Manufacturing Today - Summer 2010 - (Page 112)
Great Lakes Power Group
www.glpower.com / Headquarters: Mentor, Ohio / Projected 2010 revenues: $40 million / Employees: 150 Services: Material handling equipment / Harry Allen Jr., CEO: “Harry Allen III dedicated his career to this product.”
5,000 pieces, although most runs are less than 50 pieces. “We’re a repair center, we’re a diagnostic center – we become an extension of our OEM partners,” CEO Harry Allen Jr. explains. So it is a bold, multimillion-dollar investment for the company to introduce the first of a planned three-vehicle line of straddle carriers. “We have a lot riding on this new product,” acknowledges Allen Jr.
Travel Safely
One of the most important things Great Lakes Power realized about its new straddle carrier in the design stage was that it would not maximize its utility to its owners if their employees didn’t want to sit in it for eight or more hours per day. “We spent a tremendous amount of resources to look at the operator’s environment in detail,” says Harry Allen III, vice president of sales for the family-owned company. “The typical machine for us might accumulate in some applications 6,000 to 8,000 operating hours per year.” Zones of comfort, instrument placement, visibility and other factors were examined in detail. One major improvement is the relocation of gauges and displays to an overhead panel, which gives operators a nearly unobstructed 360-degree view. “We made cab climate control standard,” Allen III points out. “It all falls back to the concept that if you make the operator’s environment the most comfortable place to be, he’ll tend to want to stay in that environment, which also translates into taking better care of the equipment.” Although auto companies know it often is the stereo and leather seats that sell a truck, Great Lakes Power also realized its ST35 straddle carrier had to do its job more safely, efficiently and cost-effectively than any other vehicle in its class. Among its unique features are that the operator
great lakes power says its new st35 straddle carrier will change the industry.
Heavy Duty Service
great lakes power’S new carrier will revolutionize the transport of heavy loads. by russ gager
Have you ever fixed something and wondered why it couldn’t have been manufactured better? That’s what Great Lakes Power did with a straddle carrier that was designed in the 1960s and was last manufactured in 1991. Straddle carriers are used to move large loads around ship and logging yards, military bases, steel mills, oil refineries and steel erectors. Great Lakes Power was remanufacturing a legacy straddle carrier, and it was this experience that went into the design 112
manufacturing-today.com SUMMER 2010
of its new ST35 straddle carrier, so named because it can carry up to 35 metric tons. Great Lakes Power is a distribution company that also offers manufacturing, engineering and repair service. It repairs and reengineers vehicles like straddle carriers and other drive train equipment for its customers. Besides manufacturing the ST35, Great Lakes Power also is a short-run parts house, manufacturing metal parts in volumes up to
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Manufacturing Today - Summer 2010
Manufacturing Today - Summer 2010
Contents
Washington
Global Strategies
Continuous Improvement
Smart Pricing
Supply Chain
Business Value
Moving Forward
Westmark Products
Byrne Dairy
Ultrafryer Systems Inc.
Wil-Rich LLC & Wishek MFG LLC
American Precision Fabricators
Aqua Products Inc.
Bennington
Black Diamond Equipment
Columbian Home Products
Control Devices LLC
Endustra Filter Manufacturers Inc
Heil Trailer International
Assembled Products
Order-Matic Corp.
Professional Building Systems Inc.
Smart Start Inc
Bosal International
Ausco Products Inc.
Brodart Company
Cambrex Corp.
Chapin International Inc.
Cleveland Gear Co.
Consolidated Precision Products
Control Flow Inc.
Douglas Autotech Corp.
Fetzer Architectural Products
The FNA Group
Fourslide Spring and Stamping Inc.
G.A. West & Company
Great Lakes Power Group
Grimm Brothers Plastics
Legends Furniture Inc.
National Tube Supply Co.
Optex Systems Inc.
Sunburst Electronics
V.E. Enterprises Inc
W. Soule & Company
Manufacturing Tomorrow
Manufacturing Today - Summer 2010
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