Interview with Hy-Brid Lifts’ Justin Kissinger: Quick and Simple to Maintain
Justin Kissinger, vice president, marketing, Hy-Brid Lifts, talks about the safety benefits of the pipe rack, re-designing lifts to keep the costs down; reducing maintenance with electrics; and more.
RER: What new equipment enhancements or developments has your company come up with in the past year?
Kissinger: Our newest development is a heavy-duty pipe rack for our A92.20 Pro Series scissor lifts, which improves safety and productivity of operators. Without a manufacturer-certified pipe rack, operators didn’t have a safe way to bring pipe up to their working location. While we have had various pipe racks for prior generations of our scissor lifts, which were designed for a specific need of the customer, we created a new design and tested it to current standards. The new design provides up to 300 pounds of capacity without reducing the total platform capacity, simplifies installation, doesn’t require any counterweights, and is positioned so that it is not obtrusive to the operator.
RER: Any new achievements or developments in safety equipment or accessories?
Kissinger: We just released the heavy-duty pipe rack, which will allow operators to safely lift pipe to height. Additionally, we have several projects in the works to increase jobsite safety and productivity for the operators and will help improve dealers ROI. These new projects will be released at The ARA Show in 2023.
RER: Costs of machines have increased significantly in the recent past? What has led to this cost increase and are you doing anything to try to reduce the cost of new units?
Kissinger: There have been a lot of variables that have led to price increases, which is a result from supply chain disruptions to steel prices due to the Ukraine war to high inflation. We are always reviewing our suppliers, sourcing alternative parts, and redesigning our lifts to keep the cost of our lifts down.
RER: Have you made any improvements that make machines easier to maintain?
Kissinger: When we originally designed the Hy-Brid Lift product line our goal was to make the lifts quick and simple to maintain and 18 years later that is still our design philosophy. An example is instead of using hydraulics for driving and steering, we went electric, which significantly simplifies the hydraulic system. By only using hydraulics for lifting there isn’t a need for an oil filter or a need to change the oil periodically. Another benefit of the simplified hydraulics was that it simplified our LeakGuard design for leak containment on jobsites. Our design only requires one tray, which can contain 100 percent of the hydraulic oil. Additionally, dealers can upgrade the wet cell batteries to maintenance free batteries to further reduce maintenance.
RER: Are electric machines and/or alternative fuel machines more in demand these days and what is your company doing to address that need in the marketplace?
Kissinger: Hy-Brid Lifts have always done electric machines as they are more power efficient, quieter, and require less maintenance.
