Calders & Grandidge's trailer-mounted forestry cranes from Rushlift.

UK telegraph pole manufacturer Calders & Grandidge (C&G) has abandoned a 20-year-old materials handling process in favour of trailer-mounted forestry cranes from Rushlift.

For two decades, C&G has used agricultural tractors to pull trailers of poles up to 24 metres around its 46 acre (186,155 sqm) site in Boston, Lincolnshire.

C&G has produced over a million poles, as well as sleepers, fences and other products, with the wood arriving via nearby Port of Boston, from Brazil, Scandinavia and Africa. Once on site, timber is moisture tested and laid in graded stacks for further seasoning.

Rushlift, which supplies materials handling equipment to C&G's parent company, Saint-Gobain Building Distribution (SGBD), was asked about an alternative method.

"Mobile plant is the life blood of the operation," says production manager Mick Shooter. "We are transporting many hundreds of poles around our manufacturing site daily to meet On Time In Full (OTIF) customer service requirements. Our investment needed to demonstrate consistent reliability, the trailers are expected to run long hours, day in and day out. We needed to bridge the gap between an ageing fleet and a new model sufficiently robust to withstand the daily demands while improving performance."

The first step was to find a manufacturer of bespoke trailers, willing to work on the project. Irish manufacturer Chieftain impressed Rushlift, not only with its R&D set-up but also its experience in waste and recycling, rail, forestry and other specialised industries.

After consultation visits both to and from Chieftain's County Tyrone headquarters, the development of the specification was established and the first trailer arrived in 2013 to begin a period of rigorous assessment.

Palfinger forestry cranes are another component in the solution.

C&G recently took delivery of its fourth trailer, taking the price tag for the upgrade to GBP500,000 (USD815,000) and the company expects the units to last longer than their intended 10 years.

"We've future-proofed it, without a doubt. With all four, productivity is going to be significantly enhanced, for many years to come," Shooter notes.

"Our operators have a great deal of experience on these machines, their input was critical to getting it right," he adds. "We found ways to optimise the longer chassis and that's provided an 11% additional load capacity benefit. It speaks volumes that we have taken three more Chieftains, and completed the replacement project on time. Likewise, committing to investment of this magnitude in the Boston site by parent company Saint-Gobain suggests sustained confidence in the health of the business."