Telescopic lip dock leveller

Designed and manufactured by Thorworld, the project was supplied by Thorworld’s agent James Corfield of Darmax UK. Ebrofrost has had a new loading pod, platform and ramp designed and built for the European company’s UK site in Beckley East Sussex; a high care facility, which operates with BRC (British Retail Consortium) accreditation.

To better prepare for its New Year projection, the company chose to research options that would successfully imitate the loading bay designs that have been installed within sister operations across Europe; ensuring any new equipment would be universally compatible with the company’s trailers.

This meant, a telescopic, rather than hinge lip dock leveller would be required at Beckley, together with a skilled team of engineers, who would have the capabilities to create and fulfil an exacting loading bay design.

Nathan Goodsell, managing director at Ebrofrost UK says: “While we used to handball the 1mt bags of semolina to the back of the delivery container using hand operated pallet trucks, we can now forklift loads directly into the back of vehicles and containers, removing the need for staff to enter, and the associated risks. Previously, deliveries could often result in a bag being dropped or damaged, however the new equipment minimises the manual task involved, so consequently reduces health and safety risk, as well as product losses.”

Ian Langan, technical director at Thorworld Industries was integral to the project’s design and management, and explains more about the solution installed.

“The Ebrofrost project has been truly custom-made, as the company needed equipment with features that replicate its European operations, while serving to prevent hygiene and contamination issues.

“These requirements led us to design a platform and ramp solution, capable of utilising an existing covered area to the side of a building within the company’s yard - we then created an extension from there to the factory. To heighten food safety standards further, a modular dock pod including an inflatable seal was also installed; designed to fit around the vehicles and containers coming into the facility. This design presented an ideal solution that would both enclose the vehicles, and infill the building’s existing opening to create a factory wall.”