The company will receive jib crane and other parts from Schötz, Lucerne, but manufacture the range for the first time in the UK.
GIS-owned Lift Turn Move (LTM), meanwhile, a supplier of lifting and rigging equipment to the industrial and entertainment event markets, will continue to be the UK supplier of its electric chain hoists, control systems, and additional material handling equipment.
James Porter, formerly of LTM, and managing director at Lifting Products, had earmarked the UK as a potential hotbed for the full range of GIS products, but cited transportation costs as a barrier to entry for heavier equipment. However, the company has invested in infrastructure, primarily to facilitate onboarding of the GIS range of profiles and components for the jib crane and GISKB ranges.
Over- and under-braced jib cranes will be offered from 125kg capacity at 2,000mm reach to 1,000kg capacity at 5,000mm reach. Customisations will be available upon request.
The company’s first jib crane build was for installation at the Holywell, Flintshire facility for handling steel sheets from the rack to load a plasma cutter. The computer numerical control (CNC) cutter allows Lifting Products to profile its own, 40mm-thick steel plate—double the thickness of jib crane base plates. Subsequently, welding jigs were installed for repeat assembly processes. Manual and CNC lathes, a press brake, milling machine, and water-cooled welder are among other new tools that complete a state-of-the-art machine shop suite.
“The combination of Swiss-designed products, that have been in use in some of the highest specification manufacturing plants for over 30 years, combined with UK manufacturing, provides a solid base to support our customers with. While these are new products for the UK market, they have been tried and tested for many years, and we can call on that know-how to provide a comprehensive offering to the UK domestic market,” said Porter.
Erich Widmer, sales and marketing manager/deputy managing director, GIS, added thanks to its UK subsidiary LTM and its focus on the supply of GIS electric chain hoists and travel trolleys it already has a solid UK base and Lifting Products can now support that existing offering.
“It’s well known that the two companies work closely together and LTM will supply the GIS hoists to go with Lifting Products’ crane systems. The collaboration strengthens the GIS brand in the UK; customers benefit from being able to buy GIS-designed jib cranes and lightweight track systems, in addition to GIS electric chain hoists and trolleys,” he said.
Lifting Products has, established in 2016, initially serviced the UK and Irish market with Haacon equipment, focusing on off-the-shelf and bespoke winching, jacking, and handling equipment for water treatment, nuclear, offshore, waste, and other specialist markets. This expanded to Haacon’s container lifting and levelling systems, principally in the military sector. Lifting Products is also an agent for Koester winches and Wittler safety brakes and cranks.
“We are already stocking GIS parts and can react quickly to customer demands, which will likely come from automotive, aircraft, utilities, construction, rail, and manufacturing. There is a standard range, but almost every jib crane built so far has some custom work involved. The track systems are standard parts but, again, they need to be machined to exact customer specifications. We have manufactured over 30 jib cranes in the last four months and supplied several lightweight crane systems, which, prior to our official [GIS] launch, gives me great confidence,” added Porter.
