Advertisement feature Cover story Aisle-Master is degrees better for Castlecool
Ireland’s largest independent temperature control and logistics company, Castlecool, has seen a marked increase in available storage space at its Castleblayney facility since it took delivery of an Aisle-Master articulated forklift
service which was particularly benefi- cial: “The engineers’ drawings demon- strated that we would be able to operate in 30 per cent narrower aisles and therefore achieve the best possible pallet density.” A further benefit is the truck’s flexibility to work both inside and out, which has led to much quicker loading and offloading, speed- ing up operations all round. The abil- ity to offload HGV’s from both sides is a real bonus when the company is working at full capacity, in the run up to Christmas for example.
Absolute reliability O
perating from three sites in the North East of the country, Castlecool offers a wide range of services such as chilled, frozen and ambient storage, blast freezing, quality testing and food sam- pling. The company previously used reach trucks to service the racking in the 200,000ft² warehouse in Castleblayney, but a changeover to the articulated system has enabled aisle widths to be cut, adding 25 per cent to Castlecool’s storage capacity. “The costs incurred per square foot in cold stores make space saving absolutely crucial to productive opera- tions,” says managing director Paul Shortt, “and as we had experience of an Aisle-Master at another site we were keen to adopt this system at the Castleblayney facility. It was some time ago since we acquired the original machine so we trialed the major brands of articulated trucks on the market, but found that the Aisle-Master still out- performs the competition, particularly in terms of reliability.”
Beneficial layout service Before the truck was delivered, Shortt took advantage of Aisle-Master’s free site survey and warehouse layout
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The lack of any need for back up has also enabled Castlecool to make sub- stantial savings, as Shortt explains: “The Aisle-Masters have such a good track record of dependability that we can operate in full confidence without back up trucks in place. If there is an issue – which is rare, the response from the service department is so quick that this can be resolved with the minimum of delay.”
Aisle-Masters can work in aisles of just 1.75m, have capacities of up to 2.5 tonnes, lift heights of up to 12.5 metres, with
a choice of AC electric or LPG power. A 20SE AC electric powered Aisle-Master fitted with an 8m customised mast was specified as the most suitable model for the Castleblayney site. The cold-store environment can be unforgiving on equipment, quickly draining batteries for example, but the batteries fitted in Castlecool’s Aisle-Master are more than powerful enough to counteract this, and other cold-store specific features have been incorporated to ensure streamlined operation throughout long shifts in temperatures of around - 22°C (cold-store spec Aisle-Masters will work in temperatures of up to - 40°C).
Five-year warranty Aisle-Master’s production moved to the premises of its parent company Combilift last year, where it has its own dedicated line, and both brands are now headed up by MD, Martin McVicar. Martin recently announced the introduction of a five-year/5,000 hours parts warranty on the new range of its models. “We have the utmost confidence in the reliability of the product which is why we have intro- duced this generous warranty,” says McVicar. The recently launched models feature a redesigned oper- ator’s cab and controls for improved ergonomics and over-artic- ulation which allows the unit to be operated faster in even narrower aisles. Also new to the range is the narrow 1030 mm chassis 1,500kg capac- ity 15E model, able to work in even tighter aisles for more space saving handling and storage operations.
Aisle-Master
T: 00353 4780400 (ROI) T: 07870 976758 (UK)
www.aisle-master.com
Enter 400 MARCH 2011 Materials Handling & Logistics
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