04/26/2010

• Non-marking Clean version for cleanliness
• Ensures resistance to tipping
• Economical performance thanks to low rolling resistance

Hanover, April 2010. Dutch cheese is famous throughout the world - be it full-flavoured Gouda, creamy Edam or nutty Maasdam. FrieslandCampina Cheese alone makes 1,000 tons of this dairy product every week in Gerkesklooster. With twelve cheese factories in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, this global company operates 1,400 forklifts to store and load its products.

Every day 1.5 million litres of milk are delivered by tank truck to the FrieslandCampina Cheese factor in Gerkesklooster with two-thirds of this being turned into cheese. Manufacture is largely automated, with just a few employees checking the plant during the production process: warming, separation, draining off the fat, allowing the cheese mass to rest and then stirring it again, draining off liquids once more and then submerging it in a brine bath for between 40 and 100 hours until finally - over the course of several stages with drying processes in-between - the rind is coated with wax, thereby completing the manufacturing process. Within approximately 14 days the milk supplied has been turned into cheese wheels weighing 15-18 kilos.

It is only at the end of the production process that the staff needs to get involved - when the cheese has to be moved on to its next destination. Of the 1,000 tons of cheese produced, some 800 tons stay in Europe and the remaining 200 are sold to other parts of the world, for example, the Middle East or Japan. Distribution sometimes goes to large retail chains and sometimes via different stages of the trade where the cheese is allowed to mature further, depending on the respective requirements. This ripening process can last several days or even months (medium aged cheese: 5-6 months).

At FrieslandCampina Cheese production runs 24 hours a day seven days a week. Each of the forklifts in operation at Gerkesklooster clocks up an annual total of 1,000 working hours and they are all fully leased - with the Continental SC20 Clean industrial tyre providing safe, reliable services virtually without leaving a trace. Martin Obdeijn, service manager for STILL, is responsible for careful overseeing of the vehicles. They have to work hard - there are nine cheeses lined up next to each other per plank, with three planks per layer and 14 layers to a pallet. That is equivalent to up to seven tons in weight which has to be moved by the forklift and lifted to a maximum height of three metres. Enormous leverage forces are exerted on the tyres in the process. However, thanks to its design characteristics, the Super-Elastic SC20 Clean solid tyre has outstanding resistance to tilting. In the foodstuffs industry, cleanliness is a top priority, which is why a non-marking Clean tyre - which leaves virtually no marks on light-coloured floors - is the only option as far as FrieslandCampina is concerned. The SC20 is moreover free of nitrosamines and contains no highly aromatic oils - both of which are suspected of being carcinogenic.

A further positive characteristic of the SC20 Clean is also of importance for drivers - comfort. Although there is no air to cushion the inevitable impacts, this solid tyre is comfortable to drive. Olne Loonestra, a forklift driver at the FrieslandCampina Cheese factory in Gerkesklooster: "I'm highly satisfied with the driving characteristics of the SC20; the tyre is not too hard." Lammert A. Salverda, warehouse and packaging manager, is pleased for other reasons: "The low rolling resistance saves on energy and, together with the very thick tread rubber, this makes our costs per operating hour for the SC20 low, so we achieve very high economic efficiency."