VELOCITY VIDEO CASE HISTORY
Rock solid performance
FEW PRODUCTS ARE AS UNWIELDY AS NATURAL
stone slabs – the kind used for countertops, flooring,
At Opustone’s three showrooms in Jacksonville, Fort
Lauderdale, and Miami, custom-
ers can see the beauty of natural
stone materials that are available for
their construction projects. These cus-
tomers include builders, contractors,
designers, fabricators, landscapers, and
installers.
Moving these heavy slabs around
its facilities is the work of a fleet of
Toyota counterbalanced forklifts. The
5,000-pound capacity trucks have the
maneuverability to handle these bulky
loads within some very tight storage
areas.
“We had been operating with different brands before from other manufacturers,” explains David Mansur,
vice president at Opustone. “But the Toyota equipment has been the
one that has lasted.” Mansur adds that the operation is rather complex, with a variety of moving and lifting needs. “I think Toyota has
been very suitable for this type of work,” he says.
TAKEN FOR GRANITE
The Miami facility is the largest in the company. It is spread across
four separate buildings on both sides of a city street. The forklifts do a
number of duties here, including crossing the street with heavy loads.
At the receiving docks, the slabs and tiles arrive in shipping con-
tainers from exotic origination points that include Spain, Brazil, Italy,
and Greece. The forklifts carefully unload the stone products from the
containers — marble, slate, granite, onyx, and other materials. The
slabs are placed into storage frames in the yard, while crates of tiles
are floor-stacked as many as four high inside the buildings. Some of
the tile products are also placed into storage racks.
FLEXIBLE AND MANEUVERABLE
The travel lanes inside the buildings are very tight. The tight turning
radius of the 15 Toyota forklifts in the fleet allows them to easily
maneuver their heavy loads around
the thousands of different materials
inside.
The vehicles’ three-stage masts also
have the lifting power to raise their
heavy loads for stacking. In addition
to being powerful, the masts are also
see-through so that drivers can view
the heavy loads they are transporting.
“Safety is one of the most important things when you drive a forklift
truck. You have to have high visibility,”
says Luis Penalo, warehouse receiving
supervisor.
Out in the yard, a special telescopic boom attached to one forklift is employed to move large slabs,
some weighing as much as 1,200 pounds. The boom has a clamp
attachment and sling that is placed around the slab to gently lift it for
transport. While solid and heavy, stone can still crack if mishandled.
That is where the maneuverability and smooth handling of the Toyota
forklifts is an advantage.
Opustone managers also appreciate the rugged durability of their
Toyota forklifts. “There is a lot of punishment on the forklifts, and they
perform very well,” says Mansur. “But most important is the technical
support. The moment that we need a repair, our warehouse supervi-
sor will call Toyota and they will either come to work on-site or they
will send another forklift to replace the one that has to be sent to
the shop to be fixed. So we operate on a very good partnership with
Toyota’s local dealers on technical support.”
SPONSORED CONTENT
To see a video of the slab and tile handling at Opustone’s Miami
distribution center, go to dcvtv.com and click on the Velocity Video.
Opustone relies on a fleet of dependable Toyota forklifts to move heavy
natural stone slabs throughout its Florida facilities.
A DC VELOCITY SPEED CHALLENGE
