Hird’s can-do spirit aids brewery labelling machine lift
A Hird machinery moving team has used a mobile crane and two pick and carry cranes to move a large labelling machine into place in the packaging area of one of the UK’s biggest breweries.
The lift and move project was completed over two days – though this was only to allow time for one of the Valla pick and carry cranes to get to the site after completing another job.
Hird Director Jason Timmins, who was the appointed person for the lift, said: “Some specific challenges made this a complex lift. Notably, the load had to be lifted 900mm onto a loading dock platform.
“The space to move the load through access routes into the packaging area was also tight, but that’s just what the compactness and precision offered by Valla pick and carry cranes can overcome.
Tandem mini crane lift
The 18-tonne labelling machine, which measured 5,700mm by 5,300mm and was 2,700mm high, had to be lifted off a transporter then moved into and through the production building.
On day one of the lift, which another machinery moving specialist had previously told the client was not possible, Hird’s 100-tonne Grove GMK4100L mobile crane lifted the load off the transporter.
This allowed the transporter to leave the site, in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, to go to another job.
The following day, the two battery electric pick and carry cranes – a Valla 250E, which has a safe working load (SWL) of 25t, and a Valla V180RC, which has a SWL of 18t – were brought to the site.
They were used in a tandem lift to move the labelling machine, which was sitting on a transport frame – through an aperture and up to the elevated loading bay dock.
The load was lowered and one of the pick and carry cranes was moved up an access slope so it could be reattached to the load from the elevated position on the dock.
Can-do machinery moving
In a second tandem lift, the labelling machine and its frame could be lifted up 900mm and then carefully edged onto the elevated platform, where moving skates were placed under it.
While one pick and carry crane carefully pulled the load further into the production area, the other Valla crane moved up the ramp and then hooked up to the load.
The labelling machine could then be moved further into the building to the precise location in the packaging area where it was being installed.
Jason Timmins said: “Our client was extremely happy with the way the lift was planned and how it was carried out. Our expertise and experience ensured a safe solution was established and then carried it out to the letter.
“While we will always be honest with a client about what can and cannot be done in terms of a machining moving project, Hird is very much a can-do crane lift specialist.
“We will always do our utmost to find a way to safely, cost-effectively and sustainably meet a customer’s requirements, and I’m pleased to say that’s exactly what we were able to do on this occasion.”
Find out more
Talk to Hird about our machinery moving service. Our teams operate across the UK and are ready to support machine removal or installation projects of any size.
Tell us about your project: [email protected], or call the Hird machinery moving team: 01482 227333.