In response to the rental industry, Genie is introducing the industry’s first telematics-ready connector to enable telematics devices to be plugged into Genie boom lifts. The telematics-ready connector is now available on the Genie S-80 and Z-80 boom lifts, and will be available on the S-100, S-120, and ZX-135 models by the end of the first quarter. Genie will also introduce the connector on machines boom heights below 80 feet over the next year.
“Our customers have many brands of equipment to manage, and many proprietary types of telematics solutions to go along with them,” said Christine Zeznick, associate product manager, Terex Aerial Work Platforms. “The last thing many of our customers wanted was another OEM providing a proprietary solution for fleet management. Our solution provides a unique and open approach to help our customers better manage their diverse fleets without being forced into a particular telematics solution.”
The Genie telematics-ready connector allows for the ability to work with multiple telematics systems, empowering customers with the option to easily “plug and play” for flexibility, adaptability and portability. The connector is capable of providing machine hour meter reporting, location, machine utilization and security abilities such as geo-fencing, alarms by movement or input and remote machine disabling.
The Genie telematics-ready connector is factory-installed and is available in all global markets.
Genie also has entered into a licensing agreement with Lavendon Group plc. for its “electronic secondary guarding solution” also known as the SkySiren. This system is designed to alert ground personnel when an operator makes contact with the platform control panel. The system interrupts boom movement, sounds an alarm and causes a light to flash. Based on Lavendon’s SkySiren technology, the Genie Operator Protective Alarm (OPA) system can be retrofitted to any Genie articulating or telescopic boom lift manufactured after 2002. It is now available as an aftermarket option but will soon be offered as a factory-installed option.
The system is designed to be as unobtrusive as possible to operators and features a pressure sensitive horizontal bar that is fitted at around waist height below the boom lift’s control panel. When pressure is placed on the bar, as may be the case if an operator makes contact with an overhead obstacle, the system is activated. The system also features a reset button that can be pressed if the system is inadvertently activated.
Genie will also continue to offer the Operator Protective Structure (OPS). Introduced in 2012, the Genie OPS may be attached to boom lifts with 6- to 8-ft. platforms. The tubular steel structure is designed to transfer the kinetic energy into surrounding structures while maintaining a protected area for the operator. It weighs 36 pounds (16 kilograms) and is bolted directly on the boom lift’s platform; no modifications are needed and both systems may be used together.
“Our customers requested an additional option for operator overhead protection, and we are responding by offering the Genie Operator Protective Alarm,” said Frank Schneider, booms product manager, Terex Aerial Work Platforms. “By offering the OPA along with the Genie Operator Protective Structure, our customers will be able to configure the machine as appropriate to the jobsite conditions.”
“We are incredibly pleased to reach this agreement and hope the global availability of this secondary guarding technology can aid the working at height experience of many end users worldwide,” said Don Kenny, chief executive, Lavendon Group plc.
Lift & Access is part of the Catalyst Communications Network publication family.
