European Transmission Company delivers couplings to Fork Lift Manufacturer

18 October 2013

European Transmission Company (ETC), is supplying a Europe-based manufacturer of fork lift trucks with precision couplings for the steering column. The coupling was selected following quality concerns over the customer’s previous supplier. The fork lift manufacturer was experiencing occasional failures with its previous steering column coupling due to the required load and driving speed. Due to the cost of repairing the fork lifts, as well as damage to the manufacturer’s reputation, the fork lift OEM turned to ETC, for an alternative solution. Extensive testing soon showed that the right decision had been taken, with Huco couplings duly specified for the company’s next generation fork lift, as well as replacing existing units in service.

With the coupling providing a connection between the steering column and the wheel set, quality and reliability is paramount. For this reason, in 2013, the decision was made to replace the couplings on all of the customer’s existing fork lifts in the field, with our solution. This amounted to around 3000 couplings, which were called-off in batches of 500. ETC then commenced deliveries of the coupling to the customer’s factory in the Netherlands for fitment to new-build models.

“We pride ourselves on our track record of never delivering late,” says Rob Hendriks, Managing Director of ETC. “In 2015, the customer moved some of its fork lift production to another country, but they are still ordering  couplings from us. We now supply around 2000-3000 Huco couplings a year to this customer. In fact, it looks like they will be doubling their capacity in the near future at the new plant, which will lead to even more orders.”