Strongest Link in Demolition Chain

WHY KITO PWB’s Grade 100 chains and fittings are featuring in more construction projects around the country?

During a recent demolition project managed by Coopers Heavy Industries, KITO PWB Grade 100 chains and fittings were front and centre during the lifting of various items including structural steel beams.

The use of Grade 100 chains and fittings is increasing at expediential rates across the infrastructure and construction sectors.

Across the board, we are seeing the use of Grade 100 product increasing and that’s especially true over the last few years. Grade 100 was launched in Australia back in the 1990s, and like any new product, when it was first on the market, it was expensive. But over time, volumes have increased and the price has gradually decreased. Customers are shifting away from Grade 80 and towards Grade 100 as they see greater value for money as well as the benefit of increased lifting capacities.

It’s the chemistry of the tensile steel, in the distinctive “Brilliant Blue” KITO PWB Grade 100, that provides far greater lifting capacity than a Grade 80 equivalent. Because of the manufacturing process, you can take an equivalent size and weight of Grade 80 and Grade 100 chains and fittings but there’s no comparison in terms of lifting capacity. Grade 80 doesn’t have anywhere near the physical capacity. That said, there is still plenty of demand for our Grade 80 products across many industry sectors, and there will be well into the future.

KITO PWB has been manufacturing its broad range of chains for 95 years and is 100 per cent committed to remain a manufacturer of quality Australian products. It is also committed to manufacturing powered and manual hoists. KITO PWB’s owners, KITO Japan, has been manufacturing Grade 100 lifting chain for its manual hoist range since 1982. The broad range of chains is manufactured to stringent Australian Standards in accordance with ISO 9001:2008-approved Quality Management System.

It uses Australian-made steel from the likes of BHP, Bluescope and most recently, Liberty OneSteel. This Australian-made steel uses Australian mined and processed iron ore and, according to KITO PWB, no other supplier of chains in Australia can make this claim.

We proudly manufacture the Grade 80 chain and fittings here in Australia and the Grade 100 product is currently manufactured by a KITO factory in Europe.

With demand for the Grade 100 products increasing, we are in progress to commence manufacturing locally, which is exciting. We also locally manufacture marine chains, general Grade 80 lifting chains, which are the lower capacity chains, as well as more specialised chains used in off-shore applications like trawling and a number of specialised chains for the agriculture sector.

Every manufactured chain link made locally by KITO PWB is proof tested. The Australian Standards for manufacturing lifting chains state that a chain must be tested by the manufacturer at 2 x the Working Load Limit (WLL). KITO PWB has always tested every chain they manufacture at 2.5 x the WLL. No other chain manufacturer has a testing regime as rigorous as this.

Across the board, we are seeing the Grade 100 product becoming the industry standard. Our sales are growing and it’s the same across the general industry. KITO PWB has an extensive, nationwide network of distributors providing quick response times for enquiries. If the local branch has the product in stock, we can have it on-site the same day as the enquiry. If the interstate branches don’t have it in stock, we will get the product out of Melbourne and to the client within 24 hours. The KITO PWB network also features specialists who can assess particular jobs and help with specifying the right product for a particular application.

It really comes down to the specifics of the job, what’s required by the guys on site and what they are lifting. With some applications, you could only use Grade 100 because the Grade 80 wouldn’t have the lifting capacity.

Within the KITO PWB group, we have engineers that, from time-to-time are consulted on specific lifts. But most of the time the distributors have lifting and rigging specialists within their own organisations, and these guys are trained to understand what is required in terms of capacity for specific lifts. They will assess the lift and specify the right capacity chain and fittings. Obviously, this type of service depends on what type of experience the end-user has and, for the majority of times, the onus is on them.