PRCSH62 18th June 2013
The Dawson rentals Temperature Control Solutions (TCS) facility in Nottinghamshire supplies temperature controlled units within all industries across Europe, and has taken delivery of a new Konecranes SMV 4527 reach stacker to handle a five tonne increase in unit size.
When a leading asset rental company was faced with handling a significant increase in product sizes, it turned to Cooper SH for a bespoke solution to ensure an efficient operation was maintained.
David Cooper, managing director of Cooper SH, explained: “Dawsonrentals TCS had been using an SMV 25 tonne ‘midi’ reach stacker since 2001. However the size of its units have increased from 13 tonnes to 18 tonnes; making the smaller machine borderline effective, especially when dealing with the extended load centre and dynamic moving load.
“The units can measure up to 16 metres long, 3.8 metres wide by 4 metres tall each with refrigerated equipment mounted at one-end making for an eccentric load.
“We recommended an ‘entry’ fully laden reach stacker which, having a 27 tonne capacity at 3850mm load centre was ideally suited to capacity requirements without overly increasing ground loadings.”
Each unit is handled by way of a skid placed underneath with four lifting points which attach to slings. The reach stacker function is ideal as the lifting points can be adjusted by the 20ft to 40ft spreader function. The reach and rotate facilities can also accommodate fine-positioning in advance of any lift to reduce the effect of load swing on the 6 metre length slings.
“Whilst sling points are a standard feature on the container spreader, this application is almost unique in that every lift is achieved by slinging. The operator demonstrates great skill in handling a dynamic load and Dawsonrentals TCS are one of the very few operators who use the spreader rotate facility to compensate for not approaching at 90 degrees to the load. This will save greatly on tyre wear,” added David.
Gary Fothergill, Dawsonrentals MHE’s Operations Manager, commented: “The TCS units, with their size, weight and absence of any conventional ISO twist locks bring a challenging handling requirement. However, the past 12 years have proven the reach stacker concept is ideal for this purpose. The extra capacity requirement is reflective in demand of increasingly larger unit sizes thus satisfying customer demand.
“The transition from a 25 tonne to a 45 tonne capacity machine has been seamless and we have been pleasantly surprised on how quiet the machine is, both inside and outside the cab, despite it having a 13 litre engine when compared to the 9-litre in the smaller machine.”
This same SMV 4527 reach stacker was exhibited, prior to delivery, at the recent IMHX 2013 exhibition inside the halls at the NEC in Birmingham.
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Editor’s Notes
Operating in all sectors of heavy lifting across the UK and Ireland, Cooper Specialised Handling is the exclusive UK distributor for SveTruck, RAM Spreaders, Telestack bulk material handling conveying systems and Sany mobile handling equipment, sole UK importer and exclusive distributor for Mantsinen cranes, Movella Translifters, TEC Containers and a long-term specialist in Konecranes lift trucks. The company, which celebrated 20 years in business in 2018, also has a dedicated after-sales division, Cooper Handling Solutions, which specialises in engineering support.
Independently owned, Cooper offers total solutions in both solids and bulk handling. Its customised solutions comprise high quality, high value products and reliable service for businesses operating in the most challenging heavy handling environments, including ports, freight handling, inter-modal terminals, manufacturing and other heavy lifting industries.