One of the UK's largest textile recycling companies, JMP Wilcox, has added to its vehicle fleet with the purchase of one of the latest truck-mounted hydraulic loaders from Danish-owned crane manufacturer HMF.
The crane joins West Midlands-based Wilcox's 55-strong fleet of vehicles, which includes 15 highly-specialised crane trucks that are used to lift textile containers nationwide which contribute towards the three-quarters of a million tonnes of clothing the firm collects every year.
In the case of Wilcox's latest purchase, the crane is a 1075-K2 model from HMF's new range, and is fitted with a bottle bank-type attachment for lifting the textile containers.
The purchase is part of a business relationship between the two companies which began six years ago with HMF's technical specialists playing a key role in drawing up the specification for the first of Wilcox's crane vehicles to enter service.
This was alluded to by Wilcox's managing director, Martin Wilcox, who said: “HMF were very helpful and worked closely with Iveco and Leeward on the original design. It was all very reassuring and every crane we've bought since has been pretty well perfect for the job.
“We only use HMF cranes and couldn't have picked a better partner,” he added “HMF's InfoCentre remote control box is user-friendly and easy to operate, while the cranes handle smoothly, speedily and efficiently.
Pick-ups
Mr Wilcox also hailed the safe operation and reliability of the cranes, noting that despite being required to make up to 50 pick-ups a day, they had seen “very little” in terms of defects or damage.
He said: “The build quality is quite something – even with cranes that are five years old we've not suffered anything beyond routine wear and tear, while HMF's engineer Graham Cook provides an excellent, quarterly maintenance service.”
All the crane trucks are based on 18-tonne Iveco chassis, which are fitted with remote radio-controlled 10 tonne/metre HMF cranes and high-sided alloy tipping bodies by Leeward Truck Bodies, of Darlaston in the West Midlands.
The bodies have automatically retractable covers built by Harsh, which also supplied the under-floor tipping gear.
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