As one of the most technically advanced global manufacturers of consumer foods, ingredients and flavours, Kerry Group is required to operate sophisticated materials handling techniques throughout its plants in 19 different countries.
During rationalisation at its manufacturing centre in Aylesbury it sought to integrate its Bakery Equipment Division into the principle production facility but faced a problem familiar to many major manufacturers … space, or rather the lack of it! Conventional reach trucks serving the food products handling complex were too tall and generally too large to operate in the area designated for the incoming plant.
Counterbalanced
An extensive trawl through market options led Kerry's engineers to a counterbalanced stacker from Stanley Handling.
"The ROBUR SBC2510 Powered Counterbalanced Stacker which we recently acquired ticked all the boxes', reports Kerry's Robert Forster. 'Although compact enough to work within the space available to us, it provided the capacity to handle palletised loads weighing up to 1 tonne and makes light work of vehicle loading and unloading. The absence of forward-projecting legs means that it can also handle single and double-sided pallets - essential in view of the mix we are required to use."
The Right Decision
"A conventional fork lift was out of the question on space grounds alone but the SBC gave us all the benefits we could have anticipated at a fraction of the outlay - and with much reduced operating and maintenance costs, he comments. We distribute to destinations throughout the UK and operate high frequency schedules, so the truck had to be robust enough to handle the workload. In practice, the SBC met the challenge - we obviously made the right decision."
A preventive maintenance contract involving twice-yearly servicing formed part of the project, together with operator training undertaken at the plant during commissioning.
The ROBUR SBC2510 offers a compact 1780mm lowered mast height, a lift height of 2500mm and a capacity of 1000kg. 90 degree aisle requirement @ 1000mm load length is 2800mm.
Other specification details include electronic speed control, electromagnetic braking, tilting mast adjustable forks, an operator safety button, a lift speed of .25m/s, max. travel speed 6km/h, 160Ah/24V battery and an inclusive 30A charger.
Options on the range include models with capacities up to 1200kg, lift heights to 4500mm plus features including side shift, hydraulic attachments, clamps, rotators, fork extensions, carpet booms, full free-lift mast, larger battery and an ultra-compact model with 960mm chassis length.
For more information, please contact :
Mark Stanley at mark@stanleyhandling.co.uk or tel 01582 767711 fax 01582 765994