Custom lift assist by ELS provides solution for asphalt company

ELS helped an asphalt-roofing producer find the right lifting solutions for a congested floor area.

Engineered Lifting Systems & Equipment Inc. (ELS) has a history of making difficult jobs easier for its industrial clients. For decades, this company has recommended products from its vast inventory of lifting solutions to facilitate hoisting and moving tasks. One key example involved an asphalt-roofing manufacturer that required a crane and custom lift assist to handle rolls of asphalt without risking worker safety. Here is how ELS came to the rescue.

Problems with floor congestion

This company needed lifting solutions for its facility’s packaging cell work area, which was congested with a shrink wrapping machine, packaging robot, and inspection and palletizing stations. In the current process, an employee had to lift asphalt rolls manually from the wrapping machine, manoeuvre around equipment, carry the rolls about six metres to the inspection station, and then carry them to the palletizing station. Health and safety was a serious concern.

The congested floor space made it difficult to find the right lifting solution. A floor-based mobile roll-handling cart was too slow and would not fit the space. Off-the-shelf end effectors were too universal and did not fit the company’s product sizes or weights. A crane looked like the best option. Based on past positive customer experiences, the company turned to ELS.

ELS recommended two products: a Free Standing Gorbel Work Station Bridge Crane and a custom lift assist, the latter designed to work below the crane hook. The Gorbel crane could span the whole area and provide a mount for a hoist-based roll lift assist; it was also flexible in terms of positioning, supporting column placement around the equipment, and would be simple to modify if the cell changed or if the company moved it to a different part of the facility. ELS designed and built the custom lift assist to accommodate the size and weight range of the asphalt rolls in a rough handling environment.

The customer was pleased with the customer care it received from ELS. Today, the asphalt-roofing company is lifting and moving rolls easily in the floor area, and its employees are safe from injury.

To learn more, contact ELS.

• Tweet