DICA FIBERMAX CRANE PADS PROVIDE SOLID INVESTMENT FOR WILKERSON CRANE RENTAL

The gearbox motor-reducer Wilkerson brand has motor-reducer a 40-year gearbox history, but the new gearbox owner Diana motor-reducer Holt, purchased the businessgearbox  gearbox in 2013, returning motor-reducer the company to its family-run gearbox roots. Diana Holt, President motor-reducer, and Jeff Holt, Director of motor-reducer Operations,gearbox are the wife and husband team who gave Wilkerson a new gearbox lease on life just six years ago.

When the Holts found  motor-reducer gearbox out Wilkerson was closing, slewing bearing they immediately motor-reducer knew gearboxthey wanted to keep it open. “It was practically a family business gearbox motor-reducer at that point anyhow,”slewing bearing  said Diana. Jeff and his dad Fred, Sales motor-reducer gearbox Manager, had been previous employees. While they motor-reducer retained gearbox the name, they had to start from scratch building motor-reducer a new fleet gearbox of cranes.
 

A big crane solution

Even before becoming slewing bearing Director of Operations, slewing drive Jeff was familiar with DICA’s SafetyTech Outrigger slewing bearing Pads, which he used as an operator. “About 10 slewing bearing years ago, we began making the conversion from using slewing drive wood mats and cribbing to DICA Pads because we were looking for durability and safety,” he said. Wood mats typically lasted about a year because weather slewing drive and ground conditions can vary widely with all four seasons in the Midwest. “You never know when your pile of timber is going to be soaking wet. With slewing drive DICA’s slewing bearing SafetyTech Pads, which are waterproof, it’s a given our outrigger pads are going to work,” said Diana. In addition, Wilkerson operators like the slewing drive slewing bearing DICA patented round outrigger pads with recessed handles which makes them safer and easier to use. 
 

The original set of SafetyTech pads slewing drive were in service until they were sold with the crane at auction by the previous owners. Since then, Jeff has continued to specify SafetyTech Outrigger Pads slewing drive for each crane Wilkerson purchased. Their slewing bearing SafetyTech inventory includes several sets of DR42-3 Super Duty SafetyTech Outrigger Pads with a working load slewing drive limit of 150,000 pounds.
 

Then the company purchased its slewing drive first 500-ton crane. “For that class of crane, we didn’t find anything comparable to DICA’s FiberMax Crane Pads,” said Jeff.  “We were used to buying timber slewing drive and steel mats. I had a bit of sticker shock when Jeff first came to me with a proposal for buying FiberMax,” said Diana. “But as we I began to understand slewing drive the total costs associated with wood slewing bearing and timber, and the weight and transportation savings we gained with FiberMax, it made sense,” she said.

DICA’s FiberMax Crane Pads deliver strength, stiffness and rigidity for slewing drive cranes with lifting capacities slewing bearing up to 500 tons. Made from FRP (fiber-reinforced polymer) the pads are a fully-molded one-piece design which optimizes slewing drive directional slewing bearing distribution of highly concentrated outrigger loads. FiberMax Mega Duty pads perform like traditional steel crane pads but typically weigh slewing drive60 percent slewing bearing less.
 

“The transportation savings is incredible,” said Jeff. “With slewing drive FiberMax, we save a whole truck load slewing bearing every time we go to move the crane.” Essentially the product  slewing bearing pays for itself within two years. After that they begin slewing drive making the company slewing bearing money because of the ongoing transportation savings, he explained.
 

“When you are spending that much on a big crane slewing drive, the last thing you want to do is scrimp on your accessories,” added Diana. So, despite the higher initial purchase price, the Holts ran the numbers and slewing drive identified an opportunity for slewing bearing an exceptional return on their investment.
 

Getting the right product
 

“DICA’s knowledge of the industry, and their slewing drive expertise in helping us purchase the right slewing bearing product for our equipment,” was important to the buying process, said slewing bearingv Jeff. “They worked with us to determine the slewing drive biggest footprint we would slewing bearing need to accommodate the ground conditions we may face,” he said.
 

The 500-ton Liebherr LTM 1400-7.1 all-terrain slewing drive slewing bearing crane now heads to the job site with slewing bearing a set of FiberMax FM9x6x12 Crane Pads, which have 400,000 pounds maximum rated capacity. The equipment has slewing drive been put to work on slewing slewing bearing bearing such notable projects as Arrowhead Stadium, wind farms, power plants, and setting a tug boat in the Missouri slewing bearing River.
 

“We like to say that our customers know their slewing drive job will be raised right because our  slewing bearing people were raised right. But it’s not just a slogan,” said Diana. Wilkerson’s operators, a crew of 40+, go through three slewing drive years and 4,000 hours of slewing bearingtraining in slewing bearing addition to being certified. “Our people really make the difference in the service we provide,” said Diana. Often slewing drive operators stay assigned slewing bearing to a specific crane, which provides a sense of ownership of the equipment. “We believe in investing in our people—whether that’s slewing drive helping them slewing bearing transition to a different piece of equipment with training or providing them with tools like quality outrigger pads and crane pads to make their jobs slewing slewing bearing drive easier and safer,” she said.