Stertil Koni Supply Vehicle Lifts To Arriva North West

As part of an ongoing programme of upgrading its vehicle lifting equipment, Arriva North West specified a Stertil Koni heavy-duty wireless mobile column lift, type ST1075FWA, to support workshop activities at its Runcorn depot.

“Having had experience with the Stertil Koni lift’s predecessor, and experiencing the build quality and reliability, we had no hesitation in specifying the latest ST1075FWA lift,” says Richard Summers, “Also, we have found the after sales support from Stertil Koni to be exceptional.”

THE COMPANY

The depot relies upon the Stertil Koni lift to ensure total safety when raising various models from the company’s vehicle fleet that includes single and double decker buses plus 12 tonne MAN CNG vehicles. The workshop carries out a wide range of servicing, maintenance and repair activities and, according to the Engineering Manager, Richard Summers, “The lift really comes into its own when removing large components such as engines, gearboxes axles and cooling packs.”

THE EQUIPMENT

The lift comprises a set of four wireless mobile columns, each offering a lifting capacity of 7.5 tonnes thereby providing an overall safe lifting capacity of 30 tonnes. Each column incorporates Stertil Koni’s revolutionary ebright Smart Control System which allows workshop engineers to operate the columns individually, in pairs or in any other combination from any column in the set. Positioning of the wireless columns is also totally 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 - all at the fingertips of the workshop engineers.

For added safety and performance, the ebright Smart Control System also shows how many columns in the set are being used plus the battery status of each column. Safety is further enhanced by an independent mechanical locking system, incorporated into each column, which allows technicians to securely lock the lift to prevent a vehicle from being inadvertently lowered.

The Stertil Koni ST1075FWA heavy-duty lift is powered by long-life deep cycle batteries which provide optimum performance for at least a week on average before recharging is necessary. Also, battery life is prolonged due to the fact that, unlike a screw-lift, power is only used to raise a vehicle therefore less time is spent recharging the lift which is carried out via a 230v single phase supply. Importantly, with no cables on the workshop floor, the risk of tripping is removed, providing valuable health and safety benefits.

The absence of power and communication cables means that set-up time is greatly reduced thereby making the system fully operational much more quickly. Significantly, the lift’s unique synchronisation system ensures a smooth lifting and lowering cycle, even in the event of extremely uneven load distribution.  Supplied complete with adjustable width forks, the Stertil Koni ST1075FWA easily meets the challenge of lifting vehicles with differing tyre widths to ensure maximum versatility.

Richard Summers particularly values the adjustable lowering speed provided by the heavy-duty wireless mobile column lift. He says, “Being able to control the lift speed when required further improves operational safety and gives our workshop engineers so much more control.”

In a typical working day, four or five vehicles pass through the workshop at Runcorn although, depending on the work to be undertaken, it’s not unusual for the lift to be used continuously for two or three days.

WEBSITE LINK: www.arrivabus.co.uk