Half-century of lifting

Established back in 1968 in Telford, Shropshire, Pelloby’s initial focus was on the design and manufacture of jib cranes. Although the company’s product portfolio has widely diversified over the years, jib cranes remain at the heart of its day-to-day operations.

Pelloby marketing manager Jonathan Ferris says: “We’re the UK’s biggest jib crane manufacturer offering post, wall, articulated and special jibs made to any size and lifting any capacity. When it comes to jib cranes Pelloby has been the go-to name in Britain for almost five decades.

“We offer fast quotation and production times on all standard jib cranes whether that’s a post jib of over braced or underbraced design, a wall mounted model or a heavy duty 360° power slew system, but also we’re also the company people turn to for specialist jib cranes for more complex applications.”

A recent example of the extent of Pelloby’s bespoke jib crane design and manufacturing capabilities can be seen at Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire where a 5t inverted jib crane, offering complete 360° rotation while travelling on a 53m gantry rail, has been installed. FROM OVERHEAD CRANES TO AUTOMATED HANDLING

Today Pelloby offers a wide range of cranes to suit all sorts of applications across various industries.

Overhead cranes are a key product line and, just like their jib cranes, each one is custom-designed to suit the application in hand. The scope of the design and manufacturing projects for new overhead cranes taken on by Pelloby is really quite considerable, says Ferris:

“We can give these two projects as examples: the production of a simple 1t overhead crane for Safran Landing Systems GLS, and a contract with the BMW Group’s Swindon MINI Plant, which saw three separate 35t overhead cranes manufactured and installed over the space of 12 months.”

The Safran crane was a replacement for an older system but crucially featured a special stooled up design, which provided an increased height of lift. The BMW cranes each spanned 21.7m and were installed on existing gantry steelwork at a lifting height of 9.8m. Variable speed options for the wire rope hoist unit’s cross travel and hoisting motion, along with the crane’s long travel movement, were controlled via a joystick radio remote. To help with safe working practices two walkways were built on either side of the crane for easy maintenance access.

Another overhead crane project that required a specialist design was a turntable system that Pelloby made for Special Metals in Hereford. This UK alloy manufacturing firm approached Pelloby to provide a system that would help them streamline operations within their foundry, as they required a way to quickly rotate lengthy or cumbersome goods and materials when moving them between various workstations or storage positions.

The finished crane utilised a 360° slewing crab unit that could freely traverse along two double girder overhead beams, which were 23m in length. Dual 8t Eurobloc hoists sit at either side of the crab unit, supporting weights of an overall safe working load of 16t.

Marcus Upcott, Engineering Supervisor at Special Metals explains that this bespoke overhead crane completed its design objectives perfectly. Upcott says: “Where previously we might have had to use a forklift truck to ensure these goods were facing the right direction before being ready to use one of the existing cranes in the foundry, being able to rotate materials as they are being moved has helped improve our workplace efficiency immeasurably.”

Ferris adds: “Pelloby’s smaller A-frame cranes are very popular with plastic injection moulding businesses as they’re ideal for facilitating tool changes between production runs.

“When you throw portal cranes, monorail cranes, tailor-made lifting beams, below the hook accessories into the mix, it becomes clear that Pelloby are able to specify solutions from a truly varied product range.”

Pelloby’s design department are constantly taking on new challenges, which have pushed the limits of the company’s product portfolio. Laser scanner technology plays an even greater role in enhancing the accuracy of their cranes’ movements as well as improving safety standards.

“Automation is also a more and more common feature with Pelloby producing fully bespoke automated handling systems for high-tech applications,” Ferris says. “Their floor transporters are steerable platforms carrying loads of anywhere up to 100t, which can have their route around a workplace fully programed remotely via computer software. “Pelloby’s below the hook products are always improving and their load turning units are becoming particularly popular. These innovative devices are a fast and effective way to fully rotate goods and materials to any angle to allow work to be carried on the underside.”

UK CRANE SERVICING

Pelloby continue to offer support once the crane is up and running, with on-going service contracts, says Pelloby’s service manager Leanne Wright.

The Pelloby service department offers maintenance contracts for every crane the company manufactures, along with through examinations and below the hook equipment inspections, including non-Pelloby manufactured equipment. Engineers also attend breakdown callouts nationwide for all aspects of crane and lifting equipment. The service department has a number of worldwide customers who receive annual visits for preventative maintenance and spares recommendations.

Wright also explains that the department has recently taken on an additional engineer to meet enhanced demand: “We’re currently going through a period of growth in the Pelloby service team. We now have a greater capacity to respond to incoming breakdowns and provide repairs even faster. Our fleet of vans are ready and waiting to travel the length of the UK to improve the working lifespan of lifting equipment.”

In addition to repairing, the Pelloby service team provides safety inspections and source spare parts for any lifting system. The service team also offers training courses to the operators, for example the safe use of overhead cranes and basic slinging technique is a one-day course aimed at either topping up the knowledge of experienced crane users or for providing a solid learning experience for total novices. Wright adds these courses prove very popular as our trainer goes to the client site, delivering both classroom based theory and hands-on practical learning. The course can also be adapted to suit gantry, portal or jib cranes as required.

“Pelloby has continued to grow with every new challenge taken on during their first 50 years of business,” Ferris says. “They’re still the first place many businesses turn to for jib cranes in the UK but with such a diverse range of products and services now on offer, the next 50 years could be just as exciting.”