[INDUSTRY NEWS]
“We purchased a set of trunnions from Modulift to meet a customer requirement. From the early stages of design, through to production and then delivery, Modulift was very helpful and always kept us informed of the status of the project.” y
ITI to host Innovation Award Showcase at LiftEx 2019
> The Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA) is proud to announce ITI as the sponsor of the new Innovation Award Showcase event at LiftEx 2019, in addition to the 2019 award category itself. Christina Lanham, Managing Director of ITI UK, will be presenting the winner at the LEEA Awards 2019 Dinner on 13 November in Milton Keynes. The Innovation Award Showcase takes
place during Day One of LiftEx 2019 in a dedicated area of the show floor. It will be home to demonstrations and presentations from the Innovation Award finalists pitching their solutions for votes from visitors, which means it will be the place to see cutting edge innovations for the industry. LiftEx visitors can cast their votes on the day, which will be added to those of the judges, and the winner will be announced that evening at the prestigious LEEA Awards. ITI won the Innovation category at the
LEEA Awards 2018 with its VR (Virtual Reality) crane simulation system. The ITI VR Crane Simulation Library touts over 1,000 hours of content across seven crane models. With dozens of organizations such as Bechtel, Mammoet and General Electric counted among its community of subscribers, ITI VR is one of the fastest growing crane simulation solutions in the world. “We were honored to win the award last year and glad that LEEA has a category highlighting innovative solutions for the lifting industry,” says Lanham. “This year, we wanted to help LEEA provide an opportunity for another organization to be recognized for the efforts they are making to improve the industry. “I would encourage companies tackling our
industry’s challenges in new, and value-creating ways, to invest in the innovation award process and showcase this year at LiftEx.” For over 30 years ITI has provided
workforce development solutions for organizations conducting load handling activities. ITI solutions include instructor- led training services, VR simulations, online learning and mobile applications. In March 2019 ITI set up an office in Birmingham, UK – its first office in Europe.
16 JULY–AUGUST 2019 The ITI VR Crane Simulation Library
was officially launched in March 2017, at CONEXPO in Las Vegas. “We had looked at traditional simulators
but hadn’t found one we really wanted to use ourselves. So we partnered with Serious Labs to develop a solution with the VR technology available now.” The result is a VR headset that fully
immerses the user into a crane cab, allowing them to run through a myriad of training scenarios – from a novice operator to complex situations. “The goal is to provide our customers with
an option to help train their newer operators, provide their existing operators additional ‘seat time’ – which can be very expensive in a regular crane as well as taking it out of production – and to offer an assessment tool,” concludes Lanham, adding that VR also gives a risk-free, safer means of training. “If an operator messes up terribly there will be no need to make expensive repairs – all you have to do is hit the reset button.” The LEEA Awards 2019 would like to
hear about your innovations. To enter, please visit:
awards.leeaint.com. y
RRS Buys Aberdeen’s Plant- shifters, Opens in Newcastle
> In a double declaration of intent, Portsmouth, UK-based lifting, transport and storage specialist Rapid Response Solutions (RRS) has acquired an Aberdeen-based lifting and moving business, in addition to opening a new depot in Newcastle. It brings the total number of RRS sites to four, alongside an existing Midlands facility in Teddington. Effective June 3, 2019, RRS takes
ownership of Plantshifters (Scotland) Ltd., a trading division of Surelift (UK) Ltd., which it purchased as a going concern. The business will trade as RRS Plantshifters and a recruitment campaign is already underway to add to seven existing staff. The company currently operates out of two buildings on the Kirkhill Industrial Estate in Dyce, but will relocate to a larger, more modern site also in close proximity to Aberdeen Airport. Meanwhile, a new depot in Newcastle
will “bridge the gap”, as Paul Barber, managing director at RRS, put it, as the ever- expanding company looks to better position itself to fulfill a growing number of UK-wide contracts. RRS will locate a range of vehicles and products at the two new sites, including Hydra-Slide hydraulic skidding systems, as it continues to represent the Canadian
WIRE ROPE EXCHANGE
manufacturer in the UK and Europe as international partner. Barber said: “The new depots are all part of
the strategic growth of the business. Having had a great deal of exposure through our hydraulic skidding and climbing jacks projects, along with our association with Hydra-Slide, we have been receiving bigger and more involved contracts, and needed to bring more skilled labor to the business. Finding the right labor in one location isn’t easy, so we have had to branch out to key locations to source the right staff and efficiently service our customers and future demand.” To that end, the company’s senior
leadership team has recently been expanded with the additional of a new financial controller, assistant managing director, and operations manager. Industry veteran Wayne Cryer, senior technical sales manager, has also joined to generate new business. Further aggrandizement has been achieved by creating separate business units for mechanical / electrical and storage / distribution services. Barber said: “The two sites immediately
give us far better coverage of the UK. Personnel will move between the [four] locations in line with project demands but each will continue to expand and develop a greater regional footprint in their own rights. Plantshifters has been established for over 40 years in Aberdeen and that is history we respect and plan to leverage. The timing of the acquisition was right for all parties versus us necessarily looking to be acquisitive.” Plantshifters already carries a large
inventory of lifting and moving equipment but RRS will be adding to that with Valla mini-cranes in addition to Hydra-Slide jacking and skidding equipment. Barber referenced the Aberdeen hotbeds of the oil, gas and wind power markets as areas of particular interest, while vehicles from the existing transport fleet can fulfill haulage and crane contracts in the region. The value of the Plantshifters transaction
was not disclosed. y
RSS and JDN UK Form Air Hoist Partnership to Launch Mini Next Gen
> Rope and Sling Specialists Ltd. (RSS) will distribute JD Neuhaus’s (JDN) new range of Mini Next Gen air hoists, as the innovative line is put to market. RSS, a supplier of lifting and rigging
equipment, has secured a partnership with JDN UK, which offers the full range of
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