When space is your largest fixed cost, as is the case at St. Helens based Cheshire Mouldings, the pressure is on to make the most of it. Since Combilifts replaced a combination of counterbalance trucks and a sideloader, MD John Carney calculates that 50% extra storage space has been achieved on the premises.
The company’s most recent investment was in a combination of a new warehouse, racking and a third Combilift – a C3000 Combi-ST stand on truck, which has once again enabled every inch of space to be exploited for optimum stock density.
Cheshire Mouldings was founded in Warrington in 1988 and is now one of the leading stairpart and moulding manufacturers in the UK, supplying major national retailers as well as small independents with an extensive range of decking, moulding and joinery products.
The company’s two current sites occupy an area of 140,000ft² and a third 70,000ft² site is in the planning stage. As it has grown, it has taken advantage of Combilift’s expanding range of forklifts to cater for the specific handling requirements of various types of stock. Its first model, acquired seven years ago, was from the core C-series, and this C4000 was the answer for manoeuvring 3.5t, 5.4m long packs of timber in and around narrow confines and for feeding the production lines.
“When we first saw the Combilift range we realised that 4-way capability was the way to go for operational flexibility and space saving handling,” said John Carney. “Our second truck, a 3t capacity counterbalance design Combi-CB was chosen for its ability to handle mixed loads – pallets as well as longer packs – and for its compact size which makes it very handy for unloading inside containers.”
The stand-on cab of the new C3000 ST enables it to be narrower than ride-on models, so aisle-widths in part of the new facility could be cut down to just 2.1m – compared to 4m needed with conventional counterbalance trucks. Stair parts, handrails and beading stored in this area can now be stacked in the racking up to 6.8m, more than twice as high as before. “Our aim was to store more in less space and this new system has effectively turned 8,000ft² into 16,000ft²,” said John Carney, who added: “Maintaining service levels for our customers alongside the rapid growth that we have experienced is a crucial issue and the reliable day in day out performance of the Combilifts makes a major contribution to this.”
Diesel power was chosen for the ST to accord with the other trucks on site, and guided aisles were fitted between the new racking. This makes it very quick to enter the aisles, easy to steer down them and has the added advantage of greatly reducing the risk of damage to both product and racking.
Driver David Lowndes said: “I wouldn’t want to drive any other truck now – the ST’s visibility is great, it is easy and comfortable to operate throughout the shift and very stable when putting the 1.5t packs into the top racking.”
Tel: 00353 47 80500
Email: info@combilift.com
Comments are closed.