The Right Brew

Linde Material Handling and Belhaven Brewery have found a fuel efficient recipe for success as these two technically advanced market leaders work together to cater for the specific requirements of the Brewing industry.

Belhaven Brewery, Scotlands leading Brewer, and Linde Material Handling, the UKs leading supplier of material handling equipment, have formed a close relationship based on their shared dedication to quality products and innovative business solutions.

Belhaven is a pioneering Scottish brewery with a long and rich history. There may well have been beer production on the site pre-16th century.  According to records, John Johnstone took ownership of Belhaven in 1719 and the brewery first started brewing for commercial sale. Belhaven has since become the leading Scott is h brewer and produces the leading ale brand in Scotland known as Belhaven Best. Today, as part of the Greene King group, Belhaven combines successful traditional ales and a range of premium bottled beers with modern forward thinking to achieve an annual turnover of 60million.

Pivotal to the success of Belhaven is a dedication to quality and innovation, so when it came to choosing a fork lift product that could transport its ales with natural ease, Belhaven chose a supplier who shared its common philosophy. Jim Robertson, director of operations at Belhaven explains, Belhaven chose Linde Material Handling because of the quality and reliability of its products, as well as the sales and service support. First impressions usually count, so the design of the truck suggests that it is a quality productth is is borne out by its performance. Belhaven chose the revolutionary, yet functional technology and ergonomics of the 39X series trucks for use at its facilities. Jim commented, The ergonomics of the truck have found favour with our operators as its design has eliminated the minor d is comforts they experienced on previous trucks.

Belhaven needed a fork lift truck that could easily lift beer and cider containers on locator boards weighing up to 1020 kg in three-shift operations, with 24 hour-a-day, five day-per-week cycles.  As Jim elaborates, Most producers of beer and cider have moved from using saddle pallets to locator boards, the series 39X, H 25 truck has become the most predominant piece of equipment used in our industry. The beer clamp attachment and top stabiliser provide us with as safe and efficient an operation as possible.  Jim adds, The trucks are also very reliable and can cope with our long shifts and the 5,963 tonnes of product we move each month. We have very little downtime.

The lower fuel costs achieved by the new TDI motor technology and Lindes hydrostatic direct drive were of primary consideration when it came to choosing a provider: Fuel efficiency is a concern when ensuring that we operate cost effectively and our business looks at ways we can reduce our carbon footprint.

Belhaven acquired its fork lift trucks through Lindes fixed rate contract hire, which includes full maintenance. The main advantage to this is that Linde provide a one stop shop for sales and service, says Jim. Plus rates are fixed for the duration of the contract, which makes our annual budgeting process more straightforward. 

According to Jim, the high quality of Lindes trucks was surpassed only by the excellent sales support and reliable and speedy service support provided by Linde. The design of the trucks ensured operator sat is faction and we gained peace of mind knowing we can rely on Linde service support when required.