Panaloc builds business with Combilifts
December 20th 2007 The largest Combilift 4-way forklift built to date – a 14tonne capacity model, was specified by Manchester based Panaloc, a company which designs and manufactures pre-assembled structures such as residential housing, student accommodation and hospitals.
In an operation that MD Eric Dean describes as unique, the size of loads handled meant looking beyond mainstream handling systems for a specialist solution. The first Combilifts at Panaloc were four 5-tonne diesel powered trucks, used to offload 3m wide OSB boards ranging in length from 6 – 13m, and to manoeuvre work in progress such as bathroom units around the factory. The need for even larger trucks soon became evident due to the popularity of Panaloc’s ecologically sustainable and innovative building methods and an increase in the size of incoming raw materials.
Collaboration between Panaloc and Combilift design engineers produced the 14t model tailored to the specific requirements of the Trafford Park operation. The truck’s chassis is wider than normal due to the extraordinary size of loads transported, and hydraulic fork positioners were incorporated to avoid personnel having to manually move the very heavy forks.
Thanks to an attachment designed in-house at Panaloc, large house panels can be manoeuvered “on end” around the storage facilities. The versatile capabilities of the Combilift fleet enables Panaloc to keep up with an impressive production schedule – it can fabricate half a house in 2 hours, have one completed house coming off the production line every four hours, and can manufacture 100 finished bathroom units a week. The current Combilift range now encompasses over a dozen models with capacities ranging from 2.5 – 14 tonnes, with LPG, diesel or electric power available.
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