New Lift Truck Designed To Meet Growing Shift Toward Euro Warehousing

Logistics Insight Asia - New Products, 14/8/2008

Crown Equipment has released a new sit down moving mast reach truck -ESR 4500 - to the Australian, SE Asian and New Zealand markets to suit an emerging shift in this world region towards European style warehousing solutions.

Designed and manufactured at the Crown Equipment factory in Germany, this latest version will set new standards in the Australian market and place Crown in a unique position of being able to offer three completely different styles of narrow aisle reach trucks.

The new ESR 4500 uses AC motors for increased speed in travel and lifting/lowering rates whilst using less energy in the process. High torque in the traction, lift and steering motors provides for smooth hydraulic transition and with AC power the unit is virtually maintenance free.

Crown’s tests on the enhanced acceleration of the ESR 4500 have shown that it moves up to 18% more pallets than its competitors whilst using up to 13% less energy when doing the same job.

The ESR 4500 has a variety of models, with the largest developed to handle heavy loads up to 2000kg with mast heights of up to 11.4m.

Safeguards to operators and stock were given prominence, with Crown engineers designing innovative features to guarantee both.

A unique safety feature of this new model is a patented offset mast design which provides greater visibility at all levels.

‘Soft Lift’ allows a smooth start when lifting or lowering - ideal for delicate loads. ‘Soft Stop’ avoids abrupt stopping at the end of the lift stroke by slowing down the lift speed 30cm before it reaches the maximum fork height.

Advanced options are available, such as ‘Rack Height Select’ which are used to program the level at which the forks are to stop for hundreds of individual locations.

Also available is the ‘Tilt Position Assist’ function which allows the fork tilt to stop automatically at the horizontal position. Both options eliminate any dangerous ‘guessing’, particularly at great heights.

To assist the operator to maintain optimum control, the ESR 4500 is equipped with speed sensitive steering to increase maneuverability in tight spaces by significantly reducing the need to turn the wheel constantly when travelling slowly.

Even operators who are not experienced in driving a lift truck will be able to easily operate the ESR 4500 as the unit has 3 different performance settings to meet the needs of the operator or application.

The ESR 4500 is fully constructed of steel (using 200kg more than its competitors) and does not use plastic or sheet metal which can easily dent. The heavy duty chassis is a one piece construction to take on heavy loads and the battery is also protected from side impacts.

Because the uptime of such an integral machine is central to maintaining productivity levels in a warehouse, the ESR 4500 has been designed to minimize maintenance costs with its advanced ACCESS 1 2 3 diagnostic technology.
Displayed on the two-line LCD screen in the cabin, it immediately pinpoints a fault, shows where it is and instructs what to do. It discerns if the problem is electrical, hydraulic or mechanical, thereby eliminating guesswork and doing away with service manuals. This ensures the machine is up and running smoothly in no time at all.

An upturn in warehouse productivity is the real measure of any new lift truck and it is the combination of many significant improvements on the new Crown ESR 4500 which provide the features to achieve this.

Crown Equipment, www.crown.com