Sabre Industries Acquires Third Shuttlelift DB 30 Double-Beam Mobile Gantry Crane, Now Has Three For Iowa & Texas Operations

Shuttlelift has announced that Sabre Industries Inc. took delivery of a third DB 30 double-beam mobile gantry crane late last year, which it has added to its operation in Sioux City, Iowa. The new DB 30 joins two sister DB 30s, which were delivered in November 2012 — one to Sioux City and the other to Alvarado, Texas.

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Sabre Industries provides highly engineered structures used for electric transmission and distribution, wireless communications, renewable energy and government and defense infrastructure. Its 423,000-square-foot industrial complex in Alvarado is dedicated to designing and manufacturing tubular steel poles. It features one of the largest hot-dip galvanizers in the United States, and it incorporates a new facility designed for automated testing of both towers and poles; it’s the only one of its kind in North America. At the 246,000-square-foot Sioux City facility, the company manufactures both utility and communications structures.

According to Darwin Gamm, director of special projects for Sabre Industries’ towers and poles division, the company was looking for the best alternatives for moving sheet steel magnetically. And Shuttlelift, he said, has been the perfect partner since Day 1.

“Dan Reinholtz (Shuttlelift sales manager) came out and worked with us to really understand what our needs are,” Gamm explained. “His team did an excellent job — their competitors didn’t do that. We were so impressed.

“We originally were planning to order one crane, but once we saw the fruits of its labor at our start-up site in Iowa, we ordered the second crane very quickly for Texas,” he added.

To manufacture towers and poles, Sabre Industries must be able to move plate steel that will be bent into an octagonal, tapered shape. Those plates are 60 feet long, 8 feet wide and ⅝-inch thick, and prior to the company’s purchase of the Shuttlelift cranes, it was using two forklifts for materials handling. As Gamm noted, it was like trying to “pick up wet string.”

The DB 30 double-beam mobile gantry crane was a safer, more efficient way to move the plate steel. One major advantage: Sabre Industries could minimize its aisle size, since the gantry crane needs just 7 feet to maneuver. And the efficiency, Gamm said, is unbeatable.

“We could have two stacks of steel and a trailer truck, and all we need to do is lift the steel, move it and then set it down,” he commented.

The new crane will allow Sabre Industries to continue to grow — and move different types of materials. To move large pole and tower sections, for example, the company simply can take the magnetic spreader bar off.

That magnetic spreader bar was an important part of Sabre Industries’ decision to partner with Shuttlelift. The Shuttlelift team was willing to work with an existing Sabre Industries supplier, Walker Magnetics, to provide the magnetic package for the new DB 30s. The package is tailor-made for the company’s operations.

In addition to the magnet package, the three Shuttlelift DB 30s also feature increased gradeability, cold-start engine package, operator cab air-conditioning and heating, work and drive lights, and a sound suppression kit.

“The machines absolutely have met expectations,” Gamm said. “They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do. If we needed more machines at some point, we definitely wouldn’t shop anywhere else.”