France and Italy and then brought to the UK to be customised by Prins to meet the requirements of AC Goatham & Son.
Mark Dorman, Managing Director Prins Forklifts UK Ltd comments: “We are very grateful to AC Goatham & Son for this order and to be able to supply our largest fleet to date. We work hard to support all of our clients and aim to work in partnership with them. We will also have a workshop at Flanders Farm, HQ of AC Goatham & Son, so we can keep the vehicles in full working order during the very busy harvest period and support them throughout the year with routine maintenance.”
Steve Everard concludes: “We value the contribution our local suppliers make to our business and Mark and his team do a fantastic job.”