A cost-effective alternative to overhead cranes
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Luxury car manufacturer, Aston Martin needed a portable lifting solution to lift engines in and out of vehicles at the end of the production line for final tweaks and tuning.
The background
When Aston Martin’s range of luxury cars reach the end of the production line at their brand-new facility in South Wales, they are checked and double checked and, if any engine adjustments are required, then the engine has to be lifted out. Recognising that a portable lifting solution would be more practical and cost effective than an overhead crane, the engineering team contact REID appointed resellers Safety First Lifting Gear (SLG) for advice.
The challenge
As part of the design of the state-of-the-art new build facility, there were already a number of fixed overhead gantries installed at various points along the production line. As well as wanting to avoid the significant cost of installing another fixed unit, Aston Martin required additional flexibility at the end of the line because the cars are potentially being moved around at that point. A portable solution made sense, but it had to be more than 5m in height to give sufficient clearance and be able to take weights of up to 2 tonnes.
The SOLUTION
SLG’s team have more than 30 years’ experience in lifting, so could advise Aston Martin on the best solution. They recommended the tallest REID Lifting PORTAGANTRY 2000 with a frame height of 5.8m to the top of the beam and a maximum goods lifting capacity of 2000kg. This has been fitted with a powered chain host which enables the engines to be lifted and lowered at the touch of a button.
For the car manufacturer, the PORTAGANTRY 2000 and hoist represented a saving of more than £30K over the cost of installing a fixed gantry and gave them the flexibility and mobility they needed. With 360° swivel-locking castors, the 87kg unit can be moved easily around the factory whenever required. Working in partnership with SLG, REID Lifting’s sales engineer delivered the PORTAGANTRY 2000 to the site in South Wales and helped to demonstrate the assembly and operation of the unit to the team at Aston Martin,
The feedback
One of the engineers at Aston Martin had used REID Lifting products supplied by SLG previously, so were confident in the solution this time around.
They are so impressed with the versatility of the Porta Gantry 2000 that they have identified further uses for the gantry at other locations around the factory.