Plateau Farms
Crown Helps Farming Operation Manage Peak Productivity and Reduce Operator Fatigue
Saving at least 15 hours per week
Time Savings
Adding a Crown WP Series electric pallet jack to each of Plateau Farms’ refrigerated trucks has brought dramatic labour cost savings to the business – at least 15 hours per week between five trucks.
User Benefits
The truck drivers are returning from delivery runs feeling more refreshed than when they used manual pallet jacks.
Reliable Uptime
Crown material handling equipment has provided the reliability to avoid downtime in a relatively remote area.
“Using the electric pallet jacks in the trucks has probably saved us at least 15 hours per week between our five trucks.”
Steven Guest
Plateau Farms
Application
Plateau Farms is a family-owned company based in Dorrigo on the north coast of New South Wales. It supplies fresh vegetables to major Australian grocery stores in areas as far as Taree, Tweed Heads, Armidale, Inverell and Tamworth with its own fleet of refrigerated trucks.
Challenge
Every day Plateau Farms harvests and distributes 50 to 60 pallets of produce, including potatoes, pumpkins, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, silverbeet and kale. Some trucks return with a load of sweet potatoes picked up along the way. The relatively remote location of the farm and the requirement to get stock to stores the day after harvesting for maximum freshness means that equipment reliability is a high priority.
Solution
Plateau Farms is using two Crown CD Series diesel forklifts to shift heavy loads of vegetables from harvesters to sorting and packing machines, and place them for despatch. It is also running five WP Series electric pallet trucks in the back of their delivery trucks to help pack and unpack, saving drivers’ time and energy.