Linde Material Handling has been manufacturing counterbalance trucks at its Aschaffenburg, Germany production site since back in 1959. In March, the one-millionth vehicle rolled off the assembly line and has since been ceremoniously handed over to customer company Colorobbia España S.A., one of the largest facilities in the world for the production of frits, pigments and other products for the ceramics and glass industry.
The completion of the milestone vehicle was celebrated with a minute-long indoor fireworks display of red Bengal lights, sparklers, smoke and lots of glitter raining down around the figure ‘1,000,000’.
The next day, the latest generation Linde diesel forklift truck with a load capacity of 3.5 tons set off on the journey to its future workplace at Colorobbia España S.A. on the east coast of Spain, with the signatures of all assembly employees written on the back of it. There, it will reinforce a fleet of 60 vehicles.
“We have been relying on Linde brand forklifts for 24 years now and particularly appreciate the trucks’ user-friendliness and safety,” says Gonzalo Trilles de Castro, Managing Director of Colorobbia España S.A. Equally important to him, he says, is a reliable partnership with a company that shares his own philosophy on sustainability, innovation and technology. “All of this is a guarantee of long-term success, which we share with our customers as a competitive advantage.” The truck’s arrival at the Spanish customer company, which is celebrating its centenary this year, was duly recognized with a specially decorated cake which features sparklers too.
The one-millionth counterbalance truck from Linde Material Handling’s Aschaffenburg headquarters represents the latest highlight in its corporate success story, which now spans more than sixty years. With the ‘Hubtrac’, Linde’s first forklift truck, the intralogistics specialist offered an industry-defining, technological alternative to the commercial vehicles that had up to then been difficult to operate, usually having a jerky clutch and gear shift. Due to the hydrostatic drive, which allowed a double-pedal control to be fitted, this forerunner was suited to retrieving and storing goods or loading and unloading trucks: no shifting was required when frequently driving back and forth, allowing both feet to be able to rest in a relaxed position on the respective pedal. Even back then, this resulted in higher efficiency in goods handling and has remained the hallmark of all of Linde’s counterbalance trucks to this day, regardless of whether they are powered by internal combustion engines or electric motors.