Baldwins Industrial Services of the UK launched on 1 October Baldwins Global Distribution, a new division, to supply lifting products to the trade. Equipment from more than 20 manufacturers, mostly in China and Taiwan, is sold under the Baldwins-owned brand names LiftinGear and RadioHoist. Baldwins has also been appointed distributor for the UK and the Irish Republic of the Telecrane range of radio controls from Taiwan.
LiftinGear is a range of general lifting products and RadioHoist is chain hoists and scaffold hoists fitted with low cost Telecrane radio controls. As an alternative to using these names, however, customers can have their own branding, company name, phone number, etc. applied at the factory.
Mike Hughes, business unit director, expects turnover for the first year to be around £530,000 ($770,000). He described Baldwins Global Distribution as a new concept for the distribution of lifting equipment and related products aimed only at trade accounts with a strict policy of no sales to end users, and that the company has ‘established local representation in the Far East giving us hands on monitoring of quality and related issues along with ensuring the goods are correct and despatched on time.’ Unlike competitors, Hughes claims, ‘we take the strongest product from different factories giving us the best possible range of quality products at the right price.’ Product search is another service on offer, where products are located that customers have been unable to find elsewhere.
Hughes claims prices are already cheaper than competitors by between 5% and 10% but larger savings can be made. For larger companies prepared to pre order or those wishing to establish a hire fleet, he says, part or full containers of equipment can be ordered, at a saving of as much as 40% over normal prices.
Stocks are held in the UK and can be sent all over the world but there are no dates yet for the establishment of Global Distribution centres in the USA. Spare parts are available from stock and there are workshops to handle warranty repairs.
Telecrane radio controls, now sold by Baldwins Global Distribution, are mainly used in EOT applications but they are also suitable for tower cranes. Hughes cites a list of points where he claims Telecrane outperforms competitors. This includes reliability, unbeatable price and battery life is claimed to be up to 20 days of normal use. Custom programming is done with windows-based software, operating range is 100m and pushbuttons are rated for a life of more than 1m operations. Short losses of power can be withstood and protection is to IP 65.
Pricing is such that, in case of loss or damage on site, two transmitters are supplied – for less than the price of a single transmitter from competitors, Hughes claims.
An ideal application for Telecrane controls, Hughes says, is RadioHoist building hoists. When out on rental pendant control cables are often damaged on this equipment. Radio control solves this problem and allows operation from different distances without having to change cables.
