Oil & Steel names Hird as new UK distributor

Oil & Steel has appointed Hird Ltd as the new Oil & Steel distributor for the UK market. Hird has more than 35 years of experience in renting and selling machinery and equipment for materials lifting and moving and working at height. The company’s expertise and experience in the minicrane rental sector has contributed to the success of many major infrastructure projects, including the construction of The Shard in London – the tallest building in Western Europe. Specialist machines and equipment provided by Hird are used across the UK for a wide range of tasks, including glass and curtain wall installation, steel erection, artwork installation and building maintenance.

Fabrizio Girotti, general manager of Oil & Steel, said, “I am proud to announce Hird as the new Oil &Steel dealer for the UK. This agreement represents Oil & Steel’s return to a strategic market and contributes to the internationalisation of our brand. The attention to the customer, the dynamism and the passion of Phil and of the entire Hird team are perfectly combined with the values of Oil & Steel. A fundamental requirement for choosing a partner was the ability to support the market with an impeccable after-sales service. I can say that Hird is fully equipped to support and assist customers for any need. Thanks to these factors it has been able to achieve levels of excellence that have contributed to its current success.”

Hird’s managing director, Phil Hird said, “We’re delighted to team up with Oil & Steel and be its authorised distributor in the UK. It was an easy decision to make thanks to the fantastic relationship we already have with Manitex International in supporting its sales across the world. Oil & Steel gives us a vast array of high-quality products that dovetail perfectly with our wider portfolio, allowing us to draw on our core expertise and values in lifting and powered access to strongly support the company in the UK. Many of our clients have given us extremely positive feedback about their experience with Oil & Steel products. This makes us feel confident that the time is right to reintroduce the brand into the UK market in a big way. As a result, we will be launching a new Oil & Steel UK sales website and we are planning road trips to introduce the Oil & Steel brand and its proven capabilities to all our customers. We can’t wait to get started.”

Hird Ltd has already confirmed a first order of Snake 2010 H Plus and Scorpion 2013 Oil & Steel platforms.

The Oil & Steel Snake 2010 H Plus model is a platform with a double pantograph that allows operators to reach a maximum working height of 20m and a maximum outreach of 10.2m with a maximum capacity of 250kg.

The Snake 2010 H Plus is the only platform in its range to have an outreach of 10.2m, which has made the model one of the brand’s best sellers.

The Snake 2010 H Plus model is equipped with four stabilising feet and, at the front, with extendable cross pieces and H-shaped stabilisers.  Because of this configuration, it is  possible  to  operate with maximum flexibility even with stabilisation in confined spaces. A notable feature of the Snake 2010 H Plus is the perfectly vertical movement of the basket when the pantograph is raised up and down.

The Scorpion 2013 telescopic aerial  platform has an operating height of 20m. The 2013 Scorpion can reach horizontally up to 12.5m with a capacity of 80kg in the basket. At 8.5m outreach, the platform can reach the maximum capacity of 250kg. The platform is ideal for use in urban centres and is easy to operate thanks to fully-hydraulic proportional controls. The features that distinguish the entire range, in addition to stabilisation and small size, is operational safety.  The 2013 Scorpion model is particularly suitable for rapid height interventions, for which it is necessary to stabilise directly from the roadway.

It is mounted on a B-license truck and is characterised above all by the reduced dimensions compared to the performance that  this  model  guarantees,  providing a fast and safe means to rise to reach considerable height in a short time.