Heavymovement and Kalmar - the future is electric

Headquartered in Barcelona, Heavymovement offers outsourced industrial services to the metals industry, such as slag, scrap yard and warehouse management services, and transportation of iron and steel products for steel mills.

This outsourced industrial services firm has more than 17 years of experience delivering high quality services with a keen awareness of environmental protection and proficiency.

Thanks to this experience, electric machinery is not a new concept for Heavymovement. In fact, they have been using this type of machines provided by Kalmar for the last 8 years. Now, the company faces new challenges, which is why they decided to extend their fleet with the purchase of a medium electric forklift from Kalmar.

What makes this new machine so special is its elevation capacity of 16 tonnes. “There were no reliable electric serially-produced machines capable of handling such weight. We bought it for this reason,” explains Toni Llinás, Chief Executive Officer at Heavymovement.

Llinás adds, “We have electric Kalmar’s machines with a capacity of 9 tonnes, and with this purchase we can go beyond that.”

This new product is able to transport materials such as billets, coils and profiles with a major axis of four meters.

Lower costs and greater environmental protection

Are there any structural changes related to this new presence for ports and other industrial facilities? “The machine adapts itself to daily work as the diesel machine does. It is the same work and the same environment. Even the same operators handle it,” Llinás explains.

It is still too soon to draw in-depth conclusions, but Llinás is quite optimistic about the results in the future: “It seems that we will achieve important savings thanks to this new acquisition.”

At this point, Llinás underlines how much fossil fuels contribute to pollution. “The difference in pollutant emissions between an electric forklift and a diesel one is huge, as pollution from an electric one is zero,” he emphasises.

Workers welcome the comfort and quiet

Llinás stresses that the added comfort and quiet of the machine benefit workers, improving both their health and comfort on the job. “This innovation has improved operator satisfaction since the noise is gone. They are very happy. Every new machine is much more convenient than its previous version,” he stresses.

Beside this, the new acquisition reduces soil levels traditionally associated with fuel engines.

Heavymovement’s CEO points out that fossil fuel has a limited life. “However, electric energy offers a longer life and sustainable options.”

The ease of using batteries

To date, Heavymovement is using the medium electric forklift for two work shifts a day, Monday to Friday, as the current autonomy lasts approximately 16 hours.  “Batteries are charged at night, so they are fully loaded and ready for the next day,” explains Llinás.

A sustainable future

“Our goal is to convert our diesel machinery into electric machines, whenever it is feasible for us to do so.” Llinás points out that they are analysing the new Kalmar machine to plan the next steps. “We will get to an amortisation when petrol prices go even higher.”

His focus is clear: The future will be sustainable and these kinds of new machines are paving the way.