Grab-O-Matic Drum Handlers Improve Safety and Increases Productivity

Houghton International Inc, one of the worldÂ’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of engineering fluids and lubricants, need to lift and move thousands of drums a week at their Manchester plant and enquired if there was a safer and more efficient solution than what was already in place. The remit included reducing the overall length of the unit to give the trucks more space to turn in between racks, a secure system to attach/release the units from the forks as they are constantly changing from moving pallets to moving drums and increase protection for the drums to eliminate dents and scratches at the base of the drums.

St Clare managed to incorporate all three specifications into the Grab-O-Matic QR DLR-WP, the pillars (drum supports) were moved back on top of the fork pockets, 150mm wide webbing drum supports were fitted to cushion the drums and the Quick Attach/Release System was fitted to the frames.

Lee Draper, Operations Manager at Houghton International Inc has said that since upgrading their existing Grab-O-Matic fork attachment double drum handlers to the new Quick Attach/Release System, safety has been increased and production times reduced.

“From an initial site visit to asses our needs and requirements, Andy Bow from St Clare Engineering produced a written report on our problems and the solutions required to solve these issues and initially supplied a trial Quick Release 2-DTLR-WP double drum handler for us to try out prior to purchasing. The trial period proved very successful and was well received by all the fork truck drivers as they immediately see the benefits of safety and reduced production times. As Houghton-Manchester already had a number of standard Grab-O-Matic double drum handler fork attachment there was only a need to purchase new Quick Release fork attachment frames as the new QR frames are compatible with all standard Grab-O-Matic gripping heads and drum supports (pillars). The frames were manufactured bespoke to suit our fork trucks and we have been very impressed by the quick release drum handlers and the efficient service provided by St Clare Engineering.”

Houghton initially purchased 2 units and have since invested in 2 more along with additional Grab-O-Matics, the Crane Hoist Attachment (model QR-SC-1 which converts a fork like into a crane with hook), an Automatic Scissor Grip Drum Handler (model SG-1) and a fork attachment Drum Rotation Unit (model SC10) for dispensing the contents of a drum in a controlled manner. Houghton-Global have also recently purchased 5 Units for a similar operation in Spain based on the success at Manchester.