provided by: Construction BulletinThat describes the new wave of construction equipment. On any commercial construction site, the array of equipment can be puzzling to passing motorists and pedestrians. Fences and other signs that prohibit people around the site may add to their confusion and amusement. Neighbors living near construction sites usually complain about the amount of equipment and the noise generated.
Enter equipment manufacturers who continue to produce smaller, quieter and heavier-capacity equipment to make construction easier for the workers. Much of the equipment on job sites is for material handling, a process of moving construction materials from one place to another, horizontally and vertically.
Telehandlers' versatility
The telescopic handler, or telehandler, is one of the most popular pieces of equipment on the job today. Its versatility has made these machines the ultimate go-to tool for contractors. As their popularity grew, telehandler designs evolved to place them into two categories: lift-and-place models and compact tool-carriers.
Lift-and-place units are designed to meet construction, masonry, and roofing and framing contractors' high-reach, high-lifting needs. Compact tool-carriers are most popular in construction, agri-business, landscaping, and material-moving applications.
Today's models, both larger and compact sizes, are designed with many similarities that, combined with attachment flexibility and lifting performance, give contractors the ability to meet a variety of jobsite needs with just one tool. According to Luke Webber, product manager for Genie Industries, the size and performance of the telehandler market really depend on the need and demand of the construction industry.
High-reach telehandlers
Most closely resembling vertical-mast forklifts in purpose, conventional lift-and-place models, or high-reach telehandlers, are designed to pick up heavy loads, evenly transport the loads across rough terrain and then place the loads far above the reach of many other machines.
The 10,000-pound class is the telehandler market's fastest-growing segment. Fueled by the explosion in construction of five-plus-story buildings, contractors need telehandlers with additional lift and reach capabilities.
"Lift-and-place telehandlers were created based on the general needs of the construction industry, mainly for larger structures," said Webber. "In North America, we definitely see favoritism for the larger telehandlers. It's partly because of the construction industry building taller structures, such as condominiums, as real estate prices climb higher and higher. It's also because some telehandler owners try to achieve 80 to 90 percent machine utilization. These larger machines may not get into all parking structures, but they will do just about anything else you need."
Evolution of Telehandlers
Despite some design and application similarities to skid steers ? or other compact loading and hauling equipment, such as backhoe loaders and wheel loaders ? the origin of the telehandler is actually traced back to vertical-mast forklifts. For years, vertical-mast forklifts were used on construction sites to lift materials to masonry workers laboring in high places. This worked well as long as the forklifts could reach directly to the target area, such as in building restoration projects, but these tools were very limited in getting close to new building structures where foundation trenches run along the perimeter. As new building construction continued to be the trend, the need for a lifting machine with reach evolved. And out of this need, the rough-terrain telescopic lift track, or telescopic handler, was born.
In the past, jobsite congestion in North America was not a big concern. As new structures continued to be built taller, manufacturers focused on developing larger telehandlers to meet contractors' high-reach, high-lifting needs in construction, masonry, and roofing and framing applications.
In Europe, where jobsite congestion was one of the main concerns, manufacturers focused on developing more compact models that could perform a variety of other jobs around construction sites. As with many machine designs developed "across the pond," these smaller units eventually found their way onto North American job sites, where the compact telehandler became instantly popular in construction, agri-business, landscaping, and material-moving applications. Its popularity can be attributed to a design that offers a compact width and height but with considerably more reach capability than a skid steer.
Ever-popular forklifts
Forklifts are the mainstay of any material handling work on construction job sites. Rough terrain forklifts are the most common for outdoor use, where they may have to work on uneven terrain. A gas engine has more power and will get this forklift over piles of dirt, obstacles or inclines and has greater speed than engines on smaller forklifts for indoor use. Always watch for the type of tires on forklifts, because depending on the type of work involved, forklifts must have tires that match the terrain and the capacity of materials moved.
Telescopic forklifts have a pronged lift that reaches over the top of the truck from an extended arm. They lift loads higher with control over where the load goes because the operator can see the final result of the load on the end of the telescopic boom. These forklifts vary in size, capacity and lift range.
Attachments for telescopic forklifts provide maximum use by extending reach and higher load capacity. Tilt carriage, vertical mast, drywall carriage, large buckets, pallet forks, and instant hooks are a few attachments that make forklifts necessary for material handling. Many equipment manufacturers, such as Clark, Hyster, JLG, Caterpillar, Case, Toyota, and Gradall manufacture a type of forklift and attachments that meet construction site requirements.
High-tech features
More and more equipment now feature ergonomic seats and controls, four-wheel drive, self-propelled features, power options on lifts, backup batteries, mufflers, and various sizes of decks on lifts.
Manufacturers are considering additional energy- and fuel-saving features that will cut cost for contractors while providing more opportunities to use the equipment on various site conditions, even in minimal space. With smaller equipment, transportation will become easier and require less time to set up.
With this array of features and number of manufacturers, the only difficulty contractors will have is selecting the right model to suit the job.
Amber Reed is an account executive at Performance Marketing.
author: By Ivy Chang and Amber Reed
Construction Bulletin. Copyright © 2008 Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.