TPT May 2015

Industry News

€40mn investment in new manufacturing facility

a further 200 jobs will be created during the two-year construction period of the new facility. Combilift purchased 40 hectares of industrial zoned land, where the purpose-built, 40,000m 2 greenfield manufacturing site will be built. This will include a dedicated research and development building and adjoining administrational offices, and will be more than double the size of both of the company’s present manufacturing facilities. Combilift is best known for its range of multi-directional forklifts, Aisle-

Master articulated forklifts, and material handling solutions such as the Combilift Straddle Carrier designed to handle large containers and over-sized loads. The company was set up by managing director Martin McVicar and technical director Robert Moffett in 1998, and has since produced in excess of 24,500 units. Mr McVicar commented, “With this greenfield investment and sufficient land available on the new site for future expansion, Combilift is committed to continuing its organic growth in Monaghan for many years to come.” He also stated that the company is the process of submitting an apprenticeship application to accredit its employees and those of other Irish engineering companies as ‘Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) technicians’. This apprenticeship aims to educate technicians to be competent in hydraulics, electrics and troubleshooting diagnostics. Welcoming the announcement, An Taoiseach Enda Kenny said, “It is growing and dynamic Irish companies likeCombilift which are driving a recovery across Ireland’s regions. Combilift’s new €40mn facility in Monaghan will make a profound difference to the local economy and the national export economy.”

COMBILIFT Ltd, Ireland, is to invest €40mn over the next two years in a new manufacturing facility, which will also create 200 additional jobs over the next five years. The announcement wasmade by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny, along with the minister for jobs, enterprise and innovation Richard Bruton, on a visit to Combilift’s current HQ. The expansion will enable Combilift to proceed with its plan to double its current €150mn turnover over the next five years. The majority of the 200 new jobs to be created will be for skilled technicians and design engineers, and

Martin McVicar, An Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Robert Moffett

Combilift Ltd – Ireland Fax: +353 47 80501 Email: info@combilift.com Website: www.combilift.com

Newly designed HFI weld boxes RAFTER Equipment Corporation has delivered three RT-2500S HFI weld squeezeboxes for amajorNorthAmerican mechanical tubing producer. The new boxes will replace the customer’s existing three-roll ‘scroll chuck’ style boxes that were not strong enough for the heavier wall thicknesses and higher yield strength materials that needed to be produced. Because the boxes needed to be more robust but still occupy the same footprint, a new design was required. eliminates the cantilever forces on the roll tooling clevises (or yokes) that affect many other weld box designs. Heavy- duty Timken tapered roller bearings within the roll tools provide increased bearing life. The boxes can handle up to 76.2mm OD x 4.8mm wall (3" x 0.188") tube running HSLA material. To better survive the typical tube mill environment, the worm-screw head roll adjusters are in a new sealed box design that should provide years of maintenance-free operation. The head roll adjustments are run through the back The new design follows the company’s push-on-centre weld box philosophy that

of the unit’s sealed frame and are brought to the operator’s side for easy access. A gasketed internal guide tube is designed to keep mill coolant from flooding the interior of the box. Rafter manufactures tube mills, pipe mills, roll forming machines, cut-off machines and other related tube and pipe mill machinery. Additional services include rebuilding and upgrading mill equipment. Rafter Equipment Corp – USA Fax: +1 440 573 3703 Website: www.rafterequipment.com

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M ay 2015