Back in 1987, Harsh UK arguably revolutionised tipper body hoisting with their imported American underfloor system, providing a dramatic alternative to traditional front end units.

The idea took hold, forcing the ‘oppo’ to design their own centre chassis designs, but ironically Harsh UK then took on a ‘front end’ agency, allowing them to cater for all customer requirements.

And now in 2007, this ethos of providing an all round service sees Harsh firing on all eight cylinders: underfloor hoists, hooklifts, skip loaders, cranes, front end cylinders, onboard weighing, sheeting systems and bodyliners.

In addition, these past two decades have seen a strengthening network of approved service dealers and installers throughout the UK, the creation of a head office run customer care service and the implementation of a full blown Health and Safety commitment to production operations, product and customer use.

Explains managing director Carl Hinds, “safety and design efficiency have been the drivers behind the Harsh success story in Britain. For instance, every truck or trailer we handle is given its own drawing and assessment before the hoist, skip loader etc is built on.

“Harsh were also in the lead with stability tests and we were first with full CE marked products for the tipping gear on its own merits and not just the truck or trailer as an entity.

“On Health and Safety, a campaign on ‘tips for safer tipping’ will be the cornerstone of an advertising campaign which will mark our 20th anniversary and this is at the heart of Harsh operations in Britain, an example being the purchase of 5,000 copies of the IRTE’s ‘Legislation in Safe Tipping’ booklets which we sent out to all our customers.

“We comply with, if not exceed, accepted industry safety standards. In the Category A stability test we exceed the parameters by 150% and it’s not just in stability that underfloor hoists excel. Whereas a front end will normally take 60 seconds to hoist, the Harsh system hoists from centre chassis in 30 seconds or even 20 seconds if required, simply by changing the pump size.

“With our enlarged team of installers based throughout the country, we now only fit around 10% of all Harsh hydraulic systems at our factory, but conversely we are experiencing a demand for factory fitted sheeting systems, now up to 70% of sales.”

The Harsh underfloor hoist system comes of course from the United States with regular containers crossing the Atlantic trucking up from Felixstowe to the Full Sutton factory.

Similarly, the Harsh range of skip loaders are built in Holland, hooklifts in Italy, but soon to be built in The Netherlands and also from Italy, Penta front end hoist systems and Copma cranes and lifts. Tirre tipper cranes, now favoured by many local councils, come from Germany, however the increasingly popular sheeting systems bearing the Harsh trademark are manufactured in the UK!

And perhaps understandably by selling such specialised lines, parts stocking becomes onerous, to the value of £1.2 million at the Harsh UK factory.

Carl Hinds reports that because of Harsh production efficiencies in the USA, including the use of water based paint, high tech cylinders and robot welding, there has been no price increase in underfloor hoists since the start of the Millennium. “In fact we are also currently offering extended warranty on our products, particularly when Autolube systems are fitted.

“And we are now marketing the product throughout the world since Harsh UK has the rights to sell globally except in North America. Our growing export division now boasts agents in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Dubai, Kenya and of course Continental Europe, especially in Italy.

“It wouldn’t be an anniversary celebration without creating targets for the foreseeable future and Harsh UK is no different, planning to increase today’s turnover by 34% this year and 95% by 2012.

“Over 20% of our turnover is in our increasingly popular sheeting systems which we expect to be our fastest growing line, particularly when recent figures indicate a 16% fuel saving with our sheeting design. But apart from selling more product represented by the Harsh Group, we will no doubt be helped along by increased legislation and of course inflation to achieve our monetary targets,” suggest Carl Hinds.

On the subject of growth, skip loaders are also looming large in the Harsh order book. “Two years ago our orders outstripped the French manufacturer’s production capability, so now we have a plant in Holland where we own a 50% share in the design company Iron-Harsh, who have already developed a unique hose burst valve placed inside the cylinder,” explains Carl who also claims that the Harsh skip loader system is the lightest in the market and will take multi-drops of empty containers as has been utilised by well known Harsh product user Wm Tracy.

On the service side, recently increased order books have forced a split in regional back-up creating a raft of official Harsh dealers who will carry out body building functions and repair agents who will respond to customer requirements, holding extensive stocks of spare parts and fitting them either at the roadside or in the customer’s own premises.

In Scotland alone there are a number of big names linked with Harsh: Baillie Bros, Kingswells, McPhee Bros, CVE, J&J Currie and Carlton Engineering, alongside James Munro, JP Dunn, Scot-Weld, Brown & Clements, D&B Engineering, Cebotec, Eftee, Bulkweld and PMH Coachworks… to name but a few.

In the world of underfloor hoists, the message from Harsh is that their system offers ideal axle loadings, being easier to stay legal with underfloor rather than front end hoists. And there are other problems with the latter system such as the siting of AdBlue tanks on rigid tipper chassis where, according to Carl Hinds, you cannot fit a front end loader legally on a Mercedes eight legger.

“Okay, our underfloor system costs between £500 and £600 extra over a front end and there are body work adjustments involved, but underfloor hoisting now accounts for one third of our business and we haven’t lost ground in the market place. Also, we are aware that tipper trailers have been growing in popularity recently, but it is unlikely they will ever supersede the industry’s 8x4 rigid workhorse,” says Carl Hinds who is similarly enthusiastic about the recent implementation of the Harsh customer care system now working under two sectors (A-L and L-Z) under the management of Mandy Levitt, who also doubles as personal assistant to Grant Faulkner, chairman of Harsh Ltd, who has recently stepped aside from the day to day running of the company to develop special projects for Harsh Group.

It was of course Grant who pioneered the Harsh underfloor hoist system in the UK, perhaps a mildly parallel feat to Leo ‘Bud’ Harsh in the United States who, as a self taught welder and engineer, and after working with the tightest of budgets and scrap metal, demonstrated his first successful hoist which instead of weighing one tonne, came in at just 300lb, and it tipped from side, front or back.

In 1949 Harsh made 100 hoists, but reached $1 million turnover in just seven years. Now there are over 500,000 hoists in operation worldwide, many of which have been supplied by Harsh UK in its first 20 years of business now about to be celebrated in grand style as customers are invited to the Harsh exhibit at Harrogate, venue of the inaugural Tip-Ex held on the first holiday weekend of May 2007.