Patane Produce lifts productivity with Toyota Materials Handling

Patane Produce, based just south of Perth at Myalup, is a leading supplier of carrots, onions, potatoes and broccoli to Perth, as well as interstate and overseas.

The operation consists of 440 hectares in the southwest and includes growing areas, administration buildings and several packing complexes. A typical working day sees four semitrailer loads of produce make the 125 km trip from Myalup to Canning Vale markets and the Coles receiving centre in Perth.

The company commissioned three 1.8-tonne Toyota 8FG18 forklifts at the end of 2011 to increase production and improve the reliability of its material handling fleet.

Managing director Michael Patane said he bought his first Toyota forklift 15 years ago and that machine, a 7FG18 model, is still in active service after logging 14,000 h.

“Toyota forklifts - they just keep working,” Patane said. “I’ve come to know the machines well over the years and never had any reliability issues.

“As well as the faithful Toyota 7-Series forklift, we have a second-hand 6-Series Toyota forklift that is still performing well.

“At the end of 2011 I bought the three 8FG18 Toyota forklifts to expand production and replace some second-hand machines of another brand, because the maintenance costs were too high.”

Toyota Material Handling Perth branch area sales manager Danny Carbery said Toyota 8-Series forklifts offer design and safety features such as automatic fork levelling control to level forks during loading and active control rear stabiliser, which locks the rear axle to help reduce the potential of lateral tip-overs.