Refobar Australia is a highly regarded manufacturer and supplier of quality specialist products for the post-tensioning, construction and mining industries throughout the world.

At the company’s Narangba plant north of Brisbane, General Manager Russell Wheeler became concerned that a more capable forklift was needed to replace an aging Caterpillar truck to make the most of recent productivity improvements there.

His investigations covered new and preowned forklifts.

“I wouldn’t even consider a secondhand conventional machine, but based on the experience we have had in other parts of the business with Linde equipment I was quite prepared to look at a Linde Certified Preowned forklift,” Russell said.

“I’ve looked at those Linde machines in our business at four and five years old and they are still running beautifully.

“We were looking for the best forklift option for ergonomics and occupational health and safety to load and unload containers, move steel coils, pallets and loads up to six metres wide.

“When I approached Linde they were very pro-active in sourcing exactly the forklift I required. They brought out a preowned H35T with an hydraulic fork positioner, demonstrated it and left the machine with us for a couple of days.

“It was obvious immediately that this was suitable for what we wanted to achieve and I was confident that when the truck had been through Linde’s refurbishment process it would be ideal.”

After several months service at Refobar’s Narangba plant the Linde Certified Preowned H35T has lived up to its initial promise.

“When we significantly increased our productivity in the plant the old forklift we had in the role just wasn’t keeping up with the increased workload,” Russell said.

“Now our operator is much happier and he likes the machine because he can get through the work without having to hop on and off all the time. Everything can be done from the cockpit.”

“Operating costs have decreased, it’s a quiet forklift with all the functions we need and now we can take full advantage of the productivity improvements throughout the plant.”