Rollalong upgrade fleet of Nu-Star power pushers

During the manufacturing process which operates as a flow line, each building is mounted on up to 8 heavy duty swivel castors and progresses through each Manufacturing Cell as it steadily reaches completion. The final product gaining weight as it goes culminating sometimes in excess of 13 tonnes.

Rollalong first contacted Nu-Star in 2003 when they were looking for a solution to eliminate the use of forklift trucks in the production area and improve workforce Health & Safety. During 2003 & 2004, Rollalong purchased four Power Pushers to move buildings along the production line and two Power Pushers for towing the wall panels from the sub-assembly workshop into the main production area. In addition to the Cost Savings, Productivity and Health & Safety benefits obtained by using the Power Pushers, Rollalong were able to free-up valuable additional space on the shop-floor, which has been used to increase capacity.

The Power Pushers have been in constant daily use over the subsequent four years and have run trouble-free with little or no maintenance. Oscar Nicklen, Rollalong’s Maintenance Engineer confirmed; “The Power Pushers get worked hard every day and apart from some minor accidental damage to the tiller head throttles, they have not been out of use throughout the last four years. They are very popular with the staff and have proved extremely reliable and capable machines. They are popular with me as they do the job, are robust and I virtually never see them.”

Over time, the industry demand for buildings that Rollalong manufacture has changed to bigger and heavier units. This enables larger projects to be completed quicker, obviously the bigger the module, the less of them there are and the faster the on-site completion time. Some modules have such a high anti-terrorist rating that it is not uncommon for them to be sheeted in over 4mm of steel presenting even more challenges in movement.

As a direct result of continuous improvement initiatives to aid manufacture of these larger products, Rollalong has completely re-laid out its site and started a programme of capital investment to further improve on efficiency’s in both space and speed of production.

In October 2008 Rollalong’s Manufacturing Support Manager, Mark Loader, contacted Nu-Star and asked for a demonstration of the more powerful Super Pusher.

Following a demonstration and trial, Rollalong’s Operations Director, Tim Woodley, explained; “The key to continuous improvement is elimination of waste, this means in all areas. For example the more space we waste between units, the less we can get in a building, the larger the site we need for the same output, the more heating etc. To gain this advantage creates an enormous challenge when positioning a 12 tonne building, inch perfect with the manoeuvrability of a supermarket trolley. The Super Pushers worked perfectly during the demonstration, handling the biggest of our buildings with ease. We were especially impressed with the amount of torque available at very low speeds. We asked Nu-Star to leave the demo units with us while they manufactured the new machines as having seen them in action we didn’t want to give them back! A week later they returned with our new Super Pushers!

We elected to add the optional audible motion bleepers on these Pushers, as Health & Safety is a key factor in our selection of equipment. The beepers are nice and loud and can be set so they cannot be disabled. Anyone on the production line now cannot help but be aware that the Super Pushers are moving the buildings.

We have been impressed with the performance of Nu-Star machines and also the speed with which Nu-Star respond to our requests.

I see these new Super Pushers as an invaluable addition to our factory and I am sure they will help us meet our significantly increased production targets for 2009 and beyond.”

Nu-Star is a specialist manufacture of pedestrian operated, electric tug units used to push, pull and generally manoeuvre, wheeled and rolling loads across a wide range of industrial sectors. Their range of pedestrian tugs are all simple to operate, require no operator licence to use, are cost effective, extremely durable and easy to maintain. They offer the following key benefits to customers:
Increase productivity by mechanising previously manually-performed tasks
Replace larger and more expensive equipment and therefore free-up floor space
Reduce the risk of employee injury as a result of over-exertion

In addition to a standard product range, Nu-Star also offer a bespoke design and build service after a free on-site consultation.

Customers and distributors in the EU, Australasia and the Middle East are supplied from their factory in Derbyshire, whilst customers in N. America, S. America and Canada are supplied from the factory in Minneapolis, USA.