PROFILE
BESPOKE BUILD
By Kim Kemp | Photos by Kim Kemp
Irish company Combilift has been in business for 20 years and, with its focus on bespoke design
solutions, is transforming how companies handle and store materials, especially long and
awkward loads, or when space constraints are a challenge.
E
stablished by MD Martin McVicar
and technical director Robert
Moffett in 1998, Combilift launched
the world’s first multidirectional
all-wheel drive IC engine powered
forklift — the Combilift.
“During this time, we have outgrown
our two existing production plants,” the
MD says and goes on to explain that
three years ago, a decision was made
to expand the production facilities. “We
decided to go for a greenfields site, so we
acquired one hundred acres of land here
in Monaghan, which is 46 hectares in the
industrial zone land.”
The launch of the new facilities took
place in late April this year, with media
from around the globe attending. “What
you see today is a three-year process to
where we are presently,” McVicar explains.
Martin McVicar, MD of Combilift, addresses
the international media during the launch of the
company’s new manufacturing plant in Ireland.
What is interesting about the new
factory plan layout is that, unlike other
manufacturing plants that are laid out in
a more linear design, the new Combilift
plant is designed in an L-shape, as it was
designed from ground up, based on ‘lean’
manufacturing principles.
Lean manufacturing or lean production,
often simply ‘lean’, is a systematic method
for minimisation within a manufacturing
system, without sacrificing productivity.
This can include the reduction of workers
and/or materials/parts on the factory floor,
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AUGUST 2018
creating a less ‘cluttered’ environment,
as well as the implementation of faster
systems or processes.
“We purposely designed this plant in
an unusual configuration to enable us to
have the administration block in the centre
of the building, with equal distance from
the administration to any other part of the
plant, substantially shortening the travel/
walk time/distance between sections.
“It was designed in terms of flow
around the products that we produce
today, with anticipation of what we hope
we are going to produce within the next
five years. While we cannot say what we
will be producing in the next five years, we
have built in space for diversification,”
he assures.
McVicar continues, “When the
business was developed 20 years ago,
the focus was around long goods, so we
developed the Combilift multi-directional
forklift truck to handle these products.
We knew that if we got into producing
regular forklift trucks, there was no
chance that we would be able to compete
globally, because there are more than 200
producers of forklift trucks worldwide.
Hence us developing the long-goods
handling niche.”
The MD goes on to explain that during
the downturn in 2008, the only area in
which Combilift didn’t suffer was the
Australian market. “Nevertheless, the
construction industry suffered throughout
the world, and when you are handling
long goods that are directly related to the
construction industry, we experienced a
decline of 26% in our production output,”
he adds.
On the back of this, the company
decided to diversify its product range,
focusing on the warehousing market,
developing the Aislemaster product to
assist in warehousing space saving.
While the Aislemaster and the Combilift
are very different products, they are both
focused on saving space. The Combilift
multi-directional forklift allows companies
to save space for long goods, while the
Aislemaster allows companies to save
space for palletised goods, in a much
safer manner.
“We also diversified into the Combilift
CB, which allows companies to handle
both long goods and palletised goods
through a regular forklift truck that can
travel laterally,” McVicar adds. The volume
of this product has increased substantially
over