Cascade Corporation manufactures a variety of products that enable the conventional lift truck to become a more versatile and efficient materials handling tool.
These products enable a lift truck to pull, push, clamp, lift, sideshift and rotate practically any unit load imaginable.
As the global leader in lift truck attachments, forks and accessories, Cascade Corporation has played an important part in the growth and development of a more sophisticated materials handling industry.
According to Australian national sales and marketing manager Scott Geelan, the industry has seen a marked increase in the sales of specialised equipment, particularly forklift attachments over the last five years.
“With the never ending downward pressure on costs, the industry must continuously drive improvements in efficiency and effectiveness,” Geelan says.
“Users are discovering that it pays dividends to use the right attachments for the job at hand, including reducing damage, more efficient handling of goods, reduction in workplace health and safety injuries to truck operators, and more.”
Geelan points to fork positioners and fork clamps such as carton and appliance clamps, bale clamps and revolving clamps along with rotators and single-double pallet handlers as the fastest selling products.
“Fork Positioners enable a forklift driver to hydraulically adjust the spacing between the forks of the truck for various pallet configurations,” Geelan says.
“Getting on and off the lift truck to move the forks is eliminated and back injuries reduced, while warehouse efficiency is dramatically increased.
“Fork clamps are an excellent solution for lift trucks expected to handle a variety of loads,” Geelan adds.
“Clamps enable drivers to clamp or cradle difficult loads. Precise fork positioning enhances overall handling efficiency.”
“Multi-pallet handlers mean less truck use. Cascade’s next generation multiple load handlers are engineered to deliver precisely what’s needed to move more loads faster.”
Introduced last year, Cascade’s G-Series Single-Double Pallet Handler is an all new design with significantly improved levels of visibility and durability, and with lower maintenance and repair costs than its predecessors.
“Cascade’s global engineering team started from the ground up,” Geelan enthuses
“They created an entirely new product built to perform in real working conditions and meet demanding applications throughout the materials handling industry.”
“It has a larger visibility window without hosing or valves giving drivers the clear sight lines they need to approach loads quickly and avoid damage.”
“Arm bars are positioned for better functional and perceived line of sight, and compact height improves over the top visibility for ground pick-up.”
“In tests, our product lasted 2.5 times longer than the previous industry standard which, over time, translates into great value for the user,” Geelan asserts.
Other innovations include Cascade’s Wine Barrel Handler and Adaptive Force Control, (AFC) for Paper Roll Clamps.
“The Wine Barrel Handler simplifies the barrel handling process,” Geelan explains.
“Designed to work in ‘cave’ or narrow aisle operations, the Wine Barrel Handler allows a lift truck driver to easily grab a barrel from a stack, lower it to the ground or move it to the desired location.”
“A 180-degree swinging fork assembly mounted on a full-width traversing frame allows the driver to pick up a barrel from either the left or the right-hand side of a narrow aisle,” he says.
“The Wine Barrel Handler can handle most types and sizes of wine barrels. Also included in the fork cradle design are rollers to aide in the manual spinning of the barrel for mixing.”
Adaptive Force Control (AFC) is a computer-controlled clamping system, transparent to the driver that automatically controls the clamp force in proportion to the load weight.
“Using a preprogrammed ratio based on roll weight and paper type, AFC sets the optimal clamp force each time a roll is grabbed, without demanding driver input,” explains Geelan.
AFC is used in applications where limiting pressure is required to prevent out-of-roundness, or for any pressure-sensitive roll where over-clamping can cause damage.
“AFC is especially valuable in converting applications handling both large full-size rolls and smaller diameter rolls,” Geelan says.
“AFC replaces manually operated pressure control devices.”
“By reducing damage to product and the time taken to handle it, including reducing the risk of injury to operators, dropped loads and other associated hazards, each of these innovations improves efficiency and reduces cost and energy consumption,” Geelan says.