Yale Europe Materials Handling and MotoGP™ successfully began their new brand partnership thanks to the short-term rental scheme on offer from the materials handling manufacturer. The first event covered by the new brand partnership took place from 4-6 August at the Brno circuit in Czech Republic.
MotoGP™, the FIM MotoGP World Championship, held its first annual competition in 1949 and has gone through many technical iterations and innovations ever since. The series is the pinnacle of two-wheeled competition, and is a leading sports and entertainment brand with a huge global appeal.
Logistics pivotal to the success of MotoGP™
Organised by Dorna since 1992, MotoGP™ is currently made up of 18 rounds, visiting 14 countries on five continents in the space of just over seven months. With a short turnaround between events, and tight freight delivery deadlines, efficient logistics is essential to keep MotoGP™ running smoothly throughout the season. Further to this, with paddock set-up occurring in the week leading up to each event, and dismantling occurring in the immediate days after the race, the movement of essential loads must be done with precision, care and in the quickest time possible.
Robert Berenguer, Logistics Director, Operations Department at Dorna Sports, understands the importance of having a well-thought-out plan in place: “To be a leading global sports brand requires detailed preparation and precise planning in every area, with logistics playing a huge part. Any delays with the movement of loads into and around the paddock can put the smooth running of events at jeopardy. Dorna takes great pride in the operational side of MotoGP™, and in ensuring that the Championship runs successfully from race to race.”
As such, Dorna needs to be confident that these critical operations are supported by a well-respected materials handling manufacturer. The popular Brno event saw the beginning of the Yale Europe Materials Handling brand partnership with MotoGP™ as its designated Forklift Supplier for the final six European races of the 2017 Championship.
Understanding the needs of Dorna
With these events occurring in five different countries, the brand partnership sees Yale® working in close conjunction with local dealers. For the opening event, it was a collaborative effort from Yale CZ locally in the Czech Republic and LOG Systems in Slovakia that guaranteed the correct trucks for the job were delivered safely and on time for the Brno event.
At a very early stage of the brand partnership between MotoGP™ and Yale, the lift truck requirements of the Championship were discussed and established. Due to the nature of the MotoGP™ environment, the trucks would be driven by different operators at various times of the day and night. This requires responsive, dependable trucks which are straightforward to operate. It was clear from these discussions that the best option for Dorna was the short-term rental scheme offered by Yale. With the Championship moving from country to country on such a frequent basis, the scheme offered the best solutions to help Dorna meet its materials handling needs.
David Reeve, Industry Manager, Counterbalance Solutions Yale, said, “With a requirement to supply a range of trucks over a limited period of time for each event, the Yale short-term rental programme was an economical option, ideally suited to cope with rapid, high intensity, peak workloads with tight deadlines and with little notice. With our expansive dealer network across Europe we had every confidence that we would be able to deliver the right programme for Dorna.”
A successful start to the new brand partnership
For the Brno event, trucks were delivered seven days prior to the first track action beginning, and returned to the dealer three days after the race had taken place. Dorna required a variety of lift trucks with lifting capacities from 2.5 tonnes to 8 tonnes. To meet this demand, Yale CZ provided Dorna with one each of the GDP25LX, GLP35VX, GLP30MX, GDP70VX models and two of the GLP30VX lift trucks. A further GDP35VX truck was supplied by LOG Systems. These trucks were instrumental in ensuring a successful first event in the Yale-MotoGP™ brand partnership.
Jan Pachman, Managing Director of Yale CZ, commented, “It is fantastic to be involved with such a respected and high-profile global sport such as MotoGP™. The range of operations that the Yale trucks have been involved with highlighted their credentials to meet the specific requirements of the MotoGP™ setting. From the movement of tyres and engines, through to the set-up of the hospitality and paddock area, our trucks performed exceptionally.”
Robert Berenguer was also delighted with how the first event of the brand partnership went: “We were very pleased when the agreement was first put in place between MotoGP™ and Yale. Working with an established materials handling manufacturer gives us great confidence in being able to fulfil the operational requirements of MotoGP™. Both Yale CZ and LOG Systems were incredibly cooperative in ensuring that the whole process ran smoothly. The support they offered, and the trucks they provided were both outstanding and helped us deliver against all of our logistical metrics.”
The tight deadlines and varying demands of the job were a superb showcase for the Yale short-term rental scheme. Thanks to the expertise of the Yale dealers, it was a great start to the Yale-MotoGP™ partnership. Following the success of the MotoGP™ event in the Czech Republic, Yale has provided short-term rental trucks with its dealers to races in Austria, the UK, San Marino and Aragon.
