Cladding & Roofing converts to Potain for versatility and savings

South Australia’s Cladding & Roofing was once a major renter of mobile cranes, but as its business grew and it began to win more premier lifting projects, the company invested in Potain self-erecting cranes to cut costs and improve its efficiency.

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The Adelaide-based company bought three Potain self-erecting cranes: an Igo 13, an Igo 50 and an Igo T 130. The range of Potain self-erecting cranes is well-known for its fast assembly times, extra-long reach and wireless remote control options – all of which have enabled companies to become more efficient.

Cladding & Roofing approached Manitowoc looking to cut the amount of time it spent preparing cranes for projects. Also, the cost of renting mobile cranes had a negative impact on the company’s bottom line. Investing in its own fleet of Potain cranes has enabled Cladding & Roofing to complete a wider range of projects for a lower cost than before, as Andrew Rorison, managing director of the company explains.

“Investing in Potain self-erecting cranes has been a resounding success,” he says. “After scouting the market, we came to Manitowoc who understood our needs and came up with the ideal cranes for the job. As we were talking about a new way of working by using self-erecting cranes, it had to be proven on the job site, and so far we’ve been extremely pleased with the results.”

The company first took delivery of an Igo 13, which it purchased for in-house training. Soon after, an Igo T 130 followed – a telescopic self-erecting crane capable of increasing its working height as job sites progress. After delivery, the company put the Igo T 130 on a three-month warehouse project and tasked it with installing roofing panels. The crane lifted the panels from both inside and outside of the building, demonstrating its versatility over the 100 m diameter its jib can cover.

The next crane to join the fleet was an Igo 50, which the company purchased for work on the Tonsley Park project where the crane was used to lift roof panels on a six-month job. The project will create a new business, residential and educational center for the local community. The Igo 50 worked alongside the Igo T 130 and the Igo 13 on the job, lifting a variety of cladding and roofing materials. The parameters of the job site, limited by the size and shape of the buildings, dictated that no other cranes would work as efficiently as the Igo cranes.

The Igo T 130 has an impressive 8 t maximum capacity and is the largest crane in Potain’s self-erecting range. Its 50 m folding jib, which can lift 1.4 t at its jib end, gives huge coverage across even relatively large job sites. Potain’s Igo 50 is the largest of Potain’s standard range of self-erecting cranes with a 4 t maximum capacity and a 40 m jib that can lift 1.1 t at the jib end. Finally, the Igo 13 is one of Potain’s most compact self-erecting cranes. It offers a 1.8 t maximum capacity, a 20 m radius and a maximum tip capacity of 0.7 t.