Partylite Cuts Loading/Unloading Times With Sara LBS Dock Levellers

“sara was cost competitive and yet still able to maintain its own high standards of products and service with no compromise on the specification required”.

Partylite has been manufacturing scented and non-scented candles for over 10-years. The company uses self-employed consultants to sell its products at privately arranged parties in over 30 countries worldwide. The main European manufacturing plant is based in Barrow, Cumbria, where over 150 million candles are made each year.

Recently the site has seen production levels rise/fall dramatically and, with nearly 200 staff employed, it is essential that it continues to operate smoothly and efficiently. The dock levellers that were previously installed were old and manually operated; this led to a ‘bottleneck’ for both incoming and outgoing goods, as well as an increased risk of injury from operation.

Graeme McGill, speaking for Partylite, said: “To help us meet increasing production demands it was deemed necessary to install a partially automated dock leveller system that would allow users to operate it at the touch of a button. We contacted a number of companies to see what they could offer, sara LBS stood out, offering an extremely high quality product and service package that was cost competitive.”

In total sara installed five HLP – Electro-Hydraulic – dock levellers at the Barrow production plant. Each dock leveller is constructed from high tensile steel, with the platform using an 8mm Dubar non-skid steel plate. The levellers are supported by purpose-made longitudinal angles hinging at the rear on pivot shafts manufactured from ST52 grade steel; giving each leveller a loading capacity of up to 10,000kg per single axle load rated as required by EN1398 – higher loads capabilities are possible where required.

The dock levellers are powered using a 1.1kw electric motor and is delivered with a standard operating control panel, full composite control panels can also be supplied to incorporate door controls as well as inflatable dock shelters and traffic lights. There are a range of options that can be added including: special colour finishes (red comes as standard), automatic return to dock level, LED traffic lights and traffic management systems. All levellers comply with BS EN 1398 standards.

Graeme McGill comments: “Overall we are extremely happy with the service that was provided by sara. Kevan Anderson, the sara Sales Engineer, was extremely friendly and quick to respond to queries before and after the point of sale; he has even kept regular contact since the system was installed. We felt it was a very personal service that focussed on our specific requirement. With the possibility of expansion we will definitely be contacting sara for its services in the future.”

Edward Wilks, Operations Manager of sara LBS, said: “We pride ourselves on our communication with the customer. By listening to their precise needs we are able to tailor our products and services to create a truly bespoke service. We believe that this extra level of care sets us apart from the competition”