MATERIALS handling experts, recently celebrated 25 years in business. On 25 September, members of the trade press joined dealers and customers from a wide range of countries at Combilift’s global headquarters in Monaghan to celebrate, just the first day in a week of celebrations at the company.
The Combilift team was joined on the first day by Heather Humphreys TD, Minister of Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands, who said: “Over the past 25 years, Combilift has made a very important impact to the Irish economy. Combilift is a visionary company in every sense and I’m delighted that the Irish government, through Enterprise Ireland, has supported Combilift through its incredible 25-year journey.
Heather Humphreys, TD — Minister of Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands addresses staff and visitors at Combilift’s 25th anniversary celebrations.
Combilift has also marked its anniversary with five new product launches. Two of these have already been reported in this journal: the Combi-CB70E, launched at Ligna 2023, was covered on pages 14 & 15 of our June/July issue, while the Combi-Cube featured on page 25 of that same issue. The three other products are Combi-Connect, Combi-LC and Combi-AGT (Autonomous Guided Forklift Truck).
The Combi-LC was seen as particularly significant by Mr McVicar as it enables Combilift to enter the rapidly growing offshore wind sector.
The newly-launched Combi-LC from CombiLift at Siemens Gamesa. The Combi-LC is designed to meet the load handling demands of largescale offshore wind manufacturers.
Designed in collaboration with Siemens Gamesa, it allows for the movement of wind turbine blades and towers — some as long as 115 m and weighing in at around 70 tonnes, through production stages and on to storage locations — which can sometimes be as far as 5 km apart.
The concept of bespoke Load Carriers [patent pending design] is based on two fully customisable remote-control units with low-level chassis beds that can work in tandem master and slave operation, with dimensions and wheel configurations that vary according to load type and weight.
Siemens Gamesa, one of the world’s largest offshore wind suppliers, has become the first company to leverage the new technology by signing a multi-million order for a number of the bespoke Load Carriers, and Combilift is in active discussions with other offshore wind companies with similar demands. Combilift expects to generate over €50m in revenue per year in this market segment by 2026.
Josh Moffett, Heavy Equipment Manager at Combilift, commented on the company’s move into the offshore wind sector: “We are thrilled to have launched this new product — the Combi-LC, and we hope it will act as a gateway for us to further progress within our venture into the wind energy sector. The scale of offshore wind projects around the world leads to a very unique set of challenges, one of which being the ability to transport the very large components that make up a wind turbine. We recognised this and used our expertise in load handling to develop a solution to support those in the industry. The product is specifically made to order and therefore can be uniquely customised to fit specific applications.”
The recently launched Combi-AGT (Autonomous Guided Forklift Truck).
Another of the new products, the Combi-AGT, was demonstrated to visitors during their guided tours of the factory. We saw how Combilift stores the steel and other components used in the manufacture of its vehicles, and uses those same vehicles to select components as they are required for use. It had been first announced at the Fabtech trade show earlier in September, and is covered separately on page 19 of this issue.
It was an interesting tour, which included meeting the teams who customise individual vehicles to meet customers’ specific requirements, and those who handle the delivery of spare parts to customers, as well as those who weld and spray the individual components, then assemble the individual trucks: and, at all stages of the production process, ensure that the vehicles meet the highest possible quality standards.
The final new product, Combi-Connect is a telematic software product that provides its customers with greater levels of insight into fleet management and utilisation, providing real time data on fleet performance, including location tracking, usage analytics, and maintenance alerts. With this invaluable information at their fingertips, businesses can optimise operations. Based on a subscription model, Combi-Connect offers fully transparent data analytics enabling users to make informed decisions, for example on scheduled maintenance.
Pictured with the newly-launched Combilift-CB70E was (left to right) Conor McKenna, Seamus McMeel, Heather Humphreys, TD — Minister of Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands, Martin McVicar and Mark Whyte, Combilift. Photo: Rory Geary.
To quote Martin McVicar: “We have a track record of innovation at Combilift. We invest 7% of our revenue annually in R&D and today is the culmination of many years’ hard work. We are delighted to be continuing this tradition of innovation 25 years on. Now employing over 800 people in Monaghan and 200 people in other locations across the world, the success of Combilift is testament to our people, our customers and our supporting dealers around the world . We are looking forward to the next 25 years at Combilift."
See page 8-9 of our October/November 2023 issue on our Back Issues page.
