Combilift Ltd, the world’s leading supplier of 4-way forklifts, celebrated another milestone in early June when the 10,000th machine to roll off its production lines in Monaghan was delivered to Weyerhaeuser, the world’s leading manufacturer of engineered lumber products. Truck number 10,000 will be working at Weyerhaeuser’s Parallam Mill in Annacis Island near Vancouver, and it was officially handed over to Chuck Antonides, Weyerhaeuser’s Director of Lean Processes, by Combilift USA’s President Tommy Cadden. It is also the first 10 tonne capacity Combilift to be operational at a Weyerhaeuser site.
The majority of Weyerhaeuser’s products are oversized loads which can be as long as 20m, and having identified the Combilift 4-way concept as the answer to handling such challenging products, it now operates 130 Combilifts across its sites in North America. The trucks play a key role in the company’s commitment to the safest material handling procedures and excellent productivity, and were designed specifically for Weyerhaeuser’s requirements.
Combilift MD Martin McVicar: “Weyerhaeuser’s case exemplifies how customer feedback from the wide variety of industry sectors we supply has been instrumental in helping us to continually improve the Combilift concept, to become the world’s largest supplier of long-load handling equipment.”
“Product development was based on close collaboration between the two companies, with Combilift acting constantly and quickly on feedback from Weyerhaeuser personnel,” says Tommy Cadden. “Chuck Antonides visited our manufacturing facility in Ireland on a number of occasions to liaise with the management and engineers. Within a six month time frame from August 2007 to January 2008, Combilift designed, built and delivered the first of the Weyerhaeuser 6 tonne units and throughout 2008 Weyerhaeuser ordered and took delivery of a total of 108 of these models.
A raft of features designed to ease the handling of extreme loads and to make life easier for drivers are integrated into the C12,000WSL and the C20,000WSL models, such as a larger operator cab, sticker boxes and containers for chainsaws and tools fixed to the body of the truck, and an integrated side shifting mast which caters for the varying dimensions of product. Combilift’s customized approach has proved to be such a success that Weyerhaeuser has embarked on a program to phase out all other types of conventional forklifts at its distribution centres and replace them with Combilift models.
Combilift Ltd
Co. Monaghan, Ireland
UK Tel: 07815 314 990
Web: www.combilift.com
Email: info@combilift.com
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