Happy New Year for 2010
24.01.10
Palamatic would like to wish all of its customers, distributors and suppliers a belated, but very Happy New Year! Prior to Christmas the team at Palamatic moved in to new premises.
Formally our Fabrication Facility, the building has been developed to accommodate the whole company. The move took place in December come rain, snow and fog! But we successfully made the transition just in time for finishing for a well earned break over the Christmas holiday.
We have plans to expand the new premises with a new assembly and office facility at the rear of the building. Plans will be drawn up in the Spring 2010. The move was a fitting way to end of year of major change. I am very proud of what the team has achieved throughout 2009. It wasn’t an easy year, but the talented staff here at Palamatic turned a tough year into a year of opportunity. This momentum continues into 2010, the start of a new decade.
We have further product development plans, particularly expanding the Pharmaceutical range of drum and container handling equipment and taking this into the Food and Dairy, Fine Chemicals and Agrochemicals sectors.
We are continuing to expand our distributor network and just before Christmas we were pleased to announce the appointment of Redfern-Flinn in Australia (see article below) to represent the Vacuum Tube Lifter range. Training takes place in early February 2010 in Melbourne.
Palamatic in the USA now houses a formidable range of demonstration equipment for both the Pharmaceutical and general industries. If you’d like to book a demonstration at our facility in North Carolina please contact us on sales@palamatic.com.
The year ended with us saying goodbye to one of our longest serving employees, Rob Andrews. Rob has played a key part in building up our brand, network and product range in the Materials Handling Division. But although we were sad to lose Rob, he is working with us as part of his new business and will be managing our web-updates and making sure the website meets the needs of our valued customers and distributors alike. Roy Fincham was appointed the Group Sales Manager and is well supported with a team of sales and technical engineers for the Materials Handling Division, Pharmaceutical Division and the Customer Services team. We will be putting the organisation chart and contacts list on the web site shortly.
2009 was a year for change for many of our customers too. It’s been fantastic to see just how many of our valued customers have got through the year and are still actively looking to handle the Health and Safety risks associated with manual handling. We look forward to working with these customers in 2010 and appreciate any recommendations our customer make to new prospects along the way. We are launching our new Service Contract Scheme in 2010 and will be offering additional features and benefits for our valued list of customers. “Value for money” isn’t just an overused phrase it’s a reality for any company aiming to be the best in their field. Here at Palamatic we strive for the same and want to make sure our customers always feel satisfied with their investment and well-supported on a continuous basis.
Will be in touch soon! Mel Taylor - MD
Palamatic is pleased to announce the introduction of a new preferred technical partner for the Australian materials handling market. Redfern Flinn, Established in 1977 has sales & engineering experience stretching back more than 30 years. Their longevity in the market is underpinned by the supply, installation and servicing of the best products from around the world. That is exactly the reason Stephen Batten made contact with the team at Palamatic to open discussions at the end of 2009. Stephen visited Chesterfield on a whistle stop tour of Europe and since then has already order stock of product for shipping on the long journey halfway around the World.
With an extensive client base from a wide variety of business sectors, Redfern Flinn is multi skilled and equally capable in applying new product, including vacuum lifters, workstation jib cranes and overhead cranes, GIS hoists and, winches. Stephen and the team also provide extensive equipment service and spare parts back up as well as installation and system relocation.
Ph: (03) 9467 5466 | Fax: (03) 9467 7834 | Email: sales@redfernflinn.com.au
Product Feature - Custom Reel Grip and Rotate tooling for Reels
New product development; custom reel gripper - this simple but effective tooling design provides a safe and cost efficient way of gripping and rotating a particularly awkward payload, namely a plastic reel or roll of cable. In this particular application the plastic reel weighs up to 40kg (88lb), but similar tooling could be used designed to handle a payload in the region of 60kg (130lb). Palamatic engineers have designed the tooling with the simplest of controls. Grip and release functions are easily actuated using push-buttons, while 90 degree rotation is carried out using a lever positioned conveniently to allow the operator to maintain control over the flow of air which is providing the weight free lifting and lowering functions.
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In operation, the expandable insert is positioned into the plastic reels core. As the push-button is depressed the gripper expands to securely clamp the plastic reel in position. Once clamped, the operator is free to lift and lower the reel with little or no manual effort - thus minimizing any possibility of injury through poor manual handling practises.
An in-built pneumatic circuit safety feature prevents the release action from being accidentally operated while the payload is in the air. The vacuum tube lifter's safety device also means that if power fails to the vacuum pump, air is locked inside the lifting tube to prevent sudden loss of load. As this air dissipates, the payload lowers slowly to the ground.
You can see a movie of this custom core gripper by Palamatic on our YouTube here.
