Powerful electric lift trucks offer zero emissions and are less expensive to run and maintain
November, 2023- "My warehouse guys just love it. They’re almost fighting over who gets to use it,” says Stan Sears, general manager at Pacific Steel & Recycling, about the company’s new Baumann electric sideloader. “It’s easier and faster.”
Pacific Steel is headquartered in Great Falls, Montana, but has 46 branch offices in Washington, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Colorado and Montana. “We’re a general line steel distributor, stocking pretty much every size and shape of steel sheet, plate, angles, tubing, beams. Typically, we use the Baumann to handle the long structurals,” says Sears.
At Pacific Steel, adding a sideloader expanded storage space for long products
SMOOTH OPERATION
Sears is based at Pacific Steel’s Nampa, Idaho, location. Prior to acquiring the Baumann, the service center was using standard forklifts to move material. “The sideloader has allowed us to put narrowaisle storage in our outside yard on a gravel lot, which improves our material- storage efficiency.”
He also points out that the sideloader’s capabilities have eliminated handling steps. “When we’re bringing 40-foot material into the building, we can pick up the bundle, set it on the deck and drive right in through our standard warehouse doors.” Because the doors aren’t 40 feet wide, when using a standard forklift, the material had to be loaded on a trailer and pulled under the overhead crane.
In the past, Sears says that Pacific Steel has used propane-fueled sideloaders that worked well but presented high maintenance costs. “An internal combustion engine has a lot of moving parts that wear out and break down. The electric sideloaders have a battery drivetrain, and that’s the only maintenance. They’re very reliable as long as you set up a good charging program and maintain their batteries.”
He notes that he’s a “huge fan” of EVs in general because there’s no need for outside fuel or explosive gases on the property. “I can charge them overnight and they run reliably all day long.”
Baumann electric sideloaders come in two series from 6,600 to 17,700 pounds of capacity. The EGX is the larger of the two, with twin drive motors and 120V AC power. Its battery is fitted into a single box positioned over the deck for fast and easy replacement, and the trucks are supplied with the Variable Reach System for precise control. The ELX are more compact, with lower decks, and the model is capable of efficiently working in small spaces. The ELX also has 120V AC power and can handle up to 12,000 pounds of material.
Baumann’s electric EGX machines can power through demanding applications and offer zero emissions
STABILITY
Baumann sideloaders have a load stabilizing tilt system, which consists of two cylinders mounted below the platform that tilt the chassis and provide optimum load stability because the carriage and the forks remain horizontal, even on rough ground. The company’selectric EGX line also features a stability system, SafeLoad Assistance, which is designed to help operators avoid dangerous situations by using sensors within the chassis to calculate the stability limit of the truck. Long products are “hard to handle,” Sears says, and sideloaders make it a lot easier “because you’ve got the deck to support the product and you’re not in danger of getting off balance and dropping the load.” One of the selling points on the Baumann sideloader was the ability to tilt the forks and hold the load firmly while moving. “Otherwise, you’d have to have some way to secure it to the deck,” he says. “In fact, with the largediameter pipe we stock, we can tilt the deck to hold the pipe up against the mast, so if we’re driving around a corner, we don’t have the risk of it rolling off .”
The vehicle’s wide tires also help keep it (and its load) stable over any terrain. “It’s a 30,000-pound vehicle that can go into a gravel yard and operate just as well there as it does on pavement, comments Sears. “That’s an important feature because it saves me from having to put asphalt down everywhere.”
Full road lighting and cab roof lights extend working hours
SHINE A LIGHT
Sears’ gravel yard also isn’t lighted, so another crucial, yet easy-to-overlook, feature of the Baumann equipment is its full road lighting and cab roof lights. “The lights make it easy for us to get out in the yard without having to put up temporary lighting and continue to operate. A few of our standard forklifts were rigged up with lights, but they were older, not-too-bright LEDs. They weren’t very helpful.”
With the Baumann sideloader, says Sears, “everything’s well lit, and it has extended our operating hours. In the past, we had to try to get everything pulled and staged before dark, and now we can pull as we need material.”
He says that because the sideloader is still new to the operation, Pacific Steel is “in transition,” finding out where it works best. “We had some racks designed for us, and those are stacked in the yard. We’ve got stacks that are about 10 to 12 feet high.” Cavaion Baumann USA is the exclusive distributor of Baumann sideloaders in the United States of America.
“This is our first Baumann,” says Sears. “I felt like it would be a huge game-changer to add vertical storage to my steel yard, and I was correct. I’m showing videos and photographs of it to our other [branch] managers, and I would imagine there will be several of our other locations adopting these sideloaders in the near future. I’m sure that it won’t be the last one.”
Cavaion Baumann USA, 855/334-2909, http://baumannusa.com/
Pacific Steel & Recycling, 800/889-6264, http://pacific-steel.com/
