The UK\'s largest fork-lift trucks

Tag : used forklift trucks
Now that's what I CALL a forklift truck. Cooper SpecialisedHandling, the UK's sole national distributor of SMV Lift Trucks,has supplied two 60-tonne SMV forklift trucks to the MultiservGroup in Rotherham. The trucks are the largest lift trucks eversupplied in the UK and will handle 40-tonnes of steel blooms attemperatures of up to 800 degrees C. Multiserv handles the steelmill services for its client, Corus Engineering Steels in Rotherhamand when Corus introduced a new casting operation, Multiserv lookedto Cooper SH to provide the solution for handling the high gradesteel.

Brian Kilminster, senior operations manager at Multiserv, tellsBiglorryblog: "When we understood the new process it was clear we'dneed a forklift to move the steel between the casters and thecooling stillages. This steel is the highest grade product thatCorus makes and is used for high performance, safety criticalapplications in the automotive industry, such as gearboxes forFormula 1 engines, as well as in energy generation. A single castcan be worth as much as £50,000 and needs to be moved throughseveral processes to meet stringent cooling requirements."

There wasn't a truck in existence that could do what Multiservneeded it to do. So having undertaken a detailed site review CooperSH designed a special seven fork carriage attachment for the two60-tonne machines. To ensure the forks could handle both the weightof steel product and exposure time to extreme heat, the forks hadto be specially manufactured and heat-treated. Each fork as a12-tonne capacity and the 13-metre spread ensures that the valuablecasting isn't compromised in any way.

Accuracy of placement and movement of the forks was also crucial. Peter Astley, sales manager at Cooper SH, explains, "The SMVmachines have sideshift integrated into the truck as opposed to aseparate attachment, this means that the machines can work to fullcapacity at full height and also allow for great precision whenmoving such high value steel. In addition, the box design meansthat the chassis is up to a third stronger than conventionalmachines and ensures reliability and robustness in such a demandingapplication."