GGR Group has taken over distribution of the Wirth brand, Oktopus. The range consists of cladding lifters, including forklift-mounted lifters and a range of suction frames.
The Oktopus cladding lifters can handle panels of up to 22m in length and up to 600kgs in weight. GRR Cladding will also sell GGR’s existing cladding product, the Clad King, a dual circuit cladding lifter.
The new range includes vacuum lifting equipment that can be used as a crane and forklift attachment, installing vertical and horizontal wall panels due to its revolving suction bridge.
This means that heavy sandwich panels can be lifted from transport to installation position; the electric-hydraulic pivoting function also allows panels to be rotated 180º. This process aims to reduce the problem of installing alternately facing panels straight from transportation.
The vacuum glass lifters added to GGR Glass’s range have capacities from 150kg to 3000kg with a selection of ‘in-line’ and ‘cluster-style’ machines.
Graham Riley, CEO of GGR said: “It was a pleasure and surprise to be approached by Holger Schadwinkel, from Wirth as the Oktopus equipment offers the versatility and meets the standards our customer have come to expect from GGR. It was a natural partnership. The launch of GGR Cladding will also see the introduction of a dedicated sales team, to focus on our new cladding projects.”
Holger Schadwinkel, managing director of Oktopus said: “Due to GGR’s outstanding success and experience as the UK’s market leaders in vacuum lifting and specialist solutions, GRR was the obvious choice to represent Oktopus in the UK. Wirth has wanted to collaborate with GGR for some time and feel that now is the right time to bring the two companies together. The Oktopus range perfectly complements GGR’s range of already great products and we’re extremely pleased to combine our products with theirs.”
