Antique Baths

Client: Steve Atherton

Business: Antique Baths

Perfect match forklift: Hyworth 1.8T Gas Forklift 6m Lift

Client background & environment

Established in 1992, Antique Baths Sydney is the only company in Australia that manufactures and restores cast iron baths, sinks, basins and cooking pots using Vitreous Enamel fired at 850°C.

“Jay was exceptional with his service, made a smooth transaction for a new forklift. I would recommend Hyworth Forklifts 100%. When the old forklift stopped working just before Christmas, I had called a few Forklift suppliers and Jay from Hyworth was the only company with concerns, straight out to see what our needs were for the business and delivered in the time promised.”

Antique Baths Sydney

The challenge

When Antique Bath’s old Toyota 1.5-tonne forklift broke down just before Christmas – a busy time of year for their industry – their original supplier was unresponsive, servicing costs were inflated and new parts had become scarce.

Enquiring via our website, Steve and Sue were upfront with our team that we weren’t the first forklift company they had contacted. Due to increased demand in the supply chain industry and Covid-19’s disruption on forklift delivery times, many forklift companies were unresponsive to small businesses they saw as a one-off sale. Requesting our team perform a pre-purchase site survey, Steve and Sue were genuinely surprised when Hyworth team member, Jay, was willing to meet them at their site.

Antique Baths' requirements

During the site survey, the first thing Jay observed was the tight spaces between shelving in their factory. Moving rails, sloped driveways and a lack of 3-phase power were also critical site-specific factors that would greatly influence the recommended machine.

Although the forklift would be operated predominantly indoors to lift cast iron bathtubs into the oven for firing, their new machine needed to offer both versatility and stability to navigate a steep slope outdoors to transport the baths into the truck for delivery.

Our approach

Based on the factors observed during Jay’s detailed site survey, we recommended their team replace their outdated machine with a brand new 1.8-tonne 4-wheel LPG Counterbalance Forklift. Suitable for both indoor and outdoor work environments, the 4-wheel LPG forklift offered flexibility and stability.

Lifting baths of varied shapes and sizes, we recommended they add on the fork positioner attachment, which proved to be the perfect accessory to enable their team to adjust the forks quickly and accurately without leaving their seat.

The result

While Steve and Sue were a little hesitant to believe that any other forklift would serve them quite as well as their trusty 1980’s model – they are now incredibly pleased with their forklift upgrade. Now exposed to the potential of modern machinery, they have since contacted our team to enquire about additional forklift accessories.

As their legacy business continues, we look forward to working with Steve, Sue and Jed in the future.