The recent acquisition of a Combilift 4-way forklift has enabled Marlin Industries, a leading supplier of innovative cable packaging solutions, to achieve savings of over 50% on both indoor and outdoor storage areas at its site near Wrexham in North Wales.
Marlin Industries provides a wide range of services for cable manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors in the UK, Ireland and Europe. These range from the manufacture of plywood reels and timber drums, a cable winding service and the recycling of old drums into a variety of products such as wood chippings which are sold on to chipboard manufacturers.
Incoming deliveries of raw materials such as the 3 x 1metre 2 tonne packs of timber and 6metre lengths of steel had previously been offloaded with a counterbalance forklift and subsequently handled with a sideloader. Ideally, the management was on the lookout for a much more streamlined system and a more manoeuvrable replacement for the sideloader. Health and safety director Steve Webster explains: "We wanted to make much better use of storage space both undercover and in the timber yard, improve overall efficiency and ensure safe procedures throughout."
Since taking delivery of the C4000 diesel powered Combilift recommended by Marlin's materials handling consultant Bernard Mahoney of Hannaman Forklifts, all this and more has been achieved. The warehouse can now to be fitted out with 5m high racking in accordance with the Combilift's capabilities, and all low level storage space will be exploited due to the much lower platform of the Combilift compared to the old sideloader. Aisle widths in the exterior yard have been reduced by 2m, which has doubled storage capacity.
Time-consuming double handling has been eradicated as the Combilift offloads and
takes product directly to its designated storage area. Its 4-way ability and extreme manoeuvrability also enables materials to be taken into the manufacturing facility for exact positioning at the automatic feed of the machines.
Handling multiple packs of steel has speeded up operations, and resting loads on the Combilift's platform has resulted in better visibility for operators when travelling around the busy 5 acre site. The truck's drivers all agree that the rationalisation of the yard has made it much easier and quicker to locate specific packs of timber and has made stocktaking much easier. In all, as Steve Webster says, "the Combilift has been very successful and is a real asset to our business."
Another growing area of Marlin's business is the use of old timber drums which are turned into "ground effects" coloured bark for the gardening sector and pellets for bio fuels. Thanks to the flexible new handling system now in place, space constraints will not hamper the continued success of this environmentally friendly operation.
The Combilift range covers models with load capacities from 2.5 to 12 tonnes, with various power options and attachments. Design engineers at the Co. Monaghan manufacturing plant also offer a free warehouse layout service designed to show companies how to make the best possible use of their available storage space.
Combilift Ltd., Co. Monaghan, Ireland
Tel UK: 07968 490051
www.combilift.com E: info@combilift.com