Pipe-Valves, Inc. located in Columbus, Ohio is a family owned business that opened its doors for business 46 years ago. Pipe-Valves, Inc. employs 40 people and is a leading independent PVF supplier servicing industrial accounts and mechanical contractors throughout the Midwest.

A Growing Business

The company’s old facility was 35,000 square ft where the entire pipe stock was stored outside in 20 foot aisles. All trailers were loaded and off-loaded outside and forklift operators had no choice but to handle pipes high in the air to clear trucks waiting to be loaded. The storing of pipes outside increased the chance of pipe stock suffering from weather damage which in turn created unnecessary scrap. In some cases, the dinging of pipe meant it was necessary to cut up to six inches off of the pipe. The company also block stacked pipe outside which resulted in double and triple handling of the product.

In 2007, Pipe-Valves, Inc. started to put plans in place to expand its business which involved the purchase of a larger 144,000 square ft building. Pipe-Valves, Inc. approached HY-TEK, a local Combilift dealer for their assistance with specifying material handling equipment to address three key requirements:

1. The ability to store their entire pipe stock indoors thus protecting it from the weather.
2. Better accessibility to their A, B and C product items.
3. The ability to handle 21 foot pipe in their staging area.

Working with HY-TEK, Pipe-Valves, Inc. learned of the many benefits and versatility of the Combilift and decided to purchase two Combilift models, a C8000 and C10000XL.

Life with Combilift

The Combilifts in operation at Pipe- Valves, Inc. have brought about 3 key benefits:

1) An increase in employee productivity,
2) Better utilization of storage space and
3) Greater accessibility to product.

The Combilifts have allowed Pipe-Valves, Inc. to do away with its old system based on a block stacking of pipe outdoors and the unsafe transporting of pipe high in the air to a more streamlined approach indoors.

It has certainly paid off according to the President of Pipe-Valves, Inc., Joe Jacob: “The key of the Combilifts is their versatility. We can offload and maneuver products around our warehouse with just one type of forklift, reducing any double or triple handling and contributing not only to safer working practices but increased efficiency.”

1) Improved Employee Productivity

Since the introduction of the Combilifts, Pipe-Valves, Inc. has improved employee productivity by up to 30%. This has been achieved by changing the material handling process from using multiple operators to pull orders to now one operator who pulls orders from the warehouse to staging area. Tim Collins, Vice President of Operations explains, “In the morning, we now have one operator on the Combilift pulling orders and staging loads ready for truck drivers to dispatch, a major improvement to our productivity”.

In addition, Pipe-Valves, Inc. can get their delivery trucks on the road earlier, as Joe Jacob, explains, “Before we started storing pipe indoors, trucks were not getting on the road until 8:30am but with the Combilifts and indoor staging and truck loading we can load trucks the night before. In the morning, the Combilifts can operate in the storage and staging area with 21 foot pipes which now allows us to get our trucks loaded in the afternoons so that the trucks can now hit the road between 6:30 and 7:00am the next morning”.

2) Better Utilization of Storage Space

Considerable savings have also been made on space, as Joe Jacob explains: “Our major problem used to be the necessity to store our entire stock of pipe outside in 20 foot wide aisles. In our new facility we can now store our entire stock of pipe indoors and we have cut our aisle-widths to 12 foot.”

3) Great Accessibility to Product

In the old building, the material handling process was limited due to the space available but with the new facility, Pipe-Valves had more options so they changed the process to better meet their needs.

The old system of block stacking pipe outside inevitability led to double and triple handling of product. Pipe-Valves, Inc. now stores its entire stock indoors in 12 foot aisles and on cantilever racking which is labeled as oppose to bulk stacked pipe. This allows for better tracking of A, B, and C material movement and also allows the forklift operator to source product in a quick and safe manner.

“Combilift is the reason we can do all our storing, offloading and loading of pipe indoors. We found the right forklift”.
- Joe Jacob, President of Pipe-Valves, Inc.