With the opening of a new facility in Sydney, Pace Cranes is building on its success as a crane distributor and servicing and repairs specialist for over 30 years.
Pace Cranes is well recognised as the national distributor for MAEDA Mini Crawler Cranes and SENNEBOGEN Crawler Cranes but the company has roots deeply entrenched in crane servicing and repairs. For over 30 years, Pace Cranes has been inspecting refurbishing and repairing all brands of cranes.
When the business first started it was the service agent for various brands. These included P&H Cranes, Austin Western, Grove Manlift and National Crane and managed the repair contracts for organisations like Transfield, Eglo Engineering, F&S Cranes, the Department of Defence whilst conducting service related projects for the Sydney oil refineries for Caltex and Shell refineries and also the ICI operation.
Pace Cranes offer maintenance packages with every machine. This includes preventive maintenance programs where the customer is advised when the crane is due for its annual inspection. Pace also arrange for the 3rd party assessor to come to our yards for the inspection once the crane has been, serviced and any required repairs completed. The crane is then handed back 3rd party certified with the green sticker that confirming the crane is good to go.
According to Pace Cranes Managing Director Anthony Heeks, support for the customer is a key issue.
“We acknowledge that to sell cranes you need a high level of back up and support. You also need to have the right level of spare parts to back up your machines. We’ve been representing MAEDA for 27 years and, with that history, we know the machines and what parts to stock.”
All Pace Crane staff is factory trained by MAEDA and SENNEBOGEN factory engineers in Australia and, in addition, staff are sent to the factory. Training also includes the Pace Cranes service agent network, a network of independent companies that operate right around Australia and New Zealand, including the north and south islands.
According to Heeks, throughout the three decades the company has been focused on bringing youth through the business.
“We will have put 21 apprentices through the company over the past 30 years, we’ve always been big on getting young guys into the business and teaching them. They’ve completed four year apprenticeships as a plant mechanic, including a three year TAFE course, and on completion they’ve received a Certificate 3 in Automotive Mechanical Technology,” he said.
Pace Cranes was the first company to obtain CraneSafe accreditation outside of Victoria. CraneSafe was first implemented in Victoria with CICA based there. It was trialled for a year or so and then implemented on a national basis.
“We were the first company to gain CraneSafe accreditation in NSW and had two assessors qualified, myself and Patrick Mardaymootoo, our Service Manager at the time. Patrick is still involved with CraneSafe now,” Heeks said.
“Patrick was our service manager for 25 years and prior to that Jim Ironside worked with us – these are all names that will be well recognised in the crane industry. That knowledge has been passed down so we have plenty of engineering experience and we know cranes.”
According to Heeks, the business is focused on what it does best. “We’ve also got a wealth of experience in the workshop team, including our workshop service manager Greg Muller been in the industry for 20 years and in his current role for five years and with the business over ten,” he said.
At the end of last year, Pace Cranes opened a brand new, purpose built facility in Peakhurst, in Sydney. It’s ideally placed, close to the city but with access to the major infrastructure and motorway systems.
The new facility boasts 2800 square meters and features a 10t over head crane, 6 bays with an EPA approved cleaning facilities. In addition to mobile cranes the team carries out maintenance, repairs and inspections to Tele handlers, elevated work platforms, drilling rigs and other items of plant.
The distribution of spare parts is also managed by the new Sydney facility, with parts delivered over night.