Refurbishment
Maintained and used correctly, lifting and loading equipment such as lifting tables, dock levellers, platform lifts and tail lifts, should last for many, many years. However, inevitably refurbishment might be needed for a number of reasons:
To bring the specification up to current legislative standards
For aesthetic reasons – to give the machinery a more modern facelift
To make the machinery suitable for a different application or location
To bring redundant equipment back in to full working condition.
An old or damaged item of lifting or loading equipment might not necessarily need replacing and this could be very difficult due to the design or layout of the existing installation. Instead, it can be modernised with obsolete components being replaced by their modern equivalent, and damaged components such as handrails, gates and load ramps replaced.
The process will usually start with a detailed survey of the equipment so recommendations for refurbishment can be prepared and a detailed specification submitted. Before being put back into service, the equipment will be tested and re-certificated in accordance with current legislation.
Often refurbishment is purely for visual reasons, such as small cosmetic repairs or re-spraying industrial doors and is considerably more cost-effective than replacing them.