Presenting at the annual Europlatform in October, chairman of MEWP equipment manufacturer Haulotte, Pierre Saubot, offered some eyebrow raising predictions, saying the sector still had a way to go before reaching market saturation and forecasting machine numbers to hit the seven million mark in two decades from 1.25 million today.
While Saubot’s prediction may sound bold, current EWP market and equipment trends could warrant a big spike in the number of machines both locally and globally.
The evolution is now
In Australia, family-owned hire company Kennards Hire recently added the Athena HE, an ultra-compact bi-levelling scissor lift, to its fleet. Kennards Hire area manager, Harry McCartney, told Cranes and Lifting that with current WorkCover regulations and various unions pushing for greater safety, EWPs have become the norm and eventually, these machines will overtake scaffolding and ladders.
But it’s not just about safety. Technological advancements have also driven the growth of the EWP market.
“We’re finding that the market is moving into hybrid and lithium batteries and things like that. Previously, we’ve stayed away from them whether it was because of reliability [issues] or how long batteries could last but with technology moving so quickly forward these days, battery-operated machines are now equally as efficient as petrol or diesel. And we see that this is the way the market is going, with hybrid technology taking over,” McCartney said.
Aspac Group, which distributes the Athena, is a niche product marketer that sources global equipment with applications in Australia and sets out to establish markets for these machines.
Director Martin Eade believes that the Athena HE, which can fit through a standard single door or gate and is light enough (1730kg) to be towed behind a work vehicle, is the future and would revolutionise the market.
“The Athena will allow customers to have one machine, replacing a slab scissor [lift], a roughterrain and also scaffolding in many situations. And the reason it can do this is because it is able to operate on slopes of up to 20˚, which no other piece of access equipment can do. It is also light enough that you can tow it behind a trailer – with a conventional rough-terrain, a customer would need the hire company to put it on the back of a tilt tray,” Eade said, which of course would cost a few extra dollars.
“The Athena also offers customers the opportunity to work safer and they won’t have to worry about putting up ladders or scaffolding or paying a lot of money to get various machines. The Athena gives tradespeople the ability to buy one machine that will do all of the jobs they need, significantly reducing their cost of hire. I was talking to a customer and he’s got a job coming up where he was going to spend $6000 on scaffolding. Whereas now, he’s going to buy an Athena and for $280/week or whatever it works out to be to own a machine, he’s got six months payments covered in a single job.”
While Eade noted that some of his customers are “saving themselves in excess of $300,000 a year on hire fees” by purchasing “two or three machines off us” and eliminating the need for other machines, the Athena will be a big drawcard for hirers as well.
“The hire industry will always be a significant industry and for this particular product, there’s likely going to be more hirers than there are purchasers. Now, you can hire this bit of kit from Kennards Hire and you can get the job done safely and efficiently. And you can return the kit at the end of the day. It’s a win for everybody,” he said.
And it’s this ability to use the one machine instead of a range, as well as the increased safety and savings compared with erecting ladders and scaffolding, that will drive change in the market.
“As building sites get smaller, budgets get tighter, safety becomes more of an issue, and people need to be more productive to create an income, niche products like the Athena are going to become more commonplace in the market because people expect more from their equipment these days – you are investing a significant amount of money in the capital purchase so you want it to be able to do multiple jobs across a multitude of worksites,” Eade said.
“To have towable all-terrain or a self-levelling machine is something that we never had in Kennards Hire prior and that comes down to the width and the weight and other key features of this machine. We’ve filled a gap there with the Athena,” McCartney added.
| Light but no lightweight | |
| Key specifications of the Athena HE: | • 7.8 m working height.
• Automatic stabilisation outriggers – making it easier to achieve stability in all terrains. • Single door access. • Independent tracks and bi-levelling technology – making any site accessible to the Athena HE. The EWP can operate safely on inclines of up to 23˚. • Extendable and collapsible basket – quick and easy to adjust for extreme access situations. Raise or lower the cage walls within five minutes. • Dual power source. • 250kg load capacity. • Width 0.80 ÷ 1.24m. • Grade ability 25˚. • Side slope 21˚. • Automatic levelling on two-axis. • Track widening. • Suitable for indoors or outdoors. |
Tackling tricky worksites
As Eade highlighted, worksites are indeed changing and in moving with the times, United Forklift and Access Solutions recently launched its Comet X-Trailer in Australia, a compact and easily portable trailer-mounted boom lift suitable for a range of trade work requiring access to high or tricky areas.
United’s national access product manager, Andrew MacDonald echoed the sentiments of Aspac Group and Kennards Hire, reiterating that customer demands and expectations over the years have been driven by safety, which is at the forefront of the minds of manufacturers, suppliers and operators alike, and today, “we live in a world that has engineered safety into working at heights and machines like the Comet X-Trailer, designed and manufactured by CO.M.ET Officine Italy, is certainly no exception to this.”
“Our drive and motivation is based on the growing need for compact, lightweight user-friendly machines that can be confidently operated by experienced tradespeople through to the weekend handyman/woman,” MacDonald said.
“Comet -Trailer is perfectly suited for those that have a lower towing capacity vehicle such as a mid-size sedan or small SUV. We also feel that some customers will choose the Comet X-Trailer purely based on storage space. The X-Trailer’s 3.1m length isn’t that much bigger than a 6×4 trailer.”
United has also captured opportunities in Australia and the world’s changing energy puzzle, making the Comet X-Trailer available in electric, petrol, diesel and hybrid models.
“CO.M.ET Officine Italy has chosen to stay with the traditional style hydraulic controls. CO.M.ET Officine believes that “simpler is better” and having a 100% hydraulically operated machine not only means precise movements, but downtime from maintenance is decreased because fault finding is easier,” MacDonald added.
So what’s next?
In a world that strives to do more with less, where safety will continue to be increasingly regulated – and with good reason – and where more and more workspaces are becoming highly constrained, Eade is urging EWP users to think outside the box.
“Don’t confine yourself to conventional thinking. Do your research and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what you find,” Eade said.
“In regard to the Athena, this is the evolution that’s here now. In the access market, the Athena has the ability to change the look of most worksites. The market will be different in 10 years’ time because of products like the Athena.”
Meanwhile, McCartney acknowledged that there will always be a challenge in maintaining a balance between safety and keeping with the times but that will not stop Kennards Hire from bringing in new products that both suit Australian standards and industry expectations. And he noted that there are more changes on the horizon.
“We have standardisation coming for EWPs which the Hire and Rental Industry Association and Elevating Work Platform Association are working on. Standardisation of safety with secondary safety as a key focus is going to be a challenge over the next 12 to 24 months and everyone is pulling together, whether it’s the manufacturers or the hirers or the end user, to make that happen,” he said.
| In a class of its own | |
| Key specifications of the Comet X-Trailer: | • Well-designed double “pantograph” style boom and top telescopic arm – useful for tricky low-level areas that need to be accessed.
• 100% hydraulically operated. • 3.1m in length and 1.8m wide. Some models weigh as low as 1200kg. • Can be configured with a petrol engine, diesel engine, 24-volt battery powered or a hybrid version. • Optional self-drive system. • Additional safety features including an emergency shut-down switch and a ‘dead man pedal’. |
This article was originally published in the November/December issue of Cranes and Lifting.