Cat ® Lift Trucks ’ innovation factory – Staying ahead in materials handling
The recent wave of technical innovations , and benchmark-setting product launches , that customers have seen introduced from Cat ® Lift Trucks by their UK distributor , Impact Handling , is no surprise .
In fact , it ’ s only to be expected from a company that has a long-standing belief in the importance of customer-centric Research and Development , something that has continued unabated throughout the upheaval of the last two years and is now bearing fruit .
In the south of Finland , just outside of Helsinki , sits the European hub of Cat Lift Trucks ’ R & D department ( there are further teams based in both the US and Asia ). The facility is home to over 100 R & D professionals , whose knowledge and expertise span every facet of cutting-edge industrial engineering and design . The team is headed up by the charismatic Kero Uusitalo , Head of Industrial Design & User Experience . Kero is a typically precise and efficient Nordic industrial designer , whose minimalist way with words is as elegantly simple as his taste in design .
We caught up with Kero to find out what sits behind the European R & D team ’ s remarkable pace of innovation , and to receive some important advice for lift truck users .
“ Our priorities are our customers priorities ”, begins Kero . “ We are humans creating forklift trucks for humans – whether for drivers or managers – and this is the most important aspect ”
“ The foundation of our work is listening to our customers . This is where it begins ”, Kero is keen to add .
The team consult with a large cross- 4 FDPP - www . fdpp . co . uk
section of Impact Handling ’ s food , drink and packaging customer base in the UK as well as numerous other end users across Europe . Taking on board the views and feedback of a broad spectrum of sectors that cover a wide range of utilisations . The customer consultations continue right through the programme , including during live prototype testing and post-R & D customer experience – ensuring a continued feed-back loop based on real world scenarios and demands .
The foundation of our work is listening to our customers . This is where it begins .
Each facet of the programme : from safety , environmental , performance , ergonomics , and driver comfort , to mechanics , electrics , hydraulics , lifting functions , legislation , and beyond , all have a dedicated R & D manager with supporting team focused on delivering the best in every metric across each element of the entire programme .
“ The R & D effectively starts before the project .” Elaborates Kero , “ We are continually testing technological platforms – be that physical or software – at the theoretical stage ”. This ingenious modelling enables the team to explore out-of-the-box ideas and is typical of the inspired thinking that runs throughout the facility .
“ Similar to the car industry , we also parallel test individual components , as well as the entire trucks , to expedite the