Forklift Schaffer 5058F - chicken business takes flight
Schaffer owners: Team Livestock
Industry type: Transport of live chickens
Location: Osborne Park, Perth, Western Australia
Model: All terrain forklift 5058
Accessories: 4.5 tonne Winkel mast with 1.5m long forklift tines
Usage: Picking up and transporting live chickens from poultry farms to factory for processing
Requirement: A heavy duty, all terrain forklift to enter chicken sheds and load crates of chickens onto semi-trailers
Every night, Team Livestock transports around 80,000 live chickens from farm to factory to satisfy the public appetite for tasty chicken dishes.
“Our forklifts run in and out of the chicken sheds taking empty crates in, and running loaded crates up and onto semi-trailers,” Transport Manager Darren Walker says.
The work requires a heavy duty forklift that can cope with all terrain – bumpy, dry and dusty, wet and slippery. The cages are 2.4m long and the extreme centre of gravity of the load puts a massive of stress on any forklift, particularly in rough terrain. So when Darren and business owner Mark Waddell wanted to purchase a new articulated forklift, they were attracted to Schaffer’s solid German build and customisation potential.
“The thickness of materials used on the Schaffer articulated forklift almost seemed overkill for the small size of the machine. That ‘over-engineering’ will hopefully give us superior machine longevity and long-lasting reliability,” he says.
“Schaffer was also able to customise our articulated forklift at the factory by fitting a forklift mast to our specifications, with a Schaffer warranty that covered the whole machine.”
Darren was impressed with the dedicated service of the Schaffer team. “From our first contact with the Managing Director, Cameron Moir, he stated that Schaffer would have no problem in customising the articulated forklift at the factory for whatever configuration we needed. He came to our workplace many times, with tape measure in hand, to measure and re-measure the masts we were already using on our older machines.”
Schaffer’s German-based Sales Manager, Ralf Bartholome, also paid Team Livestock a visit while in Australia so he could see firsthand exactly what was required when customising the forklift.
Darren says the Schaffer articulated forklift is the preferred machine of Team Livestock’s drivers and, based on its performance, the company has already purchased two more Schaffer 5058 all terrain forklifts.
TECH SPECEngine: Kubota V2003 turbo – 58hp
Operating weight: 4 tonnes
Mast height: 3.4m
Operating load: Up to 3 tonnes at a 600mm load centre
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