La Cisa is operating the 32 T Hyster H32-12XM forklift at a pipe manufacturing and storage operation in Dalmine.

Specialist logistics company La Cisa has purchased a new 32 T Hyster forklift for a hot metal handling application in Northern Italy.

"The customer is handling hot steel bars nearly 4 m (13 ft.) long, which leave the steel mill at about 400°C," says Roberto Provenzi from La Cisa, a company that provides specialist machinery, staff and consulting services for foundries and industrial ports in Italy.

La Cisa is operating the 32 T Hyster H32-12XM forklift at a pipe manufacturing and storage operation in Dalmine, close to Milan, run by Italian manufacturer and supplier of steel pipe products Tenaris.

The hot steel bars are lifted with a powerful electromagnetic attachment powered by a generator. The generator is strategically positioned on the counterweight of the new Hyster machine so visibility to the rear is optimised. The truck then transports the bars from the mill to the storage yards, which can be up to 1 km (0.6 mi.) away.

"The Hyster trucks operate for an intense 16 hours per day, allowing eight hours for the magnets to cool each day," Provenzi says. "Even after considering the weight of the attachment and load centre, we can lift 24 T of product in this challenging application with hot, heavy loads and long distances."

Hyster claims that it is possible to achieve up to 25% fuel savings with the forklift, which has the latest Stage IV/Tier 4f Cummins QSB 6.7 engine.

"We get a powerful, reliable performance and save approximately 2.5 to 3 l of fuel per hour, which really adds up," Provenzi says, explaining that they have been using the Hyster truck for almost a year and have kept a good record of consumption.

The magnetic attachment used on the new truck was built by LC Project, a business unit of La Cisa. LC Project designs and manufactures specialist attachments for the metal industry including hooks, rams, magnets and pipe clamps for handling semi-finished and finished goods. LC developed the special magnet system to be able to pick up the hot bars as steel loses its magnetism with increased heat.

La Cisa has more than 250 forklifts in its fleet, ranging from 2-52 T lift capacity. Hyster machines in the fleet also include Hyster reach stackers with hooks and 48 T machines with pipe clamps.

The company has been working with Hyster for over 40 years and still has an operational Hyster big truck from the 1970s available as a backup machine on one of its sites.