As the sole UK supplier of materials handling equipment to Saint-Gobain Building Distribution (SGBD), a global market leader in building and construction materials, Rushlift maintains and specifies a wide range of equipment for an extensive variety of businesses, amongst them, telegraph pole manufacturer Calders & Grandidge (C&G).
“It’s a fascinating, iconic business,” says Rushlift’s director, Dennis Shaw. “It is slightly unusual compared to the rest of the SGBD portfolio, particularly in terms of the loads and the corresponding materials handling issues.”
C&G have produced over a million poles, as well as sleepers, fences and other products, with the wood arriving via nearby Port of Boston, from Brazil, Scandinavia and Africa. Once on site, timber is moisture tested and laid in graded stacks for further seasoning. From then it takes six to twelve months, depending on the size of the individual pole, for the natural drying process to be completed. Dressing (peeling the outer layer) and fabrication then takes place, with a special exemption allowing the use of creosote impregnation to give the poles a service life of between 40 and 100 years.