Stertil Koni lifts support O’Connor expansion
O’Connor Utilities has invested in Stertil Koni heavy duty vehicle lifts to support expansion at the company’s service locations throughout the UK.
Established in 1994, O’Connor Utilities has its headquarters in Manchester and provides a nationwide service via a network of strategically-located depots and offices in Manchester, London, Leeds, Newcastle, Stockton-on-Tees, Sheffield and Hull together with North and South Wales.
With a workforce of over 950 site operatives, supported by back office and management structures, the company provides comprehensive utility contract services across numerous sectors including electricity, gas, water, wastewater, telecommunications, directional drilling and concrete supply.
Essential to this operation is the use of hundreds of vehicles ranging from 3.5-tonne vans and trucks to super-heavy construction equipment weighing in at 80 tonnes.
At all locations, a set of six Stertil Koni ST1085FSA heavy duty mobile vehicle lifts is used to simplify a range of maintenance, repair and servicing operations.
Each of the Stertil Koni ST1085FSA heavy duty columns provides a lifting capacity of 8.5 tonnes which means that, when used as a set of six, the combined capacity of 51 tonnes ensures complete safety during workshop activities involving the largest and heaviest vehicles in the O’Connor Utilities fleet.
Each column incorporates Stertil Koni’s ebright Smart Control System which allows workshop staff to operate the columns individually, in pairs or in any other combination from any column in the set. Positioning of the columns is flexible, enabling them to be used in any configuration around a vehicle.
Featuring full-colour touch screen consoles, the ebright Smart Control System has been designed and developed to simplify operation by providing maximum visual information about every lifting operation for workshop engineers.
An integral advanced hydraulic lifting system incorporates a microprocessor-controlled synchronisation feature, which Stertil Koni says ensures safe, smooth and precise movement at all times.
Safety is further enhanced by an independent mechanical locking system, integrated within each column, which allows engineers to securely lock the lift to prevent a vehicle from being inadvertently lowered.
To complement the mobile column lifts at the Manchester depot, O’Connor Utilities invested in a Stertil Koni four-post lift, type S4120-6. This heavy duty model incorporates an electro-hydraulic operating system and provides a safe lifting capacity of 12 tonnes.
Various platform lengths are available – 4.5m, 6.2m and 8m – and the space between the platforms is adjustable from 800mm up to 1650mm.
This flexibility makes them ideal for use in workshops that deal with a range of heavy duty vehicles, says Stertil Koni, including narrow tracked fork trucks.
Driven rams are located at the four corner posts and all are electronically synchronised ensuring safe and smooth operation. Importantly, the free-standing control box can be positioned at the most convenient post for every installation.
“All the workshop bays are in use from 6.00am until 7.00pm, for a minimum of five days weekly, with at least 15 vehicles a week passing through each bay,” said Andy Chelton, O’Connor Utilities’ fleet and plant service manager.
“We chose vehicle lifts over inspection pits for a number of reasons including maximum use of workshop floor space, safety and versatility. We’ve been operating Stertil Koni lifts for many years and find them to be most reliable, low-maintenance and easy to operate.”
