A worldwide supplier of activated carbons and emission control systems, Chemviron Carbon chose STILL Materials Handling to supply every aspect of its materials handling on a turnkey operation at its Ashton in Makerfield, near Wigan based factory.
Part of the American consortium Calgon Carbon, Chemviron Carbon produce over a hundred different products and supply industries as diverse as chemical, medical & pharmaceutical, water, print, packaging, food & drink, engineering and military.
"An important aspect of any storage solution is to maximise the storage available within the building constraints, while taking into account the nature of business," said Mr Nik Wilson, Key Account Manager for STILL. "STILL has been designing and installing racking in conjunction with its trucks for many years and are uniquely able to maximise usable space whilst preventing any bottlenecks," he said.
Working within the racking is a STILL FM 14 reach truck. "We decided on the FM reach truck as it offered the best price/performance ratio," said Mr Steve Jones, Manufacturing Manager for Chemviron Carbon. Not only is the FM's driver compartment fully adjustable to suit all operator physiques, the ergonomic controls place all operating functions comfortably within reach. Travel direction and all hydraulic functions can be regulated using just two valve levers with pre-selector switches.
Added to this, the on demand electro-mechanical servo steering makes for fatigue-free operation. Compact dimensions mean the FM requires less aisle width – a significant plus when designing the warehouse layout. Wear-free brakes and a high rate of energy recovery provide additional operating economies.
The R 70-25 LP Gas counterbalance truck makes light work of the incoming raw materials. The electric drive eliminates transmission power losses making sure all of the engine's power reaches the functions and driven wheels. Class leading ergonomics ensure that STILL forklift trucks regularly appear at the top of driver satisfaction surveys. Acceleration and braking characteristics can be pre-selected by the driver through five drive programs, while the wear-free multi-disk brake reduces overall maintenance costs by up to 30%.
"Moving an average of 340 tonnes of carbon every month, it is obviously vitally important to have a materials handling operation to suit. The sales manager I dealt with at STILL provided all the information I needed and came up with many sensible suggestions that we hadn't thought of," said Mr Steve Jones, Manufacturing Manager at Chemviron Carbon.