Larry Flaster and Michael Chicelli Jr. started the Category 5 Shutters Company in South Florida to help businesses and residents protect their property from the savage storms that plague the region. The company manufactures and installs the highest standard of aluminum hurricane shutters built to withstand these forces of nature.

But moving this aluminum around the facility created daily handling challenges which could have lead to disaster for this manufacturer. The solution: a multi-directional lift truck.

When raw material arrived on trucks, it had to be unloaded and transported to the warehouse a block away, where it would be offloaded manually. Employees had to climb a ladder to stack the material in storage rafters.

Flaster explains, “When we're ready to make the shutters, the aluminum is taken from storage to the manufacturing area. The finished product is moved again to the staging area, and then finally taken to the job site. There's a lot of materials handling involved.”

Category 5 found their salvation in a multi-directional lift truck that was part of a broad solution that improved workflow, gave the company more space, increased productivity and safety, and enabled their operation to stay put.

Because the truck can move in all directions and operate in small spaces, extruded aluminum can be offloaded from trucks and driven in a sideways direction, up a 7% grade through the warehouse doors to the storage area. Now the product goes from the truck to storage in one easy step. It's also equipped with fork extensions that give it a longer reach, so material can be double-stacked quickly, easily and safely. Double-stacking essentially doubles space.

“With the added storage ability, we can keep the same space and pay less rent. We get more done in a day, and our people are working safely and efficiently,” says Flaster.

In its fourth year of operation, the company employs 70 people and handles more than $4 million worth of product annually.

Combilift USA, 877-266-2456, www.combilift.com