Andromeda Industries is increasing its range of Superflex slings to cater for heavier lifts.
New maximum capacities will be 80t in a straight lift and 330t cradled. These larger slings will retain the ultra-flexible nature of the original product by using the same wire rope construction.
The decision to do this was made two years ago when the company designed, assembled, and commissioned a new 30m-long mechanical braider to manufacture larger Superflex cables (see images) to 96mm diameter. In addition, a 4200t press was ordered and is being supplied by Talurit from Sweden. A 350t test bench was also ordered from Wirop in Korea.
Unfortunately, one of the two containers carrying the test bench fell off the ship while at sea and the other one was damaged, delaying the product launch.
“Every sling we make is to order, meaning we don’t keep any assembled slings in stock,” says business development manager Zelman McLaren.
“In addition to this, our lead times have always been very short and this will be the same with the larger slings, meaning we will have an 80t sling or 330t strop assembled and tested and dispatched generally within one week of receiving the purchase order. This allows customers to receive their order several weeks earlier compared to purchasing from overseas. This can be vital on large projects where there are significant costs for delays.”
The existing Superflex sling range has been used for offshore work for many years, and the larger slings will be useful due to the flexibility which means they remain in service longer, an advantage recognised by Andromeda’s Nigerian sales agent.
“Andromeda has really brought a huge relief in the heavy lift industries. I have worked as a heavy lift engineer, planning and executing lifts for over 10 years now in Nigeria and constantly had issues with the conventional wire rope slings ranging from their weights, rigidity, storage and handling defects like bends, kinks, and flatness – these “hard to use” problems. We then used synthetic slings which were expensive due to constant tears and cuts,” lifting engineer Oji Afamefuna said.
“The larger Superflex slings have dual qualities that can satisfy both the synthetic and conventional wire rope features of flexibility and abrasion resistance. Therefore, I highly recommend Superflex slings for heavy lifting and rigging.”
Product launches are planned later in the year with updates provided on Linkedin and Facebook.