newdesk in depth l Caterpillar buys Pyroban Group
Caterpillar Inc. has acquired 100% interest in the Pyroban Group Ltd. The deal, which was completed on 31st August, means one of the industry's biggest independent names is now part of a global company headquartered in Houston, Texas.
In a statement, the company said: "The purchase allows Caterpillar Global Petroleum to offer customers an enhanced range of Cat brand fully- integrated power solutions and grow its presence in the global hazardous area protection industry. Pyroban is a noted provider of specific explosion protection safety solutions, including engineered
kits and components, designed to modify engines, engine systems, lift trucks, telehandlers and other material handling equipment, and mining equipment to meet safety certifications. In the current marketplace, Cat petroleum engines are often modified and packaged with Pyroban solutions to operate in hazardous areas and help ensure the safety of our customers' worksites.
"The global Cat Dealer network will bring these industry leading solutions and in service support to customers around the world. This will allow Caterpillar to support its customers’
efforts to increase the safety of their operations offshore, onshore and underground. In particular, many solutions will be available in the Americas for the first time. "In addition to the Cat brand solutions, Pyroban Group Ltd. will continue to offer its wide range of products and services under its existing brands in Europe and Asia supplying their global client base. Pyroban provides consultancy, engineered components, conversions, kits and solutions applied to a broad range of OEM branded equipment to integrators and to end-users in a number of key
markets.
"The acquisition is part of Caterpillar’s strategy to continually increase its value to customers by providing complete power solutions to our customers wherever they may make progress possible across the globe." Pyroban Group is a leading provider of hazardous area safety solutions to the oil and gas, industrial material handling, mining and marine markets. Headquartered in Shoreham, UK, Pyroban Group has additional locations in Europe, Singapore and China.
www.pyroban.com iForce recruits 2,000 for Christmas
iForce, a leading UK provider of specialist logistics services such as e- fulfilment and returns logistics, anticipates taking on between 1,800 to 2,000 agency colleagues to cover the fast approaching peak period when the UK starts its Christmas shopping online.
For nine months of the year, iForce operates with 550 full-time employed colleagues and a core team of circa 200 agency colleagues. Being able to scale to the volume of people required to
meet peak activity is a key element of the company’s ability to hit some of the most stringent service levels in Europe. The online retail peak period from 1 October to 31 December is when e- fulfilment is truly tested, and during this period last year iForce dispatched 2.6 million orders. That’s 10 million items with a total retail value of £200 million – both figures showing a 14% increase on the previous year. Mark Hewitt, CEO at iForce, commented: “We anticipate an even
busier peak this year not just because clients, such as John Lewis, Sainsbury and Boots, achieve strong year-on-year online retail growth, but also because the volumes being processed through iForce’s multi-channel returns processing and remarketing arm will have soared. It’s during the peaks when the investment you make in your people, training, processes and systems particularly pays off to ensure that all SLAs (Service Level Agreements) are met and all client and their customers’
expectations exceeded.”
For iForce, the retention of agency staff is as critical as the initial recruitment and this starts with good selection, where possible from recommendation by existing staff. And followed up with the high quality of iForce’s Training Academy, which (developed and honed over many years) takes peak staff through iForce procedures during an intensive two- days' training and assessment.
www.iforcegroup.com
“Daylight robbery” of forklift batteries
Fork lift truck batteries worth many thousands of pounds are being brazenly stolen right under companies’ noses, often in broad daylight, the UK industry body has warned.
The Fork Lift Truck Association
(FLTA) sounded the urgent alert to all users of electric-powered fork lifts, after suddenly receiving a spate of confirmed reports about companies being tricked into parting with the highly valuable lead-acid batteries, by criminals posing as engineers. In one case, in the North of England, thieves even convinced a company to use its own fork lift truck to help load the batteries into their van, before driving away, never to be seen again.
Similar incidents are being reported across the UK, as the scrap value of the heavy traction batteries – weighing anything up to 2,500kg each –
users of electric fork lift trucks must be vigilant. “Many of the victims so far have been easy prey for criminals because they simply didn’t realise they were targets. Quite simply, if you use an electric truck, you are.
“Thieves don’t care about the retail or rental cost of the battery – the scrap value alone is what they’re after – so any fork lift truck battery is potentially at risk.
approaches £500 per tonne. In the Midlands, criminals in a white Mercedes Sprinter van, were given free access to load and take away two batteries, while in Bedfordshire batteries valued at £15,000 were stolen in a single raid on what had been believed to be a secure
8 ShD October 2011
www.PressOnShD.com compound.
There are currently an estimated 200,000 electric-powered fork lift trucks working in the UK, with some companies also using additional batteries for multi-shift operations. Fork Lift Truck Association chief executive David Ellison warns: “All
“Our strong advice is to carefully check the identification and authority of any ‘engineer’ visiting your site – and to ensure batteries are kept very secure when not attended.” Police are understood to be monitoring the situation as reports of such thefts continues to increase. David Ellison concludes: “Any suspicious activity, or actual losses, should be reported to your local police immediately.”
www.fork-truck.org.uk
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