The extreme length of product stored at CAV Aerospace’s warehousing facility in Flintshire, North Wales, was proving too much for standard counterbalance forklifts to cope with, so Regional Distribution Manager Gary Green and his team opted for a specialist solution from Combilift Ltd, the Irish manufacturers of the wide range of Combilift 4-way forklifts.
CAV Aerospace supplies stringers – aluminium elements which add strength and suppleness to aircraft wings – to aircraft manufacturer Airbus. As boxes of stringers can be over 20m long, this is a challenging load for any operation to handle. Gary Green explains: “We were having to execute some very tricky manoeuvres with the two old counterbalance forklifts, which was potentially hazardous as well as time-consuming and inefficient. We had seen Combilifts working at other Airbus plants around the country, and realised that 4-way capability would be a crucial advantage for manoeuvering these loads.”
An LPG C5000 Combilift is now CAV’s versatile, all-round handling vehicle. It offloads incoming product from delivery trucks in the yard, takes it to the 29,000ft2 warehouse for storage in high-bay racking. The truck then reloads boxes of stringers when they are scheduled for delivery to be Airbus. Sideways travel means that getting even the longest 21m long boxes through a 5m access door is a sum that now adds up. Combilift supplied fork spreader attachments to aid stability when manoeuvering these extreme loads, and the 18m spreader bar is the widest one made by Combilift to date. Due to the additional weight of these, Combilift’s Steve Tomlinson recommended a 5t capacity Combilift as the best option.
All handling procedures are now much more straightforward according to Gary. “The Combilift does exactly what the manufacturers say, and makes operation in confined spaces easier and safer. It is a solid, robust and well engineered piece of machinery that offers good protection for drivers whilst affording excellent visibility from the cab.”
The space-saving potential of the Combilift system was also an important consideration, as there will be a need for increased storage density as this relatively young operation grows. Only 10% of the warehouse is fitted with racking at present, but this is set to increase. Gary is in no doubt that the Combilift is a key asset for the future: “It will allow us to handle even longer loads and enable growth, and from my point of view it is the best piece of kit we have.” As CAV’s operation is totally reliant on the Combilift, a rapid response to any service issue is paramount, and local service providers Hanamans can be there in minutes should the need arise.
All Combilifts are manufactured in Monaghan, Ireland. The current range now encompasses around 15 models with capacities ranging from 2.5 – 14 tonnes, with LPG, diesel or electric power available. The company celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, and there are now over 9,000 units in operation worldwide.
Combilift Ltd
Tel UK: 07815 314 990
Email: info@combilift.com
www.combilift.com
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