Genie holds Middle East Demo Tour of S-80 J Telescopic Boom Lift, receives positive feedback from region

Staff Report,

6 Sept 2022

Eight Middle East rental customers, including Manlift and Access Rental Gulf, give positive reactions to model’s productive performance, lightweight design and low total cost of ownership

Global powered access major Genie has reported great interest among Middle East rental customers for its S-80J boom lift after it concluded a ‘Demo Tour’ in the region with the machine, showing it off in live, in-person sessions to eight major rental companies based in the region.

Conducted earlier this year, the Demo Tour event saw the eight Middle East access hire companies getting a chance to see the Genie S-80 J first-hand, and in-person.

During the event, Genie team members provided demos that highlighted the quality and capabilities of the S-80 J boom lift, shared information about how the boom could help rental companies maximise their profitability, and answered questions about the boom’s features.

According to a statement from the Terex-owned AWP manufacturer, the Genie S-80 J boom lift has “a leading unrestricted capacity and lightweight, efficient design” which makes it “not only well-suited for nearly any work-at-height task, but it also is purposefully designed to lower ownership costs and improve ROIC for equipment owners”.

Sharbel Kordahi, Genie managing director and sales director for the Middle East region, said: “There’s nothing like getting a chance to see and operate a piece of machinery up close and in-person, which is why the Genie team was so excited to get a chance to meet with our customers in this type of format. We received such positive feedback from participants that we are looking into the possibility of expanding it to other markets in the Middle East region.”

Apart from Kordahi, the Genie Team leading the UAE S-80 J Demo Tour included Gary Cooke, regional sales manager, Middle East, Genie; Simone Manci, booms applications engineer; Corrado Gentile EMEARI product manager; Judith Henri EMEARI senior marketing manager; and Shekar Babu Pappula, technical services representative, Middle East.

Following the event participants shared their appreciation for both the demo tour format, and excitement about the benefits the S-80 J boom could deliver for their fleets.

Robert Cavaleri, regional training, safety and compliance manager at Manlift Middle East LLC, commented: “The demo was well organised and well balanced between an in-class presentation of the machine and a hands-on demo and technical explanation of the S-80 J. Our team enjoyed the possibility of giving feedback to the Genie team on the machine, and that they took it seriously. Also, I was impressed that the Genie team was focused on showing us how the S-80 J would fit into my fleet and solve some of my ROI issues.”

Mark Pilfold, regional operations manager at Access Rental Gulf, said: “The reduced TCO is definitely a game changer, especially in the mid-sized booms that are challenged on rental rates. I will be able to improve my ROI and also differentiate the XC range with a better rental rate. And customers will benefit from a machine that is more affordable, especially if they do not require all the features of the XC range, yet gain an extra 70kg of work in the basket, along with the latest technology.

“We now have a very good understanding of the Genie strategy on their boom range, and we have an additional tool to improve our ROI. We will for sure add the S-80 J to our fleet.”

The Genie S-80 J boom lift features a leading unrestricted platform capacity of 300kg, along with 16.8m of horizontal reach for access at the top of the envelope, and a 1.8m jib.

According to Genie, this makes it well suited for nearly all work-at-height tasks in the 26m range, including general construction, maintenance, inspection and painting.

“A single-envelope, optimised design reduces overall inspection points and wearable components, speeding up inspections, reducing the time and expense of maintenance and repairs, resulting in a lower total cost of ownership,” said the manufacturer’s statement when describing the machine.

“Thanks to its extremely low machine weight, the S-80 J has low ground pressure for a machine of this class size. It’s low weight also allows the S-80 J to be equipped with the exclusive Genie 4-point TraX™ system — making it the first and only 26m boom lift to be available as a tracked option,” the statement explained.

It added that the Genie TraX provides exceptional terrainability and lower contact pressure for a smooth drive on rough ground conditions and reduced damage when operating on sensitive ground surfaces, such as wet grass, mud, sand and snow, as well as on harder, uneven gravel, rock, concrete or asphalt-based surfaces.

With a high ground clearance of 36cm — or 41cm when equipped with TraX — the S-80 J easily clears rocks, curbs, trailer break-overs and other daily obstacles, getting operators around job-sites more efficiently.