Paramount praises new 40m Hinowa as a ‘gamechanger'

National spider lift rental specialist Paramount Platforms has become the first access hire company in the UK to take delivery of the new Hinowa 40.18 Lightlift Performance IIIS.

Access Platforms Sales (APS) has supplied the company with the tracked spider boom - now the largest in the Hinowa range, with a maximum working height of 40.2 metres.

Paramount Platforms sent the spider platform straight out on long-term hire to support planned maintenance work on a prestigious financial HQ building in central London.

The Hinowa Lightlift 40.18 has a maximum outreach of 17.5m. It has a larger basket than other Hinowa spider lifts, with a maximum capacity of 300kg and an unrestricted capacity of 230kg.

Paramount Platforms Director Lee Kerr is full of praise for the platform's performance and potential. He said: "This Hinowa is the best spider lift in its performance range.

"It's a gamechanger in terms of the ability of our clients to work independently at heights approaching 40 metres and where significant outreach is needed.

"We almost always supply our other large spider lifts with an operator. The Hinowa 40.18 is so easy to use, if the client has experience using other Hinowa platforms, I have no qualms about the 40.18 going out on self-drive hire."

Its ease-of-use is not just a nice to have, he added. It opens up the possibility of hiring large platforms to a whole new segment of customers, by influencing judgements about rental risks.

Lee Kerr added: "It's just as simple to operate as a Hinowa 17.75, so with a standard familiarisation training, it can be operated by a cleaning technician or a surveyor carrying out a building inspection.

"Members of the facilities management team who were the first to take our Hinowa 40.18 on hire were amazed at its performance, including how quiet it is. It's achieving everything we expected, and more."

Paramount Platforms has taken a bi-energy Hinowa 40.18, with a low-emissions diesel engine and lithium batteries for all-electric zero-emissions and low carbon operation.

This provides the rental company with maximum flexibility for outdoor and indoor operation, also for working in ultra low emissions zones and where noise-level restrictions apply.

The Hinowa Lightlift 40.18 can also be supplied with diesel engine only or solely with lithium battery electric power.

Founded in 2009, Paramount Platforms has one of the biggest spider  fleets in the UK, with working heights ranging from 15.7m to 42m, the biggest proportion of them Hinowa platforms.

Linda Betts, Key Accounts Director at APS, Hinowa's UK and Ireland authorised distributor, said: "It's very positive that Lee and Paramount Platforms customers are so happy with their new Hinowa 40.18.

"Hinowa puts a huge amount of investment in making all their platforms extremely easy and intuitive to operate, with smart functions that ensure they're very safe and reliable.

"The 40.18 has the same operating system as other Performance IIIS platforms, which is why operatives can confidently switch between different machines.

"However, we think it will be the platform's impressive outreach that rental companies will find gets them plenty of hire requests.

"The Hinowa 40.18's up and over capability will solve just as many lower working height challenges, between 15 and 30 metres say, where outreach is vital and will allow tasks to be completed with less disruption and cost."

The Hinowa Lightlift 40.18's basket is 2,000mm long and 700mm wide, allowing three operatives to work at height at its full capacity of 300kg. In this set-up, maximum working height is still 40.2m, with outreach limited to 16.5m, still an impressive figure.

The platform can also be set up in a narrow stabilisation area for working in particularly confined spaces - another function created by Hinowa to enhance the flexible use of its largest spider platform.

In this set up, the stabilisation area is 6,675mm by 3,640mm compared with a standard stabilisation area of 5,375mm by 5,040mm.

This gives the platform a maximum working height of 35m and an outreach of just under 11m, with a maximum basket capacity of 230kg.

When stowed for tracking, the Lightlift 40.18 is still very compact, with a width of 1,200mm and a height of 1,199mm. That is just 230mm wider than a 20m Hinowa Lightlift 20.10, and the same stowed height.

For further information visit www.accessplatforms.co.uk