Jamie Kaplan, CEO of Kansas City-headquartered GSE manufacturer Harlan Global Manufacturing, was talking about the value of three particular items of GSE from the company’s portfolio at the recent expo in Las Vegas
One of the pieces of GSE on show on the Harlan stand, called the TransCon Service Maintenance Vehicle (SMV), is entirely new. It has been built to compete for an order that a major US carrier is expected to make for a specialist lift vehicle designed for its engineers tasked with oiling the engines of its vast fleet of narrowbody and widebody aircraft.
Currently using modified non-GSE commercial vehicles for this task, the airline is looking for a durable, more specialised solution, and Harlan is amongst the companies competing for the prize.
Once Harlan had settled on a design, the engineering and production of the new SMV scissor lift/oiler took about six months (the design process took advantage of the latest in CAD technology). From concept to initial production has taken approximately a year.
The SMV has a one-man lift that raises to seven feet (sufficient to serve the carrier’s biggest aircraft). The oiling unit on the SMV was provided by the airline itself.
Harlan may have some head start over the competition. The US carrier already uses Harlan’s TransCon APV (All Purpose Vehicle), which is a slightly longer flatbed vehicle ideal for all types of maintenance and that also employs a 3.8 litre Kubota engine. The airline “loves them”, says Kaplan, and has placed an order for many more APVs.
Harlan’s new SMV has a number of features to maximise the vehicle operator’s safety, such as an electrically actuated park brake. The unit will not move unless the lift is fully lowered.
While Kaplan is hopeful of the airline in question placing a big order, even if the US carrier chooses to go elsewhere, the SMV may well be ideal for others, he notes positively.
Experience in lithium
Also on the Harlan stand was its latest drop-in lithium battery pack. Harlan has been supplying lithium batteries for GSE since 2000, and has got 200 GSE units out there in the market that have been equipped with its lithium battery power packs just since 2010. Its drop-in lithium batteries can be used to replace older lead acid batteries.
“One of the advantages of our lithium batteries used in hot climates is that we offer a temperature-controlled battery pack, so that the customer gets the longest life out of their big investment,” Kaplan states.
Alongside the SMV, one of Harlan’s lithium battery-equipped tugs was also on display – a TransCon Lithium unit. It is the company’s best-selling GSE model, with large numbers of the vehicle in operation with airlines including WestJet, Air Canada, Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) and Turkish Airlines.
These and Harlan’s other products are currently selling well, says Kaplan. In fact, “We’ve been swamped” by requests for products, he says. The problem is fulfilling all these orders! And what’s holding things back? The lack of skilled labour available in the US, he says.
Hence his decision some time ago to set up a manufacturing facility in Nantong, China, where there is no shortage of skilled labour. Already a good market for Harlan, China is also a growing source of further orders, Kaplan adds.
Moreover, Kaplan has moved quickly to address the problem in the US. “We are currently doing workforce training and production planning training which has already increased our production output in the last two weeks by 50%,” he says. “In two months we will have doubled our output in vehicles.”
