Souma Ray, Director, HAULOTTE India Private Limited. In an Interview with B2B Purchase

How do you evaluate the demand for scissor lifts and booms for construction and infra projects? 

There is a very strong impetus being given by the government towards Scissor and Boomlifts. The choice of the variant of the Scissor & Boomlift depends solely on the application and also on the stage of construction. For example, during the construction of the structure, mostly articulating and telescopic booms are used. Rough Terrain Scissor lifts are also required when glass facades, etc., are being installed, bridges, metro constructions, etc. Electric Scissor Lifts come into use during the finishing stages of PEB, air conditioning ducting and electrical and fire system installation.

Since the last quarter of 2020, when work on various project sites started building up momentum again, the demand for access equipment has increased substantially. Further, new projects being launched are also pepping up the demand. Construction and infrastructure companies mostly hire such equipment at a time of purchase as their own asset. The utilisation rate of hired equipment has also gone up significantly, which is a good sign for the access equipment industry. 

Which technologies and tools are being implemented into your products for enhanced safety, energy consumption, and product efficiency? 

At HAULOTTE, we believe in listening to our customers’ voices regarding their needs and expectations, and their feedback helps us to better ourselves. We are continuously innovating and incorporating features into our machines that make them user-friendly both to operate and maintain, to meet the rapid changes in technology. Over recent years, all of our new generation machines have incorporated many unique features that not only enhance safety but increase efficiency and productivity too. Listed below are some of these features that are available on HAULOTTE machines. 

ACTIV’ SHEILD BAR 2.0: 

HAULOTTE has developed the world’s safest and most efficient secondary guarding device. This is a state-of-the-art anti-entrapment system that is found in our new generation of Booms and Rough Terrain Electric Scissors. This system provides the highest level of safety to operators working at height and prevents any fatalities due to crushing situations. In the event of an entrapment situation, the operator is pushed against the bar integrated into our platform control box cover and the machine automatically stops. The safety gap offers a large clearance to get out of the crushing situation. The reset process is very simple and can be done by pressing the deadman pedal.

HAULOTTE ACTIV’LIGHTING SYSTEM: 

this is a unique innovation from HAULOTTE and is not available with our competitors. ACTIV’, is a perfectly integrated lighting system that illuminates controls and areas around the boom. To guarantee low power consumption and an outstanding lifespan, the system is made of LED technology.

Stop Emission System: The system automatically shuts down the engine in the case of a Boomlift after a period of 90 seconds. This reduces the use of the engine and peripheral components by up to 20 percent, thereby assuring a higher residual value. Fuel consumption is also reduced, as are pollution emissions and noise.

The ACTIV’SCREEN: This intelligent interface that simplifies the day-to-day tasks represents a genuine assistant to help the technicians manage the daily preventative maintenance checks on the machines, adjust the parameters if required, and also perform diagnostics checks on the machine itself. They do need a separate analyzer tool for doing so, as is required by our competition machines.

HAULOTTE DIAG-This free diagnostic application allows remote access (up to 40m) for the maintenance technicians to troubleshoot, calibrate, and generally diagnose their HAULOTTE machines. This system not only diagnoses the fault in the machine if it’s broken down, but even gives the exact pictorial location of the fault and the suggested solution. The app can easily be downloaded on any Smartphone or tablet. For machines equipped with HAULOTTE ACTIV’SCREEN, the same features will be available on them.

Can you please talk about your range of boom lifts, their key features and their applications across the project sites?

HAULOTTE is one of the few renowned full-range AWP/ MEWP manufacturers in the world. We currently have a range of machines from 7m to 43m working height spread over different variants of machines like push around, Vertical Mast, Electric Scissors (Even in Rough Terrain), Diesel Scissors, Articulating Booms (Electric And Diesel), Telescopic Booms, And Light Weight And Trailer Mounted Booms that are manufactured across our 6 manufacturing locations in France, Romania, USA, and China. We make machines that are rugged, state-of-the-art, user-friendly, easy to operate and maintain, and address the needs of our customers. The choice of the variant of the machine that is suited to a project site depends upon the application for which the machine is required. We, at HAULOTTE strongly believe in doing a proper application study of our customer requirements and also undertaking site visits to give the best possible solution to our customers.

What products and innovative solutions can we expect in the coming years?

HAULOTTE believes in the principle of adapting to changing times. Our design team is continuously working to find new features and solutions based on the feedback received from our customers. We also strongly believe in our social and environmental responsibilities and are aware of the need to reduce the use of fossil fuels. That is why HAULOTTE a few years back, decided to transform itself into a “BLUE COMPANY,” meaning that all new models that would be launched by us in the future would be based on the electric technology. Accordingly, we launched the first PULSEO 20m Electric Rough Terrain Articulating Boom in 2018, and offered a 5 year warranty on this product, which till today remains unmatched by any competitor. The 2nd machine of the PULSEO Range, our 15/18m Electric Enough Terrain Scissor, was launched in September 2021, and has been very well received by our customers across the world. This year will see the introduction of our LOW ACCESS Range of scissors and vertical masts, as well as a new line of electric scissors. Continuing along the same line, we will continue to launch many such models and variants in the future.