Launched at the Commercial Vehicle Show earlier this year, Stertil Koni's vehicle lifting system - the Earthlift is said to have dramatically improved efficiency for South Yorkshire haulage company, McGregor Logistics Limited.
Established in 2003, McGregor Logistics has steadily grown from a small local haulage company and is now a highly successful international logistics provider. As a Pall-Ex depot, the company handles thousands of full loads and pallet consignments every month servicing a fast-growing customer base. The company's fleet of vehicles comprises 18 DAF tractor units, which include a mix of CF and XF super space models, and three rigid vehicles for the collection and delivery of Pall-Ex consignments. As part of an overall strategy to improve efficiency by reducing garage and service times, McGregor Logistics decided to invest in the new Earthlift.
The Stertil Koni Earthlift has set the 'green' standard in vehicle lifting technology. Thanks to the Earthlift's special characteristics, including bio-degradable hydraulic oil, 98% of it can be recycled at the end of its long life. The combination of this, plus the Earthlift's energy-saving features and Stertil Koni's high production values, makes it the most advanced and sophisticated mobile column lift on the planet.
Stertil Koni set out to design an ergonomically efficient, economically productive and user-friendly model, which would contribute towards the reduction of a business's carbon footprint. The firm developed its unique Active Energy Retrieval System, using gravity and the load of the lifted vehicle to retrieve energy and then store it in the batteries of the lift's wireless mobile columns.
The principle of the Active Energy Retrieval System is as brilliant as it is simple - to use the energy generated by the raised vehicle as it comes back down: in other words, to regain the gravitational energy. This ingenious new system increases the number of lifting cycles by about 35%, compared to a fully-charged set of wireless mobiles under maximum load. In addition to the reduction in power consumption, the Earthlift's batteries need less recharging, thus increasing productivity and reducing costs.
Portable and wireless, Earthlifts facilitate maximum access to all parts of a vehicle and can even be used outdoors to service vehicles thereby increasing the overall capacity of the workshop. Each column incorporates its own control box and provides a lifting capacity of 8,200kg. Overall increased capacity may be achieved simply by adding more columns.
McGregor Logistics has been so impressed by the level of savings on its fleet maintenance costs and dramatic improvements in workshop efficiency that the company has now extended the use of the Earthlift by offering a commercial vehicle service and repair operation from its Doncaster base.
McGregor Logistics' Sales Director, Graham Hamilton, is very impressed with the contribution made by the Earthlift to the improvement in the company's workshop operations. He says, "Stertil Koni's lifts were by far the superior product on the market and, with vehicle servicing times highly critical to the success of our business, they were the natural choice for us. The versatility of the Earthlift has made our vehicle servicing quicker and safer. In fact, overall life in the workshop is now a lot easier."
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