FELIX

For more than 50 years, FELIX Austria has been one of Austria’s most well-known food and drink manufacturers and boasts a diverse range of products: from ketchup, sauces, mayonnaise, ready meals and soups to pickles, cereal, dried fruits, nuts and health foods. The majority of the almost 30,000 tonnes of products that the company distributes annually are produced at its headquarters in Mattersburg. There, a fleet of 36 forklift trucks ensures that all raw materials, ingredients, packaging and end products are in the right place at the right time and in the right amounts.

In the past, the forklift trucks at FELIX were predominantly powered by gas engines. Since 2014 however, the company has been replacing its entire fleet with battery powered forklift trucks. To cope with the long driving times, these are partly fitted with back-up batteries. When searching for reliable, efficient and gentle battery charging technology, FELIX came across the Selectiva devices from Fronius.

The large savings potential eventually convinced FELIX of Fronius – despite initial reservations due to the high purchase costs. For the gas-powered forklift trucks, monthly operating costs were over € 200 per vehicle. For electric stackers they are more than 75 percent lower at € 48 per month and the Fronius battery charging technology with the energy efficient Ri charging process is a major factor in that. Thanks to the gentle charging process and the special Refresh characteristic, the forklift trucks now last for the entire shift, even with old batteries, saving time and simplifying processes.