For almost 30 years, Austlift has been providing the Australian industry with market-leading lifting and rigging, material handling, load restraint and height safety solutions. Managing Director, Shang Wang and National Sales Manager Jason Myburgh explain more.
“Over the years, the Australian lifting and rigging industry has tended to follow developments and innovations from Europe and the US. But at Austlift, we have focused on developing the quality and the innovation of our own products. We recently attended an event in England and had several companies comment ‘they had no idea there were Australian businesses designing and engineering products better than we do,” said Shang.
Two innovative products that Austlift is especially proud of are the Maxibinder load restraint and the new range of Durabone Slings. The technology in these products surpasses that of similar manufacturers in Europe and America.
“Shang is the founder, owner and Director of the Austlift, but unlike other manufacturing importers’ corporate heads, he is directly involved with the product daily. He remains directly involved in aspects of the engineering and design and frequently travels overseas to communicate with the suppliers,” said Jason.
“The quality of our products is world-class, and there are no compromises. Ultimately, we are supplying products and solutions to a high-risk industry, and there’s no room for taking shortcuts. We make sure our products exceed industry standards to ensure, as best we can, nobody is injured operating an Austlift product when used correctly.
“One of the key drivers that keeps our customers coming back is the trust they have in our products. If something is not 100 per cent right, the company is flexible and nimble enough to fix or change products and continue to meet the market requirements.”
With his engineering background, Shang spends much of his time in front of customers, listening to their feedback about Austlift products and continually works with his design team to improve and innovate.
“I have worked with many of our customers for many years, and they are comfortable giving me genuine feedback on how we can improve products,” Shang said. “I take this feedback to the team, and they redesign the product based on this feedback. The changes might be small, and the improvement to the product incremental, but over time, customers have seen significant improvements in our range of products.”
The world-patented Maxibinder load restraint system is one of Austlift’s most widely recognised products and is chosen by many transport and logistics companies as their preferred cargo tie-down solution.
The binder is designed with safety in mind, and market reports demonstrate that workplace accidents reduce when cam lock or ratchet style load binders are replaced by Maxibinder. Ergonomic operation is an outstanding feature of the Maxibinder. A large rubber handle is easy to grip, and the enclosed locking mechanism is designed to prevent loss of tension during transportation. The Maxibinder is lightweight, easy to handle, making it a very popular binder in the transport industry.
Maxibinder load restraint specifications vary by model. The six millimetre Maxibinder has a lashing capacity of 2300 kilograms. The eight millimetre Maxibinder has a 3800 kilogram lashing capacity and a 7600 kilogram destructive test rating. Following market demand, the 10 millimetre Maxibinder was launched in August 2019 and has a higher capacity of 6000 kilograms. All models are made of alloy steel and conform to AS/NZ 4344 standards.
Shang explains how this product was first conceived and then developed.
In the early 2000s Shang received a letter from BHP Steel, OneSteel, highlighting that logistics and transportation companies arriving in BHP’s yard to load and transport the steel were using lever camlock-style load binders. Lever-style load binders dated back to World War II when the US Army used them to secure equipment to their trucks.
“Lever load binders are notoriously difficult to use, and BHP had a lot of truck drivers suffering injuries in their yard, which meant large amounts of workers’ compensation and lost time. BHP set up a group to examine the role of load restraint systems and what was available worldwide,” Shang said.
“The project was led by a BHP engineer called David, and he asked equipment suppliers if they could design a product to replace lever load binders. I met with him and discussed the issue, and decided we could help. Together, we spent some time designing and engineering a new way of securing loads and patented the concept.
“We manufactured 20 units for OneSteel to trial. Over two or three years, we received feedback from OneSteel engineers, staff and drivers and continued to modify and redesign the prototype before we finalised the model, which we called Maxibinder. BHP Steel then advised all contractors and transport companies sending trucks to their yard that the Maxibinder load restraint system had to be used.”
Eighty-year-old, Australian-owned company K&S Freighters has been working with OneSteel for years and using the Maxibinder product for more than a decade. Before fully integrating the system, K&S asked Shang to visit its Melbourne depot and provide all truck drivers with a training session on the product.
“Recently, I asked the fleet controller who was in charge of the transportation how things were going, and he said, ‘Shang, since using your Maxibinders, WorkSafe issues have reduced to 70 per cent. The beauty of this product is its safety and ease of use. Truck drivers are sometimes not patient people. They want a quick tie-down so they can get back on the road; they’re always in a hurry,” Shang said. “BlueScope Steel commissioned Swinburne University in Melbourne to conduct a study on the Maxibinder. It did hundreds of hours of fatigue and stress testing and highlighted the issues that might arise. The only issue found was that, as with all metal moving parts, the Maxibinder needed to be lubricated as per instructions and it will last longer. At the moment, if you don’t lubricate a Maxibinder, it lasts about three years but if you do lubricate it properly, weekly, it’ll last five to seven years, sometimes longer. Other than that, there was very little improvement they could offer.”
Austlift operates four major warehouses in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney (which is also Head Office), and Brisbane. Austlift products are supplied to numerous industries through a network of retailers and distributors which provides comprehensive coverage throughout Australia and New Zealand. Austlift does not sell direct to customers.
“If an end user comes to us with a problem for us to solve, we will help and support them, but then we’ll hand them over to one of our distributors who will help implement the solution,” said Jason.
“Continued innovation sees products like Maxibinder evolve and remain contemporary as industry demands change. We would be up to version four or five with this product and with each version we are making improvements. Wherever load restraints are required, in any industry, you will see the Maxibinder as the preferred methodology,” he said.