A Birmingham-based manufacturer of materials handling equipment has significantly reduced the risk of accidents and saved valuable operator costs for PV Crystalox Solar PLC, a manufacturer of specialist components for state-of-the-art solar power systems.
Wilmat Ltd, a leading manufacturer of materials handling equipment, provided a solution after the findings of a wide-ranging risk assessment highlighted the risk of operators slipping when using manual loading trolleys at PV Crystalox's Oxfordshire plant.
Mark Jefferies, Manager Block Production, Silicon Production Department at PV Crystalox Solar, explained that staff load ingots weighing up to 500 kg into cutting booths.
"Whilst we didn't have any accidents with the previous manual loading trolleys, the risk assessment highlighted the potential danger of operators slipping on the slurry produced from the cutting operation," he said.
"The trolleys also required two people to operate them and when fully loaded they could weigh almost one tonne, making using them very physically demanding."
Wilmat developed an ideal solution in the form of a specially designed Bulldog WHCTS12 Pedestrian Counterbalance Truck.
As a result, the new trucks have reduced the risks of accidents, whilst cutting the manpower required for the loading and cutting operation.
Mark continued: "Having a machine that is reliable, easy to use and can be operated safely, is also essential to us. The Bulldog WHCTS12 Pedestrian Counterbalance Truck has been perfect for the job".
The success of the trucks, which are serviced on site, comes as no surprise to Andrew Capella, Technical Director at Wilmat, who has built up a close business relationship with PV Crystalox Solar.
He said: "Wilmat offers a made to measure service for its customers so coming up with the correct solution was not a problem. However, progress meetings proved invaluable in keeping PV Crystalox Solar fully informed about its order".
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