Windows and doors are rarely standard items – they come in all shapes and sizes. Replacing them requires customization so that they fit perfectly into the spaces that the previous windows or doors occupied. That's where Anlin comes in.

Anlin Window Systems is one of California's leading replacement window and door companies. Its products are designed to provide energy efficiency regardless of which California climate customers reside in – from the snowy peaks of Squaw Valley to the steamy deserts of Palm Springs.

Anlin understands quality, and that is why it trusts Toyota forklifts for material handling at its manufacturing and distribution center in Clovis, Calif.

"Anlin has been a customer of ours since 2003,"says Rick Pfeiffer, Account Manager at Toyota Material Handling of Northern California. "We are their material handling supplier and provide them with forklifts and service. We have one of the largest and oldest dealerships for Toyota in the country."

SAFE HANDLING
Toyota forklifts can be found in nearly every work area at Anlin. Many operate inside the manufacturing and distribution areas of the building, as well as outside in a vast material storage yard. Their ease of maneuverability is beneficial in the tight confines found both inside and out. They also provide gentle handling for products and materials that can break or scratch if proper care is not taken.

Among their duties is unloading. Tractor-trailers arrive with sheets of glass, which are carefully unloaded and taken to storage using 5,000- pound capacity propane-powered forklifts. The same trucks also unload flatbed trucks that pull into the yard with loads of vinyl materials. The vinyl comes in long strips that are stacked within the yard until needed in manufacturing.

The facility also has two larger forklifts with 9,000- and 10,000-pound capacities to handle bigger loads. The smaller of the two features a rotating fork attachment. This allows it to pick up bins of scrap materials in manufacturing cells for dumping into large recycling containers located within the yard.

Inside, the forklifts and electric pallet jacks bring materials from storage areas to work cells for window and door assembly. Once manufacturing is complete, finished products are taken to storage racks until ready to ship. Several Toyota order pickers are deployed in the racks to put products away and to pick products for orders.

"These are narrow-aisle forklifts, designed to get into a very narrow space," says Pfeiffer. "But they still have the capacity that allows them to carry a large amount of windows of different sizes and weights."

These "person-up" order pickers have specially designed work platforms to hold windows and doors. The platforms allow the associates to easily slide windows in and out of the racking. When products are needed for orders, associates gather the windows and then drive the order picker trucks directly to shipping docks, where they are loaded onto Anlin's delivery vehicles.

WORRY-FREE MAINTENANCE
Toyota Material Handling of Northern California also provides complete maintenance for the forklift fleet at Anlin.

"Anlin is on our Silver Full Maintenance Plan," explains Pfeiffer. "That plan ensures that their forklifts are operating at their full capacity. Our technicians are servicing them on a regular basis, and this gives Anlin the security of knowing that they are not going to have any safety issues. It also helps them with standardized billing. They pay a flat rate every single month, so there are not going to be any maintenance hikes or unexpected expenses."

As far as Anlin Window Systems is concerned, they clearly made the right choice in trusting Toyota Forklifts for their material handling needs. For more information on Toyota's full-service product line of forklifts and warehouse equipment, visit www.ToyotaForklift.com/forklifts.