Hugo Lift makes debut

The clients of HLS are highly focused on improving safety and productivity, especially when working at height. With the help of HLS, some of these clients have achieved productivity gains of up to 35%, reducing costs and boosting the bottom line in tough economic times.

HLS therefore says it has two really potent drivers in the market – safety and productivity. The company says demand for its products is growing at a rapid pace. It adds “if you add up every person in an office, shop, or manufacturing plant who has to use ladders and steps for cleaning, maintenance or order picking you start to get an understanding of the scope of potential demand for our products”.

To meet that demand head-on innovation is a continual theme, with HLS recently starting production of the Hugo Lift, a specialist machine which is expected to revolutionise low level access.

Hugo, no bigger than a shopping trolley, allows operators to work at up to 4.2 metres. The company says it may well replace the need for cumbersome step ladders altogether, and improves safety due to its fully enclosed, height adjustable work platform, and patented safety features, such as the automatic platform interlock that secures the gates closed as soon as the platform raises. This first product, designed and built in Yorkshire, is already proving popular and will soon be launched to a worldwide client base.

The company says: “In retail, stores are increasingly reliant on visual merchandising to compete in these challenging times. In facilities management, companies are striving to provide excellence both in quality and in reaction times, with ever more complex environments to look after. In our warehouses and factories companies are having to use every square inch of space, right up into the rafters to maximise the value they achieve from their premises – an extra level of racking is kinder to the bottom line than relocation after all.

“So we have been on the lookout for a product that could help each of these very different sectors to maximise their efficiency, competitiveness, and ultimately to help them thrive. The solution we found was much closer to home than we thought; designers in North Yorkshire had been working on this concept for some time, a simple push-around access platform that could be easily accessorised to suit any of these industries. They had found a UK manufacturer to build their concept and had spent time perfecting it; they introduced to us the Hugo Lift. After some pretty extensive market research and a lengthy period of product testing we decided to bring the Hugo Lift to market.”

Height Lift & Shift (HLS) is the most recent addition to the Aerial Investments group. Based in Leeds, it provides safe and productive workplace solutions to a wide range of clients from major retailers to large manufacturers.

HLS supplies equipment for working work at height and materials handling. In some cases it will even manufacture purpose-built machinery for a specific task or environment.

The company is also keen to promote Yorkshire and the big Y movement. Despite the economic down turn the Aerial Investments group has grown progressively since its inception in 2007. The business owners, entrepreneurs Andrew Fishburn & Stuart Honeywood, have a strong track record of leadership and success within this sector and believe in empowering the staff they employ. Fishburn states: “We are nothing without the team we work with, so care and attention is taken to ensure they are equipped with the relevant training and motivational tools they require to excel.”