Steel manufacturer cuts costs by 50% with bespoke solution

Yorkshire-based company Shafton Steel Services has significantly reduced both costs and maintenance time after replacing a traditional conveyor system with a tailored lifting solution.

At its facility in South Yorkshire, the steel manufacturer Shafton Steel Services, part of Billington Holdings’ group of companies, operates a robotic coping and drilling line that generates large quantities of steel scrap, which falls into a pit beneath the machine.

Typically, conveyor systems are used to handle this type of waste. However, due to space constraints at the installation site, the company opted for an alternative solution based on a scissor lift table. A conventional conveyor system would have required too large a footprint to accommodate the machine in its intended location.

“Compared to a conveyor system, the footprint is significantly smaller, while maintenance requirements and safety risks are reduced. The lift table allows us to raise the entire unit by crane, ensuring full access to all components and safer cleaning of the pit. It is 20-25% easier to do maintenance work on the lift compared to a conveyor, which has a clear impact on our bottom line, says Ryan O’Connor, profile manager at Shafton Steel Services.

“The company commissioned the design and implementation of the scissor lift table, which runs on a rail system inside the pit. Steel scrap is collected in a bin placed on the lift platform and transported to one end of the system, where it is raised to floor level and removed. The total investment came to just under £29,000 – approximately half the cost of a comparable conveyor system,” says Ryan.

The lift table was developed and supplied by Sax Lift. The project reflects a broader trend for the company, which is seeing increasing demand for bespoke products in the UK market.

Jeff Aackersberg Olsen, sales manager responsible for the UK market at Sax Lift says, “In many cases, customers come to us with a specific challenge, and we work together to find a solution. We typically start from a standard product and adapt it to meet the customer’s needs. This approach is often both faster and more cost-effective than developing a fully bespoke solution from scratch.”

According to Sax Lift, around 25% of the company’s orders consist of customised solutions such as the rail system delivered to Shafton Steel Services. Although the solutions are often tailored to individual customers, they are based on a consistent technical foundation.

Sax Lift’s products comply with the EN 1570-1 standard, and the company operates with a structured product portfolio that supports scalability and customisation.

“Sax Lift was the only supplier we found that could deliver a complete solution suited to our setup,” says Ryan O’Connor. “They understood our needs and delivered a solution that works in practice. It is essential for us to have a solution that combines employee safety with significant savings – both in terms of the initial investment and long-term maintenance.”

Sax Lift manufactures scissor lift tables and supplies both standard products and customised solutions to customers across a wide range of industries.