Posted on April 26, 2022
Recently, LGH customer Pennsylvania Crane, Hoist & Rigging Company out of King of Prussia, PA, received an emergency call from a food-grade facility that needed to replace a 56,000-pound Hiperbaric High-Pressure Processing (HPP) chamber.
When the chamber unexpectedly broke down, the facility needed help quickly replacing it. “Many top name brands send food to this facility for pasteurization, and with the chamber down, basically half of their production was being affected. This was an important piece of equipment,” said George Hoagland, team manager for Pennsylvania Crane, Hoist & Rigging Company.
This job presented a few challenges that Hoagland’s team had to consider from the start. The most obvious was the sheer last-minute nature of the project. “Typically, you have a few days advanced notice to plan out a rigging job this big,” Hoagland remarked. However, the emergency nature of this job, with the food-grade plant losing more money every 8 hours, required Hoagland’s crew to think quickly and act precisely.
Time wasn’t the only constraint to be considered, however. Size constraints inside the building meant that the new chamber would have to be brought in fully assembled instead of rolling in parts and constructing it inside. The unit also had to be lifted and installed within a millimeter of accuracy on the XYZ axis. Additionally, the plant’s other production line needed to remain operational while the crew brought the new chamber in, so safety was paramount.
The final consideration was where to get quality certified tools and equipment for a project this large at the very last minute?
That’s where LGH comes in.
Hoagland’s crew devised a rigging plan and contacted local LGH representative Steven Klein to see what equipment would be available to ship out to the site right away. Steven set them up with (4) 10T Machine Skates and 24T Hydraulic Toe Jacks. “We’ve rented skates and toe jacks before, but we wanted to be careful because this is basically a 30-ton, $750,000 unit, and we wanted to make sure that we had quality tools at our disposal. We were very conscious of the safety margin for the weight we were dealing with, and our goal was to have equipment that could keep everything smooth, level, and plum. LGH pulled through for us,” Hoagland said.
Hoagland noted that Pennsylvania Crane, Hoist, and Rigging Company has worked with LGH many times, so they knew they could rely on the LGH quality of equipment for this last-minute project. “The LGH standard is really appreciated. Having equipment we can rely on to move a nearly million-dollar piece of equipment without compromising our integrity is extremely important to us,” Hoagland continued.
With the LGH Machine Skates and Hydraulic Toe Jacks, a couple of 120T mobile cranes, 3T chain hoists, and backup inline skates, the team got to work. Hoagland mentioned they also brought along a steel plate in case they needed to plate a 4-inch drain in the facility’s floor. However, when they got to that point, the LGH Machine Skates rolled right over the drain without any issue, no plating or jacking required.
First, the old unit was successfully rigged and skated outside. Then the process was repeated in reverse with the new unit as it was lifted off the truck, skated through the facility doors, and jacked and placed into position with total precision. “The equipment helped us do exactly what needed to be done. Everything moved so smoothly that we were able to get the old unit out on the same truck that the new one came in on, saving our customer the cost of renting two separate trucks,” Hoagland said. The job began on a Monday, and working overnight, the Pennsylvania Crane, Hoist, and Rigging Company crew were finished by 7 a.m. Tuesday morning and production for the food-grade facility was able to resume as usual.
“It went so quickly, it was unbelievable,” Hoagland said, “It was a team effort, and honestly, I think we pulled off a small miracle.”
LGH is North America’s largest single organization devoted exclusively to the provision of lifting and moving equipment for rent. LGH holds the most comprehensive inventory for hoisting, rigging, jacking, pulling, material handling, and safety equipment. With over 70,000 pieces, our lifting equipment is available for rent from 23 locations throughout North America, and our customers are supported by over 50 Rental Representatives nationwide.
About Pennsylvania Crane, Hoist, & Rigging Company
Pennsylvania Crane, Hoist, & Rigging Company offers the following services: Operating Mobile Cranes, Repairs, Servicing, Certified Inspections, Parts, Accessories, Rigging, and New Unit Sales. Their fleet program includes an extensive list of cranes with up to 1,200-ton capacities for short-term or long-term projects. Pennsylvania Crane Co. technicians are factory trained, and NCCCO certified for operating mobile cranes, overhead cranes, and hoists. 24/7/365 emergency dispatch response is available for emergency management and industrial services.
