TDG awards Linde 5 year sole supply deal

Linde Material Handling has been awarded a five year contract to supply more than 800 forklifts to TDG sites throughout the UK.

TDG, a third party logistics and supply chain management specialist, works at almost 100 of its customers' sites across the country, including Weetabix, Sainsbury's and Argos.

Jonathan Fletcher, TDG procurement director, says Linde's sophisticated fleet management system, its excellent customer support services and its willingness to work with TDG to find the most cost-effective solution, resulted in the renewal of the contract.

"Linde's sophisticated fleet management system helps us optimise utilisation but, perhaps equally important, is the superior support Linde can offer our operations which enables us to pass on these efficiencies to our customers."

The two companies have been working together for more than ten years but the contract renewal involved tough negotiations. "The selection process was undertaken by a TDG core team of operators and technical experts," explains Fletcher.

"They comprehensively looked at ways to find further benefits to pass on to our customers, while ensuring the equipment met the stringent demands of the operations." One way in which Linde is making the fleet more cost-effective is through deploying high-frequency chargers through all of the electric fleet by the end of the year.

"We now have an improved, costeffective replacement cycle coupled to all our electric fleet using HF chargers," says Fletcher. "Deploying these chargers into the operation has reduced operating costs, reduced charge cycle times and reduced TDG's carbon footprint through a more efficient use of electricity." Andrew Daly, sales and marketing director, Linde Material Handling (UK), says Linde has worked closely with TDG managers at all levels of the company, and at the different sites, to ensure that it was offering exactly what was needed.

"We have now, for instance, asked each of the TDG operations or sites exactly what data it needs - and tailored our fleet management programme accordingly. This means the data will be used to make the operation as efficient as possible." TDG's operations are so varied that its fleet includes at least one of almost every type of product Linde produces.