SkyJack finds oldest lift just down the street

March 3, 2014 – Skyjack didn't have to go far to find its oldest working scissor lift. The winner of its Quest2013 contest in honour of its 250,000th lift produced was Kraner Electrical, an industrial electrician practically right around the corner from SkyJack's manufacturing facility in Guelph, Ont. Kraner was presented with its prize, a new SJIII 3219 32-foot scissor lift, at the Rental Show in Orlando, Fla.

Matthew Kraner told the crowd at the award presentation that the first time he ever stepped on a scissor lift, he was terrified. Back then the teenager
was tagging along with his father, Peter, as part of Take Your Child to Work Day. “We were working at an
auto-stamping place running the electricals and when it was time to come down, the scissor lift I was on
wouldn’t budge,” Kraner recalls. “My dad had to come rescue me with the SJ006-10 and little did I think
I’d end up working with the scissor lift many years later.

SkyJack received entries from such places as India, Latvia, Argentina and Germany, but finally found its oldest working lift around the corner. Here's Matt Kraner accepting a jacket in front of the winning lift.

The Kraners are co-owners of Kraner Electrical. They purchased the used SJ006-10
at Bolton Auction House in May 1996, but the machine dates back to 1985.

“Based on our calculation, the SJ006-10, still in use at Kraner Electrical, is the third Skyjack scissor lift
ever manufactured,” Brad Boehler, president of Skyjack, said during a special ceremony in February.
“The year this scissor lift left the factory, the popular movie Back to the Future was just released!” The
29-year-old scissor lift is generally used for installing conduit or fixtures, running pipes or hooking up
equipment for Kraner Electrical customers. “When we are running electricals up near the ceiling we need
wide spaces and the Skyjack gives us lots of space while providing a steady platform,” Kraner said. “It’s
like a work van up in the sky because it fits all our tools, pipes, fittings and the radio.”

“This scissor lift is a prototype so it’s slower than the newer Skyjack machines we have,” Kraner said.
“Everyone laughs at how slow it is because you can walk faster than it but it’s a very effective tool and I
wouldn’t trade it for anything. After all, slow and steady wins the race.”

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