The Steel Buildings Company (SBC) has become the first company in Jordan to take delivery of a Combilift 4-way forklift.

Based in Amman, SBC is a leading manufacturer of structural steel buildings in the northern Middle East, supplying a spectrum of products including pre- engineered, multi-storey and prefabricated buildings.

According to general manager Vatche Karmandarian, since the forklift has been in operation, SBC has sustained a substantial savings in time, space and cost in material handling operations.

“In our industry we regularly deal with loads of 3 or 4 tonnes which can be up to 13m long, which were problematic to transport using our old counterbalance forklift,” said Vatche. “When I saw a Combilift at the Steelfab exhibition in Dubai I realised immediately that the truck’s multi-directional capability was exactly what we needed to improve the handling of both raw materials and finished products.”

The company is also benefiting from much better use of space both in the storage and production areas, according to Vatche.

“As it is now so easy to move materials around with the Combilift we can use outside storage facilities for finished goods and any delays in our customers’ projects no longer impact on our own production schedules. Previously, backlogs caused severe disruption as we had to use a combination of machines to move material around – the simplicity of the Combilift system gives us independence and saves us a lot of time and money.