Southern Steel confident of Linde’s mettle

Southern Steel is the largest privately owned steel distributor in Australia and with over 50 years’ experience in the industry, it has earned an enviable reputation for reliability, flexibility and excellent service. That’s what it looks for from its forklifts.

The company has previously purchased new Linde forklifts for its Southern Sheet & Coil business and the experience gained with those machines gave it the confidence to add to its fleet with Linde Certified Pre-Owned Forklifts.

Southern Steel’s technical manager, Ching Han said a combination of budget restrictions and a close look at the roles it needed to fill with additional forklifts saw the company consider pre-owned equipment.

“We considered other brands, but we were really happy with Linde based on our own experience. Every forklift has to suit its role and of course you’ve got to be confident that it will be reliable over the long run.

“Beyond that you also need to be assured that reliable pre-owned equipment service and maintenance are going to be available. We were very confident of that from our previous experience with Linde.

Ching Han was also impressed with the choice of forklifts available through the Linde Certified Pre-Owned program.

“Sometimes you might feel you’ve got to accept what’s available, but Linde seem to have the ability to supply what you need,” he said.

“For our Port Kembla branch we needed a three tonne gas forklift fitted with a container mast due to our new building height restriction. A tight turning circle was also essential for maximum use of storage space. A Linde forklift was the best answer for these requirements.

“When this pre-owned fork arrived it looked brand new. The operators and branch manager thought it was a brand new forklift.

“There was also a requirement for a three tonne capacity Linde Certified Pre-Owned forklift for our Sheet and Coil business at 1 Steel Street, Bankstown and a five tonne capacity forklift for our newly acquired Sheet and Coil business (known as Australian Metal Processing,) out at Warragamba. These Linde Certified Pre-Owned forklifts were delivered with a bonus weight gauge.”

Southern Steel’s Sheet and Coil business is quite unique because its forklifts are required to lift steel coils as well as pallets. Fine control and tilt of mast and tines is essential, especially when loading trucks, but this was not an issue for the Linde Certified Pre-Owned Forklifts provided.

Ching Han and Southern Steel were also reassured by the warranty offered through the Linde Certified Pre-Owned program.

“Linde are very confident in their own machines and where many pre-owned machines might be covered by a six month warranty, Linde were confident enough in these machines to provide a 12 month warranty,” he said.

“We were confident from our Linde experience that if we bought their pre-owned equipment it would be a good investment, whether it was covered by a six or 12 month warranty, but that level of warranty backing really stands out.”