Pettibone Partners with WMC to Offer LLMI System for Stability Protection
Pettibone, an innovator in material handling equipment, wanted to add stability features to their Cary-Lift’s to warn users when their machine approaches an unstable condition. WIKA Mobile Control’s StabilityAssist Pro system met all their performance and functionality requirements.
These high-capacity forklifts are engineered to handle extremely heavy loads, with sophisticated hydraulics to reach, lift, and tilt up to 70,000 lbs. In general, the farther the arms are extended, the less weight it can bear. If a forklift or any other telehandler lifts an excessive load, the machine could tip over.
Pettibone Looks for – and Finds – a Robust Stability Protection System
Based in Michigan, Pettibone is a company with more than a century of expertise in designing and building material handling equipment. One of the company’s top product lines is the Cary-Lift, designed to lift, move, and place long, heavy loads. The machines are used mainly in the U.S., Canada, and Latin America to move and place oil and gas pipes and to handle utility poles. Pettibone customers appreciate the high-capacity forklifts’ stability, performance, and enhanced visibility – thanks to arms mounted behind the cab rather than in front of the operator’s sight line.
Like most successful companies, Pettibone pays careful attention to customer feedback regarding future improvements. One thing on customers’ wish list was a way for operators to see and understand the stability performance of their machine. For maximum performance, end users wanted to be able to handle the heaviest allowable loads so as to make fewer trips, while keeping within the working limits of the machine. Experienced forklift operators have a good sense for how much weight their machines can carry, but a stability protection system would help optimize each trip.
Pettibone had their customers’ feedback in mind when they found the system they were looking for in the StabilityAssist Pro, a solution for stability protection that rapidly gives operators both a visual and audible warning when they approach an unstable condition. This system offers reliable performance that increases jobsite safety and decreases the risk of expensive damage to these high-end machines
and the materials that they handle. These stability systems can be installed as an option on Pettibone’s customers’ current global fleet and is available for all future orders.
WIKA Mobile Control, a Partner for Material Handling Equipment
Product Manager, Tim Palosaari, said this new option was just what Cary-Lift customers had in mind. “They are pleased that their operators can be visually and audibly alerted when they are approaching the maximum lift capacities of the machine. This creates a much safer jobsite for their employees. We are pleased that we were able to partner with WIKA Mobile Control to implement a stability protection system to improve operator safety and machine performance.”
Stability protection systems protect people from accidents and equipment from damage and downtime. Contact WIKA Mobile Control for more information on systems and solutions for your lifting machines.
