Electric counterbalanced lift truck

Anilox Laser Technology uses its fork lift trucks on a daily basis to handle pallets containing components that range in weight from 30 to 1500kg and rollers and sleeves of various dimensions up to five meters in length. 

Commenting for Anilox, production manager Andy Duncan says: “Our existing, ageing lift truck needed replacing so we approached Nexen for advice and provided them with an outline specification that suited our requirements. They provided us with a brand new lift truck as a demonstrator through their distributor Lift Truck Rentals and we liked it so much that we stuck with it.”

Having handed Nexen a specification for a predominantly warehouse-based lift truck, Anilox was offered a four-wheel FBX20 electric counterbalanced fork lift, which features a triplex mast and has a lifting capacity of 2000kg. The latest model to Nexen’s extensive product portfolio offers a high degree of stability and productivity coupled with enhanced operator comfort and safety. The Nexen design team was tasked with designing a steer axle that would offer a significant reduction in turning radius and succeeded in producing a four-wheel lift truck that operates in a similar space to competitors’ three wheel trucks.

Explaining the decision to specify a four-wheel lift truck, Andy Duncan says that many of the larger, heavier components Anilox manufactures are not square and not always placed centrally in wooden shipping pallets, so are therefore not balanced. “While three-wheel forklifts are obviously more manoeuvrable in an indoor environment, we decided that the off-central balance and length of some of the items we handle could pose a problem for them, so we opted for a four-wheel derivative. We worked with Nexen to evaluate the best solution for our needs and the Nexen FBX20 more than satisfies our requirements.”

The energy-efficient FBX20 forklift from Nexen’s X-Range is said to be one of the most innovative forklift trucks in its class. It offers a full road and work CE approved configuration, provides powerful lifting performance and features agile controls. It has been designed from the ground up to be quick and efficient to maintain; and features a special design where the complete control panel can be removed in under 2 minutes. This allows service engineers to replace controller components in minutes with easy and trouble-free access. Laptop-free maintenance can also be achieved using Nexen’s Smart Dash technology with on-board diagnostics. 

Commenting on the FBX20’s ergonomics, Andy Duncan says that while it would be easy to inundate operators with buttons and GUIs, the Nexen lift truck is not over-complicated, with the controls being easy to find and placed exactly where an operator wants and needs them. 

The ergonomically-designed operator compartment provides Nexen’s X-Range with a fully-floating and vibration-isolated driver cell featuring an adjustable steering column, allowing the operator to easily find a comfortable driving position. A single, pendant-mounted brake pedal and fully-adjustable suspension seat also provides the operator with optimum levels of comfort for prolonged periods of time. Additionally, Nexen’s Smart Dash enables the driver to easily see the trucks driving position on the LCD screen. 

Summarising, Andy Duncan says that Nexen took the time to listen to Anilox’s requirements: “The service from Nexen, and its distributor Lift Truck Rentals, has always been spot on and the FBX20 is ideal for our requirements. It wants for very little from us despite our sometimes demanding loads.”