Entertaining the masses

It is the nature of the entertainment industry that there are frequent situations where companies find it necessary to either move or suspend a significant load above the people on a theatre or arena floor below. There are often two trains of thought, those stemming from an industrial lifting background and those from the entertainment field.

The key requirement of the latter is that there is the inevitable need for the load in question, such as a lighting rig, to be either suspended or moved above people on a regular basis. As a result, it is imperative that companies involved adhere to stringent safety standards.

Buying trends
"We have seen purchasing trends based more on safety, with the recent accidents within the entertainment industry. Customers are purchasing hoists with expanded safety features such as double brakes, 10:1 design safety factors, and weight monitoring with load cells," says Rick Montgomery, business development manager at Stagemaker USA & Canada. "We have also experienced a rise in variable speed and encoder based (position control) hoists. As shows and performances continue to grow larger and more complicated, as does the demand for automated and high-speed chain hoists."

According to Montgomery, one thing to consider when rigging equipment in a theatrical situation is the added impediment of time, which means there is often a limitation to the installation period."The biggest challenges we face within the entertainment industry is mostly based on lead times. The industry operates on a very narrow timeline and as manufacturers we must be ready to fill orders with very little notice. The ability to customize hoists per customer and project specifications is critical for this industry also," he explains.

High-profile projects
Stagemaker has supplied hoists for some high profile projects recently including the Radio City Music Hall in NYC, The Star Theatre in Singapore and the Haze Nightclub in Las Vegas, Nevada. For Montgomery, what is interesting from a safety perspective is that many companies within the US and Canada are beginning to adhere to some of the European code of practices, most notably, the German standard VPLT.SR2.0

"Currently this standard is not compulsory within the US and Canada, but as a manufacturer, we try to get customers to adhere to this whenever possible. Whether or not people agree with all of the necessary components involved within this standard, it does at a minimum, provide for a benchmark, leading to more uniform use of entertainment hoists throughout our industry. We typically find permanent installations being the ones who choose to adhere to these standards more so than the production rental and touring markets," he explains.

According to hoist manufacturer and supplier RUD, its products have been traditionally used in a diverse wide range of unique and challenging environments such as the offshore, oil and Gas sectors as well as construction.

Diverse expertise
It is also heavily involved in the entertainment industry with its RUD hoist chain is known in the entertainment field as being "one of the best", offering strong safety credentials as well as being available in standard and customised designs to suit specific project aims.

"RUD are known in the industry as one of the leading hoist manufacturers and suppliers for a wide range of hoist chains made from highly wear resistant round steel chains according to EN 818-7 for motor driven and manual hoists. RUD hoist chain can be supplied to suit a variety of project sizes from the smallest size - 3 x 9 mm up to the world's largest - 32 x 90 mm," says David Bradley Sales manager (Lifting & Lashing Applications). " The advantages of the RUD hoist chain are impressive, offering an extremely high resistance to wear due to its robust surface and depth hardness resulting in a long service life. The hoist chain conforms to EN818-7. type T for manual hoists and type DAT and DT case hardened chain for powered hoists. The chain is calibrated and precision made to be compatible with the drive wheels of manufacturer's hoists."

According to RUD, the general welfare and maintenance of the hoist chain is paramount, finding that through regular lubrication of the chain and in tests held by RUD, a figure of 15-20 times higher number of cycles can be obtained with lubricated chain than with a dry unlubricated chain.

Moving on to output from a UK technology company, Mantracourt Electronics has recently launched a new range of load monitoring equipment that targets the requirements of the entertainment industry. Mantracourt's BroadWeigh system provides accurate, wireless, real-time load monitoring of stage equipment and has been designed to assist rigging professionals within the entertainment sector.

Multiple loads
Central to the design of the system is a wireless shackle equipped with a high accuracy load pin that is able to report data wirelessly to a computer or a handheld display. The system is able to monitor multiple loads and trigger an alarm should a load exceed a preset parameter.

"BroadWeigh has been especially developed for riggers to provide simple, effective, accurate and easy to use load monitoring," explains Jonathan Purdue, Business Development Manager at Mantracourt. "BroadWeigh easily enables the monitoring of the individual loads on each suspension point in a lifting operation. This information facilitates the correct balance and distribution of load. In addition it can provide early warnings prior to overload or under-load situations before an accident occurs."

The system also accommodates a wireless wind speed sensor (Anemometer) that can operate alongside the BroadWeigh shackle and base station. This enables the monitoring of wind speed in conjunction with actual loads in one simple system. With a wireless range of up to 400 m, this device features a power saving mode between transmissions to maximise battery life in the field.

Theatrical hoists
Elsewhere, Harrington Hoists has long specialised in chain hoists but the company recently took the decision to make a concerted effort to further move into the theatrical hoists arena with the advent of its TNER series of theatrical hoists.

"We recognized a huge market for theatrical hoists that we were only participating in on a limited basis. Kito, our parent company, launched their version of the TNER in Japan nearly a decade ago and the response and demand in the Japanese domestic market was strong," Bret Lussow, vice president of business development at Harrington Hoists tells Hoist. "We also recognized the huge potential for this market as we had several distributors and end users asking us for an alternative to their traditional hoist suppliers. The industrial market knows the outstanding quality and features of our chain hoists and we know if we can get the entertainment market to take a look at our products they will be impressed as well."

Burgeoning demand
Despite its relative infancy in this market, the company is bullish about its chances in the field, claiming that the TNER addresses the downfalls that are found in other products on the market. Lussow says: "First of all, we addressed the biggest maintenance item on any electric chain hoists, the brake. The Harrington Pull Rotor brake is second to none. The Pull Rotor Brake on the TNER is a proven design with virtually no maintenance. There is no brake coil to fail, no wire leads to fray, no discs to replace and it is tested to two million cycles with proper inspection.

"Probably the second biggest maintenance item is chain guides; we recognized there is an issue with chain jamming and chain guides failing with socalled rival products particularly when running the chain out of the hoists, the TNER has a heavy duty cast iron chain guide that is nearly indestructible but more importantly easy to replace in the event of wear, no disassembly of the hoist is required."

Growing market According to Lussow, the future will bring expansion into other markets, the addition of new models and extra options, with the theatrical hoist market proving to be a different animal than the industrial market in many ways. "First of all, the market has fewer competitors so traditional users are only familiar with a few brands. While Harrington and Kito are well known worldwide in the industrial sector our name is new in the entertainment sector, this poses some challenges but ultimately more opportunity," says Lussow. "We know if we can get a user to try our products, we will earn their business. Second, the hoists are controlled much differently; the major markets that are staging sound, lighting, video and rigging all have different requirements and different ways of controlling and using the hoists. The hoist must adapt to the users controls."

While Lussow has optimism about the company's chances in the sector, he is also keen to stress that there are inevitable challenges that accompany the opportunities in entertainment. So far the biggest challenge has been forecasting demand and understanding each markets needs. We did our research and got help from some great people in this industry prior to launch. We new we had a great product, we just weren't sure how long it would take to get the word out," he says. "Fortunately, the entertainment industry is a fairly small fraternity and people talk. It hasn't taken long to spread the word about the product and initial sales are strong."

For Julie Dillon, product manager at J.R. Clancy, the entertainment sector was been something of a mixed bag for the business during 2013. "The domestic market has been slow in recovery but the international markets has been steady increasing. The second half of 2013 has more of a positive outlook than other years," she explains.

According to Dillon, the greatest challenge for a business such as J.R. Clancy, the main hurdles have not been economic but rather informative. She says: " It's a case of continuing education. We are constantly moving the industry forward with new and safer products. When you look at our customer's buying decisions, these have not really changed much over the years. They still want quality equipment from a reliable company that has the history and foundation to be there for them in the years to come."

Elsewhere, Columbus McKinnon Corporation recently responded to customer demand and resurrected its CM-ET Classic Lodestar electric chain hoist (overleaf). Primarily used by customers in the entertainment staging and professional rigging space, the hoist has been used for lifting and position a range of equipment such as lighting to sound equipment.

Rigging standard
Steve Vitello, CMCO executive director of sales and marketing of Hoists & Rigging for North America says: " The Classic Lodestar has been the rigging standard in the entertainment industry for decades and many of our customers have requested that we make this universally trusted hoist available again."

He added: "We are thrilled to return the Classic Lodestar to the CM-ET portfolio to meet the overwhelming demand of its loyal user base. The Classic Lodestar perfectly complements the new Lodestar launched in 2011, which was designed to meet European standards.

"The Lodestar is suited for touring firms and indoor/outdoor productions, while this is ideal for permanent theatre and D8+ type applications."

The Classic Lodestar, which is made in the USA, is available through the Columbus McKinnon network of distributors. "Not all entertainment venues are created equal and now customers have a choice and can select the motor that works best for their application. These exceptional motors address the entire spectrum of entertainment industry needs for every venue with uncompromised safety, performance, endurance and reliability," Vitello explains.

Lift Turn Move Ltd (LTM) supply a range of lifting equipment into a range of industrial and entertainment markets. Established in September 2004, the company offer sales and after sales support in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa

A key product in the firm's entertainment portfolio is the LoadGuard hoist (top right), which the company has been fitted into a number of permanent installations such as arenas, multi purpose venues, schools, night clubs and performance venues. These have benefited from installing higher integrity hoists, which do not require secondary suspension systems to hold the load in the event of a failure. The hoist is modular so extra safety features can be added at a later date as future standards develop. These hoists are suitable for a range of permanent venues and touring applications. Below you can see Royal Holloway. University of London using LoadGuard double braked hoists, chains running through diverter pulleys on the truss to create two lifting points and Guardian control.

Dan Holme, director at Lift Turn Move, says that while the 1 tonne hoist was previously a mainstay of the entertainment industry, customer demands are ever-changing.

"We are seeing clients looking at going above or below this capacity," he explains. "We are selling a lot more 3.2 tonne hoists that offer customers a number of benefits, such as a lighter body in permanent installations."