Forestry Machinery Issue 7 (Autumn 2021)

Page 58

LIEBHERR LH 24 | MATERIAL HANDLER

IN SAFE HANDS

Faced with a difficult decision at fleet renewal time, Forest Garden put its faith in Liebherr and the manufacturer’s latest LH 24 material handlers –Paul Argent finds out if this decision was the correct one IMAGES PAUL ARGENT

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s one of the UK’s largest suppliers of fencing timber and garden sheds, Forest Garden relies on a steady supply of raw material entering its huge production facility at Lockerbie. The mill and factory situated adjacent to the M74 and ideally serving the nation’s motorway network requires a staggering 175,000 tonnes of timber per year to produce in excess of 1.7m fencing slats and over 47,000 fence panels amongst the other products leaving the site. Whilst much of the timber is sourced from Scotland and the Borders, the company looks across the country for the best supplies of timber. “We are in the lucky position where we don’t need a specific dimensional timber,” Operations Director Ross McCrossan explained. “We use 1.9m lengths which are usually found at the tops of the thinner trees and are available freely across the market, meaning we have a good and plentiful supply. Thankfully!” To handle the huge amounts of incoming material, Forest Garden has recently returned to Liebherr for its new fleet of material handlers although the deal wasn’t a forgone conclusion.

Below inset: Powerhand GH-80 with 0.8m2 capacity and 3,010mm overall opening. Bottom: Heavy duty towing eye covers attachment to a 9-tonne capacity twin-axle trailer.

“We have used Liebherr for a number of years and have found them to be the best on the market for our application,” Ross explained. “We had a number of issues with the last three material handlers that brought us into hard discussions when it came to renewal time. We looked hard at one particular manufacturer to replace the existing fleet of handlers but didn’t feel, despite the – now resolved – issues with Liebherr, that anything else would cut the mustard.” The three older machines have since been replaced with three new LH 24 material handlers. The latest arrivals are from the latest LH range of material handlers and are almost exclusively used to load out material from the incoming material line where the timber is sized according to its diameter. The logs pass through the system and are deposited into bays along the conveyor line according to their size. Once sized, the timber is then picked up by one of the Liebherrs and transported to the storage areas before they are transported to the mill. “In previous years, we have been able to build up a stockpile of material coming into the autumn,” Ross said. “But, thanks to the amount of good weather we


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