We have so many specialty services and options available from Encore. Which brings us to the question: What exactly are the skills and equipment that make us such a specialty company?
Knuckle and Straight Booms & Other Trucks – Specialty Services
We have a wide variety of strengths and lengths of boom trucks in both knuckle and straight boom, which is unique in itself. At each level and style of our equipment, especially the folders, Encore adds our own extra adaptation: jibs, pullouts, short rig-ups, man-baskets, left bars, etc.
Smaller Cranes
We start with the smallest 2.9 ton mini cranes, or 7.5 ton folders on three Hino single axles. These are our hotshot units. This kind of capacity in a small unit is very handy and is an economical option when a crane is required.
18 Ton
Our main booms are 18 ton, a larger crane than most choose, but even in a tractor application, we opt to mount the stronger crane and gain extra lifting ability. Again, we have both knuckle and straight booms: different cranes with different abilities.
25-30 Ton Range
The next threshold if the 25-30 ton range. The knuckles are handling heavier weights, about 10,000 – 14,000 lbs, and the straight booms are similar, but their reach is increased by ~100ft. These larger booms are where the better specialties start: the fly jibs, the ultra-low profile jibs, and the reverse knuckle jibs. These are great for reaching through doors or under power-lines and piping. We can reach through doors with up to 10,000 lbs.
40 Ton Range
We have another crane plateau at 40 ton. Now we’re into strong knuckles with 10,000 – 12,000 lb capabilities. The straight booms are reaching out to 124 feet.
We lift so many C-Cans (containers), we carry special lift hooks to enable our cranes to lift from the bottom and keep our crews off the roof and on the ground.
45-50 Ton Range
Our next cranes are the 45-50 ton category. The knuckles all pull trailers, and some of the straight booms as well. These are tandem triple units, with up to 155 ft of hydraulic reach available. With jibs that puts us over 200 ft of peak height.
Top Tier Range
Our top tiers are giant knuckles, two Fassi 60 ton heavy lifters, with high capacity 50,000 lb jibs and tractor capable.
Our largest and newest crane is the massive Fassi 2105, the largest crane that this world leading, manufacturer presently builds. It really is something special. Our chart starts at over 60,000 lbs and offers us the luxury of lifting over 30,000 lbs up to a height of 50 ft, over 10,000 lbs over 70 ft. That’s a wide swath. This incredible capacity opens up work, or enables work, that just weeks ago was not even considered. Encore has pushed the envelope.
Carry Deck – Specialty Services
The innovation doesn’t stop at big or tricky. We have a carry deck division. These are tough, agile units, 8 – 18 ton. Our Carry Decks also have a custom short rig up and low-profile option. We know our market and if the crane does any work inside, we want to be prepared to compete for head space.
Jack & Roll – Specialty Services
The Jack & Roll aspect of Encore is another invaluable skill set.
It is a combination of Jacks and Skates, dunnage and bars. The work is intense, and experience is essential as the weights and dimensions vary. These moves can be very demanding. One needs various sizes and types of skates, rollers, and strengths. In most cases these are in a controlled lift system.
We can lift and control four Jacks simultaneously, in the most remote locations. This system is something most crews aspire to; where we excel at it.
Mini Cranes & Spydercranes – Specialty Services
Our mini cranes, the 2.95 ton unics, are in independent, flexible platform which can sneak through household size doors, achieve stability by a near infinite stabilize configuration and lift up to 7,000 lbs. Designed for extremely tight sites, we have improved our fleet by adding searcher hooks, extra jib length, and an ultra-low profile jib to cut our head space requirements from 2.5 feet to 5 inches.
Trucking and Transportation – Specialty Services
Not only do we specialize in cranes and lifting, we also have a diverse transportation fleet. Our heavy haul, trailer fleet, and winch tractors are acquired with that specialty work in mind. Tractors are usually tandem axle, but for the heavy haul we added a triple axle unit. A trombone high-boy or low-boy can do the every day work, but it can also stretch for the long loads, and with a live roll system, work with our winch tractors. We have tilt decks for winch work and a very handy recovery unit.
We also provide heavier capacity trailers, removable goose necks, but all computerized for equaling loads (excavators, loaders, cranes) over 100,000 lbs.
Also, we own a tri-axle scissor neck trailer, very handy multi-configuration trailers, but ours is a trombone.
How it all fits together – Specialty Services
My last example is an actual job. A power generation wing of a major electrical utility is trying to move a 100,000 lb rotor into a shop for shut-down maintenance work.
The shop is only 50 ft long. The rotor has to stay on the trailer and everything has to fit into the shop. It also has to be a lower style of trailer, either a step deck or a double drop.
Our tri-axle steps are too light and too long. Most trailers are 53 ft. Our scissor neck is tough enough but too long. But, we have a 16 wheel, tandem axle step deck; 48 ft long. Perfect.
And that’s the good thing about dealing with Encore. Not only do you have good availability, but you have options, and you’re working with innovative people.
We have an outstanding track record but this package has to be seen within our training, orientation programs, and our culture of safety.
The bulk of this communique was focused on operational skills, we just want to emphasize that we frame these skills within our training and safety programs.