Bird Stainless, headquartered just north of stainless steel’s home city of Sheffield, has taken delivery of its second Combilift 4-way forklift to enable it to cope with increasing demand for its products. Established in 1987, Bird Stainless is a privately owned independent company which services a wide range of industries such as nuclear power generation, oil and gas, marine, architectural and automotive. It is one of the leading suppliers of precipitation hardening steels in the UK and its customer base includes major multi-national concerns in the home, European and Middle Eastern markets.
Until four years ago the main handling vehicles used to pick and transport free stacked bars were counterbalance forklifts, sometimes used in conjunction with a sideloader. The limited manoeuvrability of these trucks was less than ideal when negotiating tight areas with very long loads and locating specific customer orders was a very time consuming process. Following the delivery of the company’s first C8000 8t Combilift, Managing Director Nigel Bird saw a considerable improvement in procedures: “This was so much more flexible than our old trucks and in conjunction with a racking system it enabled us to cut time for locating and retrieving bars down to a matter of minutes rather than up to an hour. Aisle-widths between the racking were also reduced for maximum use of space. The multidirectional ability of the truck also enables us to handle longer lengths than before and we can now confidently negotiate all areas of the site with bars as long as 10m.”
Since the original truck has been in place, the increased volume of stock carried has meant that Bird Stainless has doubled its storage area by building a free standing structure, again with bespoke racking, which will accommodate up to a further 1,500 tonnes of stock. The increased workload is too much for the one machine and Bird has taken delivery of a second C8000 to work in the new facility. “We need reliability from our equipment and this is what we got with our first truck so it was a natural choice to go for the Combilift this time round,” said General Manager Bill Innes. “The new facility was designed around the truck’s capabilities, so this ensures that we have the utmost in space utilisation and productivity. We have used all vertical space with racking up to 5.5m and guided aisle operation again allows aisle widths to be set at a minimum. “
The new diesel powered C8000 has slightly shorter forks of 750mm, which accord to the depth of the new racking, therefore avoiding any potential problems of forks going through to the next bay and eliminating the risk of damage to racking and stock. Drivers also appreciate the in-cab camera when placing or picking bars to the top beam and the automatic fork positioners which avoid the need for them to get in and out of the cab for manual adjustment.
Tel: 00353 47 80500
Email: info@combilift.com
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