Materials Handling - Market Report
Muba is European and we have a great relationship with them based on our strategy of regularly ordering so we can sell from stock. Our ability to increase inventory has been crucial to meeting the hire industry’s needs for this type of product.”
It is a similar story with the Levpano board lifter. “One of the major players in board lifters has stepped back from the UK market a bit, which impacted availability of products and spare parts,” adds McGhee. “This has really played into our hands as we are one of the only other companies offering a quality board lifter rather than low-cost versions from the far east.
“Because of this, the Levpano board lifter range has been our biggest success story this year, as national hire companies have been ordering 40 and 50 units from us at a time, which is unprecedented.”
Growing range
The board and beam lifters represent the tip of the spear, as HSC Group grows its material handling portfolio.
“We are eager to expand our material handling range but we don’t want ‘me too’ products,” says McGhee. “Our strategy is to offer something different, which solves a problem for the end user. We’d love hire companies to tell us what their customers want, what problems they need solving, and we’ll find a product that solves it.”
Material handling remained a strong part of Armorgard’s business this year. “We have listened to customers and created products to suit the needs of the industry, which means the needs of both hire companies and end users,” says Mitchell.
An example of making life easier for both hirers and their customers is the LoadAll
panel trolley. “Our panel trolley folds down and stacks up, so where a depot previously needed 20 square metres for storing panel trolleys, it now only needs 2sq m.”
Armorgard has also seen success in 2022 with its BeamKart two-wheeled dolly and FlexiKart pallet skate; while its latest addition to the range is the E- Kart. This electrically powered trolley features pneumatic tyres and a load capacity of 350kg, plus a steel chassis. “E-Kart has been a gamechanger for us,” said Mitchell.
“It is a very useful product for handling heavy and awkward loads, but most importantly it is all-terrain so it can handle grass, gravel or slopes. It’s all about transporting materials from the point of delivery to the final destination.”
With the construction labour pool tightening and wages rising, the benefits of material handling solutions come into their own. “Anything where you can demonstrate a labour saving and improve safety at the same time is attracting interest right now,” added Mitchell.
Looking ahead
Armorgard’s forecast for next year is positive, including the launch of new material handling products. “Our outlook for 2023 is further growth and some new products – watch this space.”
For Tracked Carriers, the continued drive to eliminate manual handling is propelling the business. “The whole ‘hands off’ drive to reduce manual handling has been the obvious factor since we started the business, and that is continuing,” says Cannon. “It is making people aware that the products exist, which is always the hardest and slowest part of developing a new market. With every post on social media our audience is growing. We regularly get enquiries to hire them but we don’t hire them ourselves, we prefer to signpost people to hire companies which own our products.
The LoadAll panel trolley is foldable and stackable.
“We have four models in the range but our 1.2T machine is our bread and butter – and
The Muba beam lifter is a big seller for HSC.
always has been; it probably always will be. It is just small enough to go through most doorways and still has a really good carrying capacity, so will remain our strongest seller.
“We have just started shipping the first of the crane attachments we showed at Vertikal Days. Beyond that we are focused on increasing production to reduce lead times. There are some new attachments we would like to produce but at the moment we are focused on production rather than R&D.”
Meanwhile HSC Group finds that there is less certainty due to changes in buying habits by the major hirers. “We tend to find that the national hire companies especially will not order in advance, it is very much more on a needs basis these days,” says McGhee. “We can estimate demand and have ramped up purchasing for the past two years accordingly. Our business model is for immediate delivery wherever possible and that means continuing to commit to regular stock orders from our suppliers. However, what 2023 holds in terms of material handling equipment it is too early to say.” n
The Levpano board lifter does the job.
Nov/Dec 2022 - Executive Hire News 33
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