For more than 20 years Max Services has been providing specialised services including heavy lift solutions, across the Upper Spencer Gulf and throughout South Australia. The company has maintained a strong focus on the renewables and wind sectors for many years. Max Services Chief Operating Officer Pete Koschel offers further insights.
“For more than two decades, Max Services has been dedicated to offering a state-of-the-art fleet of equipment and highly skilled teams to serve a wide range of customers across multiple industry sectors, including renewables and wind sector. These sectors are backed by the largest capacity all terrain crane and most extensive fleet of cranes in South Australia,” said Pete.
Max Services were very much “ahead of the game” when purchasing the Liebherr LTM 11200-9.1 seven years ago.
“When we first purchased the crane it was seen as a groundbreaking investment by the rest of the industry. It has proved to be ideal for the wind farm sector, but it is also a game changer across other industries including mining, oil and gas, construction and infrastructure,” Pete said.
“The Liebherr LTM 11200 travels all over South Australia and interstate when required, defining what we do at Max Services, and that is to provide end to end capability with specialist heavy lift transport and ancillary support services. These key services are supported by our engineering teams and ‘back end’ staff who manage and plan every aspect of each project. This support ensures our field teams can deliver the highest level of safety and efficiency to our customers.”
The Liebherr LTM 11200-9.1 is a powerful, 1200-tonne capacity, all-terrain mobile crane with the world’s longest telescopic boom (100m), a 9-axle chassis, and a Y-guying system for enhanced lifting capacities, making it suitable for heavy-lift projects like wind turbine assembly. Max Services employs in excess of 250 personnel across seven branches.
“Members of our engineering and project management teams have been with the business since the start. We have a team of highly experienced personnel that manage all our engineering and technical requirements, which is underpinned by the latest CAD design software and surveying equipment,” Pete said.
“These teams support our customers with their major lift requirements by engaging at the earliest stages of the project and working alongside them to ensure we are delivering the best solution in the safest and most efficient way. Every activity is backed with calculations and drawings and can involve numerous site visits. We work very closely with our customers from that early engagement through to the delivery of the project and really pride ourselves on this approach.”
Max Services boasts a host of individuals within the team with a wealth of industry experience having worked all over the world.
“A number of our team members have over 20 years of experience in the industry, and have extensive global experience having worked for a number of the major international players. They are very experienced across numerous industry sectors including wind and renewables and major infrastructure and mining projects around the globe,” said Pete.
“We are also focused on bringing younger people through the business. The Max Services Academy is designed to identify the right calibre individuals and then train them in the heavy lift industry, to bring new skills and youth into the business. These young guys and girls will be supported by the business, and we will continue to train and develop them with all the latest skills required for the future of Max Service and our industry.
“We continuously assess the latest technological advancements from various manufacturers to identify equipment that offers the highest levels of safety and efficiency for our team and customers.”
He said a significant challenge when evaluating new equipment is the substantial increase in capital investment required compared to the return on that investment.
“As far as wind farm construction and maintenance is concerned, we are cognizant that the wind turbine OEMs are building taller turbines with larger, heavier componentry and we understand that we will need to work closely with our customers in our key regions to stay focused on these new developments and the equipment that will be required in the future to support this growth. MAX Services’ primary focus is to remain the vital link to industry in our region and we will continue to deliver to our customers that ‘can-do capability’ and provide seamless end-to-end lifting solutions.