Skyjack aerial work platforms offer great return on investments

Linamar Corporation’s Skyjack Division’s aerial work platforms offer among the industry’s best return on investment, according to industry veterans.

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“Our customers tell us Skyjack equipment is the most reliable and easiest to fix,” said Paul Zaremba, co-founder of Illinois-based Skyking Lift Rentals and a veteran with more than a decade of experience in the equipment rental business.

Skyjack’s products are designed and engineered to be easy to service, maintain and repair. By keeping design simple and using proven technology, the reliability and ease of service is common to all Skyjack products. Robust steel construction ensures equipment is strong, durable and easy to repair. Replaceable modular platform railings and repairable fiber glass cowlings help reduce maintenance costs.

“Skyjack equipment is also the easiest to resell by far. Skyjack equipment typically fetches between 20 percent and 30 percent of the original purchase price even after rental companies lease the equipment for a decade,” Zaremba said.

Skyjack produces aerial work platforms that offer the rental industry’s best lifecycle value through lowering cost of ownership and making it easy to service and maintain the equipment. Reconditioning services help extend equipment life cycle, increase return on investment and help retain high residual values.

The company was also first in the industry’s first standard two-year full “bumper to bumper” warranty along with five-year warranty on structural components for no extra charge.

Saving time, costs

Common components across model groups are used wherever possible, reducing the number of service parts needed to maintain Skyjack products. About 80 percent of recommended service parts across the range are common—reducing stock holding needs. The use of “off the shelf” service parts wherever possible, as opposed to custom designs, means that replacing or repairing components is easy and cost effective.

“Commonality of Skyjack parts allows us to carry a somewhat smaller inventory of parts both in our parts room at the shop as well as in our five mobile service vehicles,” said Don Beaupre, president of Beaupre Aerial Equipment, based in Minnesota. “Also, the commonality of electrical components allows an easier time of troubleshooting problems both in the shop and on a job site and means shorter down time for our customers.”

All Skyjack aerial work platforms offer excellent accessibility to all major components, which reduces turnaround times for maintenance and service. Equipment uptime is maximized thanks to Skyjack’s hard-wired, relay-based control systems as well as standard color-coded and numbered wiring across the range, which make troubleshooting and repairs a breeze.

“What I really like is the fact that the parts are common and they span several different models,” said Tom Klochko, owner of Klochko Equipment Rental Company. “It really helps the mechanics out. I think it will be very helpful to keeping costs down, keeping inventory parts down, reducing my labor time and my parts carrying cost.”

Klochko says fewer parts, simple coding systems and the commonality of parts across Skyjack’s fleet of models helps his Michigan-based company save money, reduce service training time and makes the rare repair even easier to fix.

Versatile applications

Skyjack is a leading manufacturer of aerial work platforms for a wide range of indoor and outdoor applications, from zero-emission compact vertical mast lifts and electric rough terrain scissor lift to telescopic booms that offer greater capacity and higher reach. The company produces versatile lifts with working heights ranging from 18 ft (5.48 m) to 56 ft (17.1 m).

In UK, Bonhams, the world-famous auction house, uses two SJ16 self-propelled vertical mast lifts to help the team prepare lighting displays in the galleries, which are home to a wide range of objects, from priceless paintings to classic cars.

“We chose the Skyjacks for their ease of use, quick set up and excellent maneuverability, which makes navigating around priceless artwork a less scary prospect,” said Tim Kearley, gallery manager at Bonhams. “Everyone says how intuitive they are to control, which is very reassuring when hanging a priceless Chandelier – we certainly need a machine we can rely on.”

Apart from working around priceless art, Skyjack aerial work platforms have also been used to restore historic landmarks such as a 19th century windmill at the Avoncroft Museum in Worcestershire, UK.

“The windmill is located at the far end of the museum, and we needed a machine that could cross un-even ground to reach it,” said Simon Carter, museum director at Avoncroft Museum.

To reach the windmill’s broken sails, the team had to navigate the SJ66 T telescopic boom over a large field and work around a number of other historic buildings.

“The SJ66 T was ideal because its four-wheel-drive system allowed us to move easily over the rough terrain,” Carter said. “Repairing the windmill was a very delicate task, but the machine has the control and maneuverability we needed to complete the project to the high standards we were expecting.”