Bespoke lifting solution for Alexander Dennis Ltd/Plaxton

The UK’s largest coachbuilder has improved efficiency whilst reducing health and safety risks at its Scarborough manufacturing facility after taking delivery of a bespoke lifting solution from Totalkare.

A long-standing customer of Totalkare, the facility already operates 19 sets of mobile vehicle lifts.

The lifts are used at various stages during the manufacture of a wide range of bespoke buses and coaches, from 25- to 75-seater single-deck coaches, express and inter-city vehicles to luxury touring and corporate charter vehicles and market-leading Enviro buses for Alexander Dennis Ltd.
As production at the successful plant stepped up a gear, Alexander Dennis Ltd approached the country’s leading provider of heavy-duty lifting solutions for help in improving its manufacturing process.

Tristan Johnston, Totalkare Sales and Marketing Manager, explained: “Late last year, Alexander Dennis came to us with a request for a set of lifts that needed to be shorter than our standard models.

“At just 1.8m in height compared to the normal 2.8m in height, they needed to fit under a preinstalled platform in the manufacturing plant.

“In this part of the plant vehicles need to be lifted to remove a bogie that’s used to move them between different workstations.

“Previously this was done manually, but the shorter lifts we’ve supplied have speeded up the process whilst reducing health and safety and materials-handling risks.”

The fact that the lifts are also cable free has also reduced the risk of slips and falls, and there is no need to hide cables in channels beneath work bays – where there is a risk of damaging them. Long-term operations costs have also been reduced.

Walter Schneider, Maintenance Manager at the Scarborough site, commented: “Totalkare were able to come up with the solution we required, helping us to improve our efficiency by reducing time spent at this particular part of the manufacturing process.

“We are impressed with the lifts and have actually ordered another set for our other production line where they will have a similar role.”