LIFT PROVIDES HIGH-CAPACITY PALLET HANDLING
A high-capacity goods lift installed by European Conveyor Systems is proving a cost-effective and efficient means of moving pallets between the ground and mezzanine floors at a new warehouse operated by Greenwoods Stock Boxes in Nottingham.
Cardboard for the cartons is stored as cut sheets loosely banded on to pallets of various sizes which are block-stacked in the warehouse. The company initially used a conventional fork lift truck with a triplex mast to lift the pallets on to the six-metre-high mezzanine, but this has now been replaced with the lift to improve efficiency and safety.
The lift has a capacity of 1500kg and is 2500mm wide x 2860mm deep x 2500mm high, allowing it to carry up to eight pallets of various sizes at a time, which are loaded into the lift on a hand truck through wide-opening double doors. The equipment is driven by an electric motor mounted at the top of the shaft, and safety features include parachute brakes and devices that prevent the lift moving if it is overloaded or the lifting chain is slack.
As it does not have a pit and is a self-supporting structure, the lift was installed without any civil engineering work and with little disruption to warehouse operations. The shaft is formed by powder-coated steel sheet mounted on a heavy-duty free-standing galvanised steel framework. Greenwoods chose to have the cladding finished in dark blue.