Largest Combilift built to date
February 1st 2008 Manchester based Panaloc,
a company which designs
and manufactures preassembled
building
structures, has specified the
largest Combilift 4-way
forklift built to date – a 14t
capacity model. In an
operation that MD Eric
Dean describes as unique,
the volume and size of raw
and finished product to be
handled meant looking way
beyond mainstream
handling systems for a
specialist solution.
Eric knew he would need
to find "a pretty special and
versatile handling system",
but was not initially sure
what this would be, as he
explains: "I thought I would
have to settle for a
sideloader with possibly
another type of forklift to
help out with offloading,
but a demo of the Combilift
proved that these 4-way
forklifts would be ideal."
Four 5t capacity diesel
powered Combilifts made
up the original fleet.
Growing popularity in
Panaloc's ecologically
sustainable building
methods led to increased
orders and the need for
larger capacity trucks.
Collaboration between
Panaloc and Combilift
design engineers produced
the 14t model, tailored to
the specific requirements of
the Trafford Park operation.
The truck's chassis is wider
than normal due to the
extraordinary size of loads
transported, and hydraulic
fork positioners were
incorporated to avoid
personnel having to
manually move the very
heavy forks. Thanks to an
attachment designed inhouse
at Panaloc, large
house panels can be
manoeuvred "on end"
around the storage
facilities.
The 5t Combilifts are
versatile in use, and offload
bulky 3m wide OSB boards
ranging in length from 6 to
13m. They are also used to
manoeuvre work in
progress around the
250,000ft2 factory and
reload finished product for
delivery to end customers.
A key factor for the
success of Panaloc's system
has been the in-house
development of specialist
CNC software.
The company can
fabricate half a house in
two hours, with one
completed house coming
off the production line
every four hours. More articles from Combilift Limited: | 
