Grayson invests in TotalKare lifts for retrofit project

The UK’s premier supplier of heavy-duty workshop solutions is playing a key role in helping a leading bus and coach operator get ready for Birmingham’s planned Clean Air Zone introduction in July 2020.

TotalKare’s industry-leading T8DC cable-free mobile column lifts have been installed by Grayson Thermal Systems as part of its workshop dedicated to delivering one of the largest single-operator exhaust retrofit exercises in Europe.

The versatility and lifting capacity of the hydraulic mobile column lifts are being used to successfully upgrade 637 buses owned by National Express West Midlands, so they achieve the Euro 6 Standards required by the new legislation coming into force in the UK’s second city.

Variety of vehicles being lifted

Alexander Dennis Enviro200s and Enviro 400s, Volvo B7RLEs, Scania OmniCitys and Omni Links, not to mention Euro 3 Dennis Tridents, are all being lifted at Grayson’s Birmingham facility with 20 vehicles being completed every week until the end of 2019.

The solution, which features HJS Emission Technology’s Real Blue SCRT exhaust aftertreatment system and Grayson’s E-Drive electric radiator fan, takes about 45 working hours to implement and so far 284 buses have been completed.

Better air quality for Birmingham

“A lot of city centres are looking at how they manage traffic and deliver cleaner vehicles and we are really pleased that our heavy duty lifting technology and expertise is being used in a project that will generate better air quality for Birmingham – just a few miles from our HQ in Halesowen,” explained James Radford, Sales and Marketing Director at TotalKare.

“We have a long-standing relationship with Grayson Thermal Systems and the recent investment sees eight sets of our state-of-the-art T8DC mobile column lifts now working alongside two sets of our older lifts.”

He continued: “With no interconnecting cables, the T8DC is designed to be easily manoeuvred around the workshop and can be used to lift a wide range of buses and coaches.

“This flexibility and safety of products are crucial, especially when you are trying to retrofit 637 buses in such a short space of time.”

Quality product and excellent service

Steve Robinson, Midlands Service Manager at Grayson Thermal Systems, added his support: “The National Express West Midlands’ retrofit contract is huge for us and HJS and we need to make sure we have a workshop that can deliver the number of conversions required in order to meet deadlines around the Clean Air Zone.

“We have worked with TotalKare for over 25 years, with some of their original lifts still in operation in our workshop, which is down to the quality of the product and the excellent maintenance service we receive.

“The new lifts give us the safety, performance and speed we need to meet the schedules of the retrofit project and this will definitely put us in the spotlight for similar contracts in other cities.

Training for 35 operatives

TotalKare has agreed a premium AfterKare service package that will see all eight sets of lifts benefit from regular servicing and maintenance, as well as the firm’s 24-hour helpline for any issues that might cause downtime in the workshop.

It has also agreed a new deal with Grayson Thermal Systems for 35 of its operatives to complete its online mobile column lift training to ensure all staff can use the equipment safely and get the most out of the lifts.