Case Story / Lindab Industry / Production

Lindab entrust their business to the BT Autopilot Truck

www.toyota-forklifts.eu

Context & ChallengesLindab’s ventilation production unit in Båstad, Sweden is part of the Lindab Group, an international organisation carrying out operations in 31 countries and hiring almost 4,300 employees. Lindab’s business concept is based on “simplifying construction” supplying the building sec-tor with products and solutions that are characterised by high quality, ease of assembly and energy efficiency, de-livered with high service level. In the ventilation industry, Lindab delivers a wide panel of solutions, ranging from individual components to complete indoor climate for residential and commercial properties.

The Lindab ventilation production facility in Sweden has two warehouses with 1,400 pallet places. 3,000 pallets are transported out of the factory every week. Servicing customers across North Europe as efficiently as possible is Lindab’s everyday challenge.

SolutionsFor Lindab Ventilation, working with Autopilot forklifts from Toyota Material Handling Europe (TMHE) is a tradi-tion that began when the factory started production back in 1988. For a short time, the company switched to a different brand to make a comparison, only to return to Toyota products and services and stay with them. This decision was based on the trust in the quality, safety and economic efficiency of the TMHE equipment.

At the moment, Lindab Ventilation runs its daily busi-ness with a fleet counting 60 Toyota forklifts, including 5 Autopilot forklifts, counterbalanced trucks, stackers and order pickers. With 1,400 pallet places, there is a lot to do. Approximately 650 pallets are taken out of the factory every day with the help of the Autopilot forklifts, and then carried by the counterbalanced and order pickers to the lorry before being shipped throughout Northern Europe.

Facts & figures

Clients

— 300 employees in the factory

— 60 Toyota forklifts

— 1,400 pallet places

Results

5 Autopilot trucks SAE200:

— which handle 650 pallets a day

— each running up to 2.500 hours a year

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Lindab Ventilation conducts its business in confidence thanks to the Toyota forklift trucks’ proven reliability: the Autopilot forklifts have been working for 2,500 hours a year without breaking down. Up to now, no parts have been changed. This stands for the solid quality, which they recommend. In this way, Lindab Ventilation employ-ees have the peace of mind to work productively.

The Autopilot concept allows for driverless operation and has been specifically designed for repetitive movement of goods. “The Autopilot forklifts from TMHE are easy to use. All you have to do is press a button and they come to the picking place as requested. Then they place one box on top of the other and transport the load out of the factory” says Tony Ivarsson, Autopilot Project Manager.

For Lindab Ventilation, these machines are also a safe solution for a busy working environment. “The laser sys-tem integrated to the Autopilot forklift trucks means that we do not need to install cables in the factory floor. This gives us a lot of flexibility, allowing us to easily change the picking route, if necessary. The traffic flow is smooth, especially since we never allow manual forklifts to work near the automated ones. This is safer for the forklift drivers and contributes to keeping the Autopilot forklifts intact, too, by preventing collisions. The laser-guided trucks further increase the safety of our workers, since their sensors detect obstacles, and therefore, human presence, causing them to stop“ says Tony Ivarsson.

Additionally, TMHE’s automated solution also brought considerable cost decrease in Lindab Ventilation’s oper-ations. “With the previous brand, we used to have more machines running. That work is successfully replaced by less Autopilot forklifts from TMHE, which helps us to save money. Also, the job is done by the machines alone, which means that our workers can concentrate on other tasks, helping us to use our internal resources efficiently” says Tony Ivarsson.

Tony Ivarsson, Autopilot Project Manager