Surelift Crane Ropes for Profit $$$

Our Surelift crane rope program, one of WRI's top marketing objective is a success. As a result we felt it was appropriate to report on our progress and successes in this key market sector.

The Market:

Surelift is the largest single market sector that WRI participates in. Industries include general construction, crane & rigging, industrial and steel manufacturing, and transportation. The diversity of this sector means that there are a large number of equipment application and customer operational requirements. WRI offers a full range of quality product lines to meet these needs.

However, in recent years, equipment and operational demands have been steadily increasing. Identified OEM trends include larger and higher capacity equipment and fewer models with broader capabilities. Our customers also have a growing concern over safety. The result is a rapid move towards higher performing products and "Ropes that Outperform".

The Cushion-Pac Series:

WRI's response has been to organize an aggressive program, which will deliver four new Cushion-Pac products. The 1st product is Cushion-Pac 8, which was launched at the Conexpo show in Las Vegas. This March event was the largest construction show in history with 1.7 million sq. ft. of displays and over 130,000 visitors. Response to our new product was excellent. Our customers particularly like the inspectability feature of these ropes and our ability to offer a variety of high performance solutions for their needs.

Key successes so far include:

• 26 individual test applications to-date.
• Over 60 test sites to-date.
• Performance consistantly in excess of 200% improvement.
• The first new OEM overhead crane model to spec Cushion-Pac 8.

With the introduction of these 3 ropes in the Surelift sector, it is safe to say that we can demonstrate our product advantage and meet the program's customer objective of lower operating costs and improved profit.

Stephane Dufort

Marketing director