Sturtevant, WI -- (SBWire) -- 08/07/2017 --In part one of a three-part series, Topper Industrial describes how a global hydraulics company who designs, manufactures, and markets hydrostatic transmissions, realized the benefits of minimalizing the number of fork trucks at their North American headquarters.

Topper Industrial founder, Ed Brown, showed several different industrial carts to determine what would be most lean and effective. The lean and continuous improvement engineer from the hydraulics company shared that they use about 90 different carts, seven different types of carts, including the world class Topper Mother-Daughter system pulled by tugger carts. They use some specific ergonomic applications of carts for specific lines dedicated for specific products.

The hydraulics company decided to go to the fork free route, which does not mean entirely fork truck free. The company had been working with some former Toyota management, particularly at the Georgetown plant in Kentucky. A few years ago, the former plant manager told the engineer that fork trucks were the most dangerous and inefficient pieces of equipment on the shop floor.

There was skepticism at first, they did not want to believe it. The company had fork trucks all over the plant and did not know any differently than that. As they went through a lean journey, they soon realized that there was a lot of waste in the internal logistics flow and opportunities for safety improvements.

The hydraulics company began to investigate into some OSHA (Office of Health and Safety Administration) statistics; they also looked into the National Truck Association statistics – of the 900,000 trucks that are out there, in a given year, NTSA (National Transportation Safety Administration) estimates that 11 percent of these trucks will be involved in some kind of accident on a shop floor. If the average life of a truck, according to statistics, is about eight years, there is a 90 percent chance a truck seen on the shop floor will be involved in some type of accident. Going Fork Free where possible became the obvious choice.

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About Topper Industrial
For more than twenty years, Topper Industrial, (http://www.TopperIndustrial.com) based just outside of Milwaukee, WI, has been a leader in the material handling equipment industry. The company's product roster features industrial carts, conveyors, lifts, lifts & tilts, shipping racks, containers, casters, and cart components. From mother-daughter carts to quad steer carts to tilt carts and rotate carts, Topper's material handling solutions make delivering material line side more effective through more efficient practices. Topper Industrial has a team of experienced professional experts able to assess and provide the right product for all material handling equipment requirements.

Topper Industrial is a proud member of MHI. The Topper Industrial client roster includes Anderson Windows, Detroit Diesel, Honda, Kia Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Aramark, Johnson Controls, Whirlpool, and Caterpillar. Follow on Twitter @TopperInd. Call 800-529-0909.