Case Study No 4 – Hydraulic Conversion of Mechanical Dock Levellers
Issue:
Ageing Mechanical Dock Levellers
Resolution:
Replacing an ageing population of mechanical dock levellers can be an expensive exercise which one customer was facing. Alan Broadhead from A B Equipment, known for his “thinking outside of the square” developed a light-bulb idea! “There was nothing wrong with the metal of the dock levellers, so why replace that.” Sourcing a reliable and relatively easy to adapt hydraulic conversion kit, we trialled a few conversions successfully, enabling an Engineer to officially sign off on the hydraulic conversion of mechanical dock levellers and A B Equipment completing the customer’s full dock leveller conversion.
The cost to perform the conversion, along with the electrical component was significantly lower than the customer was originally facing with a full replacement from mechanical to hydraulic. Needless to say our customer was extremely pleased with our resolution; which extended the life of their docks and saved them spending a significant amount of money, reducing their equipment overheads.