Capital Equipment News February 2016

13 / 44

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS FEBRUARY 2016 11
MATERIALS HANDLING
MOFFETT ELECTRIC FORKLIFT FOR NIGHT TIME DELIVERIES
H iab, part of Cargotec, has sold three
MOFFETT E4 20.1 truck mounted
forklifts to FPS in the UK. FPS has
been in distribution and warehousing for
over 80 years, with a portfolio that spans
the automotive , Leisure and Maintenance
and Accessories sectors. Operating from 22
sites across the UK, the company is able to
meet customers’ needs on a same-day or
next-day basis, something that no-one else
in the market can offer.
In order to achieve optimum service levels,
FPS delivers palletised items from the Na-
tional Distribution Centre in Sheffield to 19
regional hubs throughout the night. The
company is always looking at different ways
to be more environmentally friendly and re-
duce noise pollution and therefore asked
Moffett for a solution to help with night-time
deliveries.
FPS Transport Manager, Mark Wilson says,
“FPS received the first prototype built E4 for
an in-depth trial in 2011. Over a three year
period, we produced detailed feedback to
help develop this new electric MOFFETT,
and we felt that our needs had really been
taken into consideration. Hiab showed
commitment, communication and support
throughout the development to ensure no
stone was left unturned. The end result
was a forklift that is capable of helping our
business to evolve and adapt in line with
the increasing environmental and safety-led
legislation that we operate within today. We
were so pleased with the outcome that we
decided to purchase three units”.
The MOFFETT M4 electric truck-mounted is
super-quiet, with noise levels of less than
60dba. It has been designed for applica-
tions such as urban distribution in locations
where access is restricted and low noise is
paramount. It uses the latest lithium-ion bat-
tery technology to power the electric drive
motors, hydraulics and steering systems,
meaning that when operational, it is total-
ly emissions-free. As more companies are
interested in their environmental footprint,
Hiab has seen an increased demand for
electric MOFFETTs.
WAREHOUSES OF THE FUTURE: APC Storage Solutions
Aiming to introduce an enhanced man-
agement and handling efficiency of
their inventory prior to national distri-
bution, WCF Wholesale Cabinet Fittings con-
tracted APC Storage Solutions SA to provide
an automated, total turnkey solution for the
palleted storage of decorative hardware, fit-
tings, accessories and legs for furniture and
kitchen cabinets.
The resulting warehouse – a self-supporting
Rack Clad, 1 826 m2 facility in Whitfields,
Boksburg – utilises a double-mast stacker
crane to achieve a fully-automated stor-
age and retrieval operation for the 6 696
Euro-pallets of 1 200 mm x 800 mm that
comprise WCF Wholsesale Cabinet Fittings’
central distribution operation.
The scale of this automation, besides intro-
ducing massive improvements to the rate of
pallet handling, has streamlined the facility’s
labour requirements to a staff of just five.
The racking solution consists of six rows of
69.11 m each, presenting three aisles for
the operation of the stacker crane. The rows
are arranged in back-to-back formation – for
which the double mast stacker crane, which
can access the double deep bays through
its telescopic fork, was required. Each row
consists of seven levels, producing a height
of 13.5 m. Each pallet load weighs approxi-
mately one tonne.
The pallets will be automatically picked from
the warehouse during the evening, to be
ready for loading onto trucks during the day
for transportation to WCF Wholesale Cabinet
Fittings’ retail stores. About 80 loaded pallets
are transported from the warehouse each day.
Because the storage and retrieval opera-
tion is fully-automated via the programmed
stacker crane, the lighting requirements of
manual stowing and picking are eliminat-
ed, necessitating only maintenance lighting,
drastically reducing energy requirements to
further lower the per-pallet cost of storage.
APC Storage Solutions SA will carry out
monthly inspections of motors, cabling,
PLCs, etc., and bi-annual preventative main-
tenance and critical parts replacements to
ensure the storage system continually op-
erates at its specified performance ratings.
In addition, the system integrity is monitored
remotely by APC Storage Solutions SA, en-
abling a rapid response time in the event of
system abnormalities. APC Storage Solutions
SA offers a critical response dispatch with-
in four hours, with non-critical issues being
serviced within 24 hours. ❂