The
company aims to provide a one-stop-shop service for engineering steel products,
including plate, tube and bar in a wide variety of sizes, profiles and
specifications, and the product range is being continually expanded to meet
customers’ requirements. On average some
600 deliveries are made every week to businesses within 50 miles of its
premises, in addition to customer collections.

Apart
from steel plate, which has been stored on cantilever racking and handled by a
Sidetracker for the last 15 years, stock was previously stored on the floor and
moved by a combination of cranes and manual handling. With no space to expand the premises, Abram
Pulman has increased the amount of stock by installing narrow-aisle cantilever
racking and buying two more Sidetrackers to handle it. The steel is stored in stillages with fork
pockets, with the trucks designed to match the fork pocket positions.

One
machine has been built to work in 1700mm stacking aisles with roller guidance
and lift 3600kg at 400mm load centre to the full height of five metres, while
the other is designed for 2150mm aisles and can lift 3500kg at 625mm load
centre to 5.7 metres. Fork designs have been customised to suit the products
being handled, one machine having two pairs of forks with a combination of
manual and powered spread.

Like the
company’s original Sidetracker, the new trucks are able to travel in any
direction and rotate on their own axes in order to minimise turning space. Twin electro-hydraulic motors automatically
run singly or together as required via a high-torque hydrostatic transmission
system to a single high-grip drive wheel. Stand-on operation gives drivers good
all-round visibility, aided by CCTV that allows them to clearly see the
position of the forks when handling loads at height.