Sweet!

Just arrived! The third batch of our (predictably) popular sweet boxes has just been put safely away.

After noting which sweets were more popular in the last lot, or rather which ones tended to get left behind in an otherwise empty box, we swapped a couple of varieties for some new ones. I'm pleased to say the lemon sherbets are a new addition - these will be my personal favourites I'm sure. (Although I must point out at this time I have not actually had any).

These are of course strictly for our customers (other than the odd box opened out for us by the MD) and certainly make an interesting and possibly quite unusual 'promotional product'! And if it helps remind people about how much they love Schwing Stetter, all the better!

Concrete Manual On Disc

A couple of months back I was asked to dig out any copies of a CD we once did (before my time here) of a concrete placing manual. After opened a large number of boxes in storage I finally found the original master of the file which turned out to be a pdf of scanned pages from a manual.

The task was then to press another batch of discs with a slightly different front cover with more up to date shots of our machines (including Reilly's new S 38 SX). I thought an updated file might be a good idea too and so did an OCR (optical character recognition) on the images so people could search through the file for particular words and phrases.

I've pressed up music CDs before but not data ones but the concept is pretty much the same so sent the files off to the local disk pressers and hey presto - several boxes arrived this morning with the above merchandise! So if you'd like a concrete placing manual on disc, you know where to come!

Raising Knowledge

Last Friday we had the chap from Tams come to re-certify our staff on the fork lift and the gantry crane.

We timed it rather well as a couple of people would have had their cards run out the following day.

With a great deal of very heavy items being moved about constantly, it is important we have all our workshop and supervisory staff qualified to use the lifting and carrying equipment. We need everyone to be able to lend a hand from time to time to move items about. In these situations a small mistake can lead to a big accident. And as the MD puts it, it's far cheaper and easier to pay to get everyone qualified properly than to explain to someone's mother that their son had an accident using some equipment they didn't fully know how to use.

This is all an ongoing process. As some staff members had been called away to assist clients on Friday we will need to repeat the process again in a few weeks to cover those who were not there.

And then there's the welding certification coming up soon too!

Filling the Space

It's not often that we have rows of empty shelves and storage space in our parts warehouse but we've got some now due to a major reorganisation of our parts storage. Towards the beginning of the year we expanded the warehouse area by extending the mezzanine floor over the reception area and now with everything moved about we have put more shelving into the newly created space.

The reason for all this? It's all because of the wonderful new Schwing 'Reptor' S 38 SX mobile concrete pump that we are now selling!


When we add a new machine to the Schwing concrete pumping arsenal, we need to make sure that we keep our promise to have the full list of necessary spare parts available, as we do across our entire range of products. That's why Schwing Stetter can usually get you up and running again within hours of a breakdown.

So the new shelves will soon be stocked with S 38 SX parts, and you'll soon be able to order them - assuming you're lucky enough to have a new S 38 SX pump!

Stadium Tour

Yesterday I left very early to make the long drive up to St Helens (between Liverpool and Manchester) to get a shot of the new S 38 SX Reptor at work on site with Reilly's. Unfortunately the job was cancelled at the last minute so instead, Mark Reilly rose to the challenge and we took the pump round to their local Rugby stadium and set it up there. The pump driver set up the boom to look as if it were pumping concrete to some imaginary job on (or over) the roof of the stadium and I got the necessary shots!

Of course it's a bit of a give away that there's no truck mixer, no workmen, in fact no job site paraphernalia at all. However the point was to show the reach and to some extent the flexibility of the new 5 section boom of Schwing's latest mobile offering - and I think we at least did that.

Mug Shots

This morning we took delivery of our second lot of promotional mugs (the one on the right). I'm very pleased with these.

We got our first lot (the one on the left) in December last year. They were kindly drawn by the same chap who has been doing our Christmas cards and were so popular we thought we'd try another one along the same theme. That theme being concrete being pumped constantly around the mug by a ring of machines, all seemingly oblivious to the fact that it's the same concrete going round and round... Well we thought it was funny...

The first was a mobile pump and a static pump. The people who produced the mugs very kindly found a way to keep the image going through the handle to complete the effect.

The second is a separate placing boom, a truck mixer and a static pump. I'm sure these will be just as popular with staff and customers alike!

Reptor Video

It seems, looking at the viewing statistic that you blog readers rather like the videos I put up from time to time and also stuff to do with the new S 38 SX 'Reptor' mobile pump.

Well then as a special Schwing Stetter May bonus - here for your viewing pleasure is a combination of both!


This short video showing the new mobile pump at work was sent to me this afternoon by our good colleagues in Germany and as soon as I saw it I thought I need this to be public so our customers and friends can see this amazing new machine at work.

Enjoy!

More Platforms

Such was the success of our new workshop mezzanine floor last year (and the new floor space over the new reception area) that we decided to add a double version at the other end of the workshop!

Once again the lads rose to the task and had the thing built and stocked in less than a month.

The view's not too bad from up there either!