A fleet of Mitsubishi forklifts has boosted productivity for CPI Bookmarque's Croydon facility.

An innovative Mitsubishi forklift fleet design has boosted productivity for the UK's leading printer of paperback titles, CPI Bookmarque.

At Bookmarque's Croydon facility, downtime was a daily occurrence among its fleet of eight forklifts. The trucks' unplanned servicing and regular refuelling was become more frequent and costly.

Bookmarque general manager Mark Grice turned to Bronze Mechanical Handling, Mitisbushi Forklift Truck's dealer in the South East of England for a solution.

Bronze's sales director, Chris Slater, assessed the application: "Operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week relies on reliability and resources. With this in mind, I was able to downsize the previous fleet of eight trucks by recommending a fleet of five versatile Mitsubishi counterbalance trucks."

Over 1,000 tonnes of raw materials are processed monthly at the Croydon site. The Mitsubishi Grendia ES three tonne gas counterbalance forklift with a Cascade rotator roll clamp was recommended for the task. Drivers were able to manoeuvre loads of any size easily with the forklift's heavy-duty construction and high-visibility mast.

Bookmarque's busy lorry loading area is supported by two smaller 1.5 tonne Grendia ES models. Bronze claims the pair provides Bookmarque and its drivers with a combination of high efficiency, low emissions and low noise levels.

Meanwhile, in the 'works in progress' section of the plant, Bronze recommended two 1.6 tonne capacity three-wheel electric trucks for a low-maintenance solution.

Slater says the workhorses offer compact dimensions, responsive steering and high stability, ensuring manoeuvrability even in the tightest of spaces.

Grice says he was pleased with Bronze's proactive approach. "Refuelling was one of my prime concerns as it has always been a major source of downtime for our trucks. Rather than just simply provide us with a bigger and more costly fleet to reduce downtime, Chris recommended fitting an LPG bulk storage tank and purchasing additional spare batteries fitted with the latest opportunity charge technology."

He explains that the new forklift fleet has not only maximised efficiency by cutting down refuelling time, but it has also reduced the company's outlay and operating costs.

The value of the order is confidential.

Bookmarque is a division of the CPI Group, Europe's largest book manufacturer. The parent organisation includes many of Europe's established book printers.