Based in Townsend, Mass., Sterilite Corporation is North America’s largest plastic houseware manufacturing company. A family-owned business, Sterilite was founded in 1939 by Saul and Edward Stone, and Earl Tupper. Today, the company is in its third generation of ownership by the Stone family and has seven plants totaling over 12 million square feet.
In 2014, when Sterilite was looking for a better way to remove and install molds from the injection molding machines in their headquarters plant in Townsend, Mass., they contacted Gruniverpal Tranchero (GT Cranes) of Piasco, Italy for help. GT Cranes are custom-built, mobile units that are specifically designed to solve mold removal and installation challenges posed by molding machine size, mold size and weight, and floor space constraints.
“The GT Minidrel Crane was the only solution we found that combined the ample lifting capacity, long reach and relatively small footprint that we needed to install molds in our new, wider injection molding machines,” said Steven Stone, Executive Vice President of Sterilite. “For areas where we do not have bridge cranes for installing molds, the Minidrel was the only solution that would work with our existing floor plans.”
“When space is limited, the compact size and footprint of the GT Cranes make mold handling easy,” said Graeme Sands, General Manager of Globeius, Inc., the exclusive distributor of GT Cranes in North America. “They are designed for precision positioning, and only one operator is needed to perform mold changes.”
With a large number of molds in-house that support their huge selection of houseware products, mold changes are a frequent occurrence at Sterilite. After purchasing their first GT Minidrel Crane and seeing the advantages the crane provided, it wasn’t long before Sterilite purchased additional cranes for several of its other molding plants.
“The Minidrel product is well built and has been very reliable,” said Steven Stone. “There is always some concern about service, support and parts when sourcing equipment from another country. However, we have found Gruniverpal to be extremely prompt and responsive in providing training, in answering questions, and in helping us out on the rare occasions when we need parts or service.”
Globeius provides service and spare parts support for GT Cranes from their location in Miami, Florida. “We are excited to be distributing the GT Cranes line in North America,” said Graeme Sands. “As we have seen from Sterilite’s experience, these products are a great fit for injection molders.”