Hoppecke Industrial Batteries has won a major contract to supply fork lift truck (FLT) batteries and chargers – backed by a full service and maintenance package – to a company that specialises in supplying a range of pet food products throughout the UK, Europe and many other countries worldwide.
Based in Lancashire, the family-owned GA Pet Food Partners offers pet food brands of any size a total solution in private label pet food. From concept to launch and covering storage and despatch, GA has among its partners more private label pet food brands than any other pet food manufacturer, making it easy and profitable for pet food brands to launch and grow their business.
GA Pet Food Partners recently updated its complete fleet of around 60 trucks, moving away from diesel counterbalance FLTs to electric counterbalance units. As part of the contract, Hoppecke – specialist in industrial battery systems – supplied its trak air traction energy system based around electrolyte circulation batteries and high-frequency chargers.
The Hoppecke motive power solutions have been installed and are being serviced at two different sites, with 32 trucks based at GA’s main manufacturing plant in Leyland, Lancashire, many with spare batteries connected to the HF chargers. GA is set to order another 10 FLTs for use at this site – which is among the most technologically advanced and best-equipped dry pet food manufacturing facilities anywhere in the world. Eight of the new fleet will be electric counterbalance trucks and they will all share batteries, with an additional three batteries being supplied by Hoppecke to ensure continuous operation of all trucks.
At GA Pet Food Partners’ 200,000sq ft distribution centre in Chorley, Lancashire – which has a 14,000 pallet storage facility – there will be four new trucks delivered, three of them with spare batteries. As well as increased uptime and efficiency, the electric trucks ensure dust and noise pollution are minimised to improve the working environment.
GA’s operations director, Jim Whittingham, said: “It’s a massive change for us to move away from diesel to electric for our trucks but it has definitely proved to be the best solution to our needs. We wanted to make the change because we are now applying to pet food production the same extremely high standards that a producer of food for human consumption would operate under.”
Jason Howlett, managing director of Hoppecke UK & Ireland and regional managing director of Western & Northern Europe, added: “This is a great order for Hoppecke and we are proud to be associated with such a dynamic organisation that will keep developing its manufacturing and distribution capabilities for the foreseeable future and beyond.”
