Lift truck helps M CON Products’ performance

Founded in 1989 to serve Ottawa and eastern Ontario, M CON Products is a provider of precast concrete infrastructure products. As the area that M CON is located in grew, so did the company—ramping up production from 40,000 to 50,000 tons to 70,000 to 80,000 tons of concrete products annually over a five-year period.

In addition to the growth in volume, the product mix also evolved, and the amount of larger and heavier products increased significantly.

“About a decade ago, we’d make 10 pieces a year of those large items,” says Tim Underhill, plant manager at M CON Products. “Now, that figure has grown to over 100.”

The company needed new equipment to handle the larger products, but that was not the only factor. Historically, the company ran trucks with a 25,000-pound lifting capacity. The duty cycle taxed equipment to its limit, leading to significant expenditures to keep mission-critical equipment moving.

With this in mind, M CON approached its long-time equipment supplier. To satisfy product handling requirements, along with goals for performance and long-term costs, M CON decided to use the H360HD lift truck.

“In the past, we’d buy equipment that was at the top end of its capacity limit, so the 36,000-pounder was bigger than we initially thought,” Underhill continues. “But it made sense—it was the smart way to go for equipment longevity and service costs.”

But capacity was only part of the calculation, as the handling of cylindrical concrete products requires a specialized attachment.

The H360HD manufacturer’s engineering team developed a solution that integrated the properly sized hydraulic box and pipe clamp with the right lift truck. Depending on the product size, the operator can set the correct PSI and enable the clamp to apply a suitable amount of force. The clamp spreads that pressure throughout—not just on a single spot—reducing the risk of cracking or other product damage during the materials handling process.

The final piece of the puzzle was to address the needs of the operator. The H360HD developed for M CON features an insulated, heated cab for the freezing Canadian winters, along with air conditioning to help operators stay comfortable and productive in hotter summer months.

“My goal is to minimize the time our operators spend out of their lifts,” Underhill says. “This truck is able to handle the full range of materials handling tasks at our facility, meaning we avoid time lost because they do not need to hop between different lift trucks for different tasks.”

The M CON fleet is comprised of 15 total lift trucks and can load 25 to 30 trucks during an 8.5-hour day—at peak capacity.

“[The trucks are] built with quality components and smart features to meet our needs. Ever since we got them on site, they’ve been running smoothly as essential tools in our operation,” Underhill adds.

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