B&B Attachments Ltd is the leading supplier of forklift truck attachments in the UK. Located in Cramlington, Northumberland, the company's team has just returned from the Industrial Materials Handling Exhibition (IMHX) 2013. The event, which was held from the 19th-22nd March, takes place every three years, attended by a wide range of logistics professionals and exhibiting organisations. This year's show, with their attendance at award ceremonies, abundance of visitors and quality enquiries, has been noted as B&B's most successful to date.
Since the company began in 1980, B&B Attachments has specialised in the sale of forklift truck attachments. Their service range has grown and developed, to now include a department dedicated to the short and long-term hire of attachments and a dedicated Service Department, facilitating the maintenance of their products. Distributing goods from internationally-renowned manufacturers such as KAUP and MoTec, they also design and produce their own attachments in-house, adhering to customers' exact specifications.
This year at IMHX, the company showcased a range of their best-selling, most effective products on their stand including the KAUP Keg Clamp, Roll Clamp and Triple Pallet handler, alongside the Tygard Layermaster. These well-established products were also accompanied by two products brand new to the UK. The first, the KAUP 180FG Conveyer Belt Forks, is an innovative new attachment with in-built conveyer belts to lift and dismount both palletised and palletless goods. The second, the KAUP 2T156 Fork Positioner, is a lightweight product enabling the user to handle pallets of different sizes with ease.
Mike Barton, Managing Director at B&B Attachments explains why the new products helped to make this year particularly memorable for him and his team:
"It's always exciting to launch a new attachment at an exhibition; it gives you something different to become acquainted with, and is a common point of interest between staff, customers and suppliers. This year we had two great new products to showcase, so we were delighted to see so much interest- especially in the Conveyer Belt Forks. After decades of attending exhibitions, we were lucky to still be making contact with new people on our stand this year. The interest was evident in the number of enquiries we ended up taking this year, some of which were very promising."
The exhibition was also beneficial for meeting existing associates, which Mike discusses:
"One of the key reasons we attend IMHX, is to catch up with our existing industry connections. In our line of work, we can work closely with people through emails and telephone calls, but only get a chance to sit down at the exhibition. It was fantastic to see some of those people, and to have a coffee and catch up on business. I really enjoyed travelling to see other stands too, to find out the latest from our suppliers and customers."
Alongside this, B&B Attachments were also shortlisted for the Design 4 Safety awards, which took place at the exhibition. These industry awards commend products within the field that were created with particular consideration to user and operational safety. With the KAUP Conveyer Belt forks, B&B reached the shortlisted stage in the Industrial Vehicles and Ancillary products category and attended the award ceremony at the BITA stand.
Although only a short time has passed since the doors closed on IMHX 2013, Mike Barton is already looking forward to the future, and the next show:
"For us, IMHX is a must-attend event; we've been to every major UK materials handling exhibition since B&B was established over 30 years ago! The next IMHX will take place from 13th-16th September 2016- and we've already booked our place. Then, it will be in a brand new set of halls, so we're looking forward to seeing how the show looks in a brand new environment."