24.11.2007

Oriental lifts

Jing Cheng Heavy Industries, the pre-eminent Chinese self propelled aerial lift manufacturer is eyeing up the European market Last week we visited itsmain production facility.
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Arriving at the JCHI plant

JingCheng Heavy Industries, JCHI for short, is based in Beijing and in addition to producing self propelled booms and scissors is also the principle partner in two joint ventures with Tadano, the Japanese crane maker.

The company has recently become a member of IPAF and has the Europe and other export markets in its sights.
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The plant viewed from the car park

Headquarters for JCHI is a modern 200,000 square metre manufacturing plant in the suburbs of Beijing, the company has been producing scissor lifts, trailer lifts and portable vertical lifts
for the local market for many years and has more recently entered the self propelled telescopic boom and spider lift markets.
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The main office block

During our visit we had the opportunity to see the first 30 metre working height TBZ 30 straight boom to be completed as well as the TBZ 32, a 32 metre version created by the addition of an articulated jib.
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The JCHI TBZ 30 with 30 metre platform height

The new models are clearly built with an eye to international market potential, with Cummins and Perkins engines, Parker pumps and Danfoss hydraulics as well as Fairfield planetary drive hubs in the machines 4x4x4 drive train.
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The TBZ30 has a four section boom, a 1.5m jib takes its working height up to almost 34 metres

The two prototypes still required some refinements and attention to detail before going into production if they are to make any impact on the European market. The company plans to keep to a family approach with as many interchangeable components as possible.
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Three wide electric slab scissors in a familiar colour scheme

Slightly further ahead of the two new booms, are three new electric scissor lift models, with working heights of eight and 10 metres, they are presently undergoing the final CE tests, based on EN 280, by Chinese TüV.
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The usual JCHI colour scheme is red

The company says that CE approval on a line up of four base boom lift models, each available with or without a jib, to give an eight unit range with 24 and 25.5 metres - 28.3 and 29.8 metres – 32.3 and 33.8 metres and 38.5 and 40 metres working heights, is expected to be completed by June 2008.
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The plant employs everal large pieces of western robotic equipment

In anticipation JCHI has already booked outside space for APEX 2008 where the company says that it will have at least four machines on display. Once the latest booms are in production the next project is a line of four wheel drive diesel scissor lifts with working heights of 10, 12 and 14 metres.

Two centuries ago Napoleon warned that China was a “sleeping giant” and that “once awake it would astonish the world”. That prediction is already being fulfilled in many industrial sectors and if JCHI has its way it will also make Napoleon’s prediction come true
in the self propelled aerial lift industry.