Interview
Joaquín Rengifo Chief Executive of Bergé Manutención Ibérica
“To be the best, training has to be a priority. It also increases team motivation” Bergé is the exclusive distributor of CAT lift trucks in Spain. Joaquín Rengifo was named as Chief Executive of Bergé Manutención Ibérica at the end of 2010 in the midst of the crisis and, like everybody else in the sector, continues to battle against it. In this interview, he speaks with pride about the brand’s image, “which gives our lift trucks long-lasting value.”
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oaquín Rengifo’s aim is to achieve growth from 2013 onwards despite the restrictions on finance in Spain and the fact that, in general, companies are holding on to the lift trucks they have for longer and are avoiding renewing their vehicle fleets. He says that in 2006 the market in Spain stood at 33,000 machines. By 2009, it had dropped to below 10,000, a decrease of almost 70%. In 2011 it rose to 13,000 but has since fallen again in 2012 to around 11,000 units.
What is the current situation in the electric lifttruck market and are there any signs of recovery in comparison with previous years? It is a dynamic sector that has evolved and changed enormously. Electric units now run on AC power supplies, which represents a major advance. Development is focusing on functionality, operation, safety and management software. Electric vehicles are now very fast and have much greater battery autonomy than they did 10 years ago. Today, they can work continuously for 10 to 12 hours, whereas in the past they could only manage eight. The factors now being examined are efficiency, real working time per shift and the number of movements of stock, pallets or kilos per day. At the same time, they are becoming ever safer thanks to systems designed to protect operators, the environment and loads, such as, for example, mast-height control systems that warn if the vehicle is about to enter an area with a lower ceiling height, or automatic speed reduction when cornering in an aisle or
Carretillas térmicas
special › issue on ICE lift trucks
when there is a danger of rolling the vehicle. The trend is towards innovation in safety, software and ergonomics.
Are electric lift trucks continuing to be preferred over combustion engine units? And how is diesel performing against gas? Electric lift trucks are evolving faster. In terms of safety, they are similar, but in terms of propulsion systems, electric vehicles have advanced faster simply because there are few secrets left to be discovered in internal combustion engine design. They have to adapt to EC regulations, above all in relation to environmental issues, and to comply with the established emissions levels, which are getting lower and lower. Sales of electric lift trucks are rising while those of ICE units have stagnated. At the moment, approximately twice as many electric counterbalanced lift trucks are being sold as combustion-engined ones, although in these tough times in Spain, the fall in sales of electric units has been much greater than that of ones fitted with internal combustion engines. In August, the Spanish market fell 17% on 2011. Sales of counterbalanced ICE units dropped by 11%. Both segments are shrinking, but over the first eight months of the year, sales of electric lift trucks fell faster. Even so, the market for electric units remains about twice the size of the one for vehicles fitted with internal combustion engines. How important are the wheels fitted on lift trucks? Are they taken fully into account, given that the choice made will affect factors such as safety and fuel consumption? Noviembre/Diciembre 2012 • Logística Profesional
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