No nonsense attachments
October 1st 2005

Using an appropriate forklift attachment will not only ensure you comply with health and safety regulations, it can also save you money. Brendan Coyne reports

Approaching a decade in the materials handling market, Invicta Forks & Attachments says the market has become more safety conscious over the last 10 years, according to sales director, Peter Sharpe. However, he says there is still a real need for health and safety education.

"In that sense, we’re very proactive ourselves," says Sharpe. "Some might call it scare tactics, I call it awareness tactics. But really, the HSE needs to step up its efforts and pick that baton up - because there are some worrying knowledge gaps in the market."

By way of example, Sharpe recalls a recent visit to a major sportswear company: "We were on site to discuss something else entirely when I saw them sending a worker 8m up in the air - on a pallet! I was gob smacked: for a piece of kit that costs £400 they were risking £400,000 in fines if the guy fell. Needless to say we sold them a safety cage," says Sharpe. "And I got a pair of trainers out of it too..."

Cheap imports

Joking aside, Sharpe claims the knowledge gap also applies to customers tempted by cheap imports. "We’re often shocked by some of the prices quoted. But you get what you pay for - they are an inferior product and some simply pay lip service to health and safety legislation, which reflects the attitude of the companies that buy them: Not the sort of customer we want to deal with. For example, an access platform should have multiple safety features: toe boards; non-slip floor; finger mesh etc. - all features to make it safer. Yet other companies are cheapening it by not bothering to build them in - which is ultimately how they are able to drive the price down. But to look at them, the layman would say ‘it’s still a platform and that’s all I have to provide’. So it is difficult to try and sell against that if you’re dealing with someone who is either not bothered - or simply not conscious of the implications."

With all products manufactured in house and tested to Lloyds British, Invicta’s approach is "belt and braces" according to Sharpe. Although currently based solely in Leeds, Sharpe says the plan over the next 10 years is to increase its presence throughout the UK to provide local support. In the meantime, the company is putting the finishing touches to an extension to its existing plant, adding three new fabrication bays to the 14 already in operation 24/7. In addition, it has added more warehouse space to house finished products, enabling it to react more swiftly to market demands.

The company has also taken on two further field staff to enable more dialogue with customers throughout the UK. With a revamped website now providing catalogue downloads, it’s all part of Invicta’s plan to establish itself as the ‘household name’ in attachments, says Sharpe.

"It’s quite straightforward stuff - but that’s often the best approach to any aspect of the business," he explains. "For example, we recently did some work for British Gas Transco, which was experiencing problems handling polypipe. They’d had other companies on site which hadn’t been able to solve the problem: with pipe-lengths of up to 40 foot, even with fully extended masts the ends of the pipe were still trailing on the ground. The competition had suggested slinging from above or the side - hydraulic attachments which would cost thousands. But the answer was simple - a four fork attachment (an extra set of forks set around 10 feet out from the inner forks) which cost £600.

Problems solved

"At the same time we solved their problem with coiled polypipes, which vary from about 2ft in diameter and 100kg in weight to about 8ft diameter and almost a tonne. They wanted a piece of kit which could handle all of them. We simply recommended picking them up from the inside rather than the outside - which incredibly, no-one else had thought of. So for £1000 in total we solved both problems," says Sharpe. "And they had been looking at bills of around £10,000 from other companies. Needless to say they were pleased as punch.

"So while there are times when you go on site and realise what they want to do is impossible in terms of truck limitations, the majority of the time it’s a case of working out what they want, finding the simplest solution, and making it happen engineering wise."

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