Designing Lifts that Last

As the manufacturer of the World’s most Trusted Lift, and the leader in the lift industry, we take the quality and dependability of our lifts very seriously.  From conception, to engineering, to testing and production launch, the design process for a Rotary lift is focused on delivering a high value product.  At Rotary, we want our lifts to perform to both our customer’s standards, as well as our own. 

Design engineering has a tremendous impact on the overall performance of a vehicle lift. Over the decades (9 decades to be exact), Rotary Lift has developed a strong new product development (NPD) process that includes market research, design, qualification testing and product launch. Design Engineers shape the product in many ways, including, defining structural characteristics (low profile arms to reach under today’s aerodynamic vehicles), selecting materials (high durability materials for areas of the lift that commonly wear out on competitive products) and testing the product, just to name a few.

Market research is the first step in the engineering process and arguably the most important, as customer needs set the direction for the rest of the process.  We gather customer feedback by speaking with shop technicians and by collaborating with our sales force to address common pain points for potential customers.  This provides a good understanding of the needs of our customer and starts the design process to address those needs.  Our customers really take the lead during this step, they are the ones who depend on the lifts to work properly and get the job done.   

Product testing is also a big part of the engineering process.  Rotary Lift has a very robust testing and qualification program that includes component testing, load testing, life-cycle and field testing. These tests help us determine which design is best suited for the task; as well what materials out-perform others. Our rigorous testing regiment sets us apart from the competition. Any company can copy a competitor’s product and make it appear exactly the same. It’s much more difficult, however, to build one that performs the same over the life of the product. In one recent side by side cycle test, we found the Rotary 2-Post would perform 10 times longer, at rated load, than a competitor’s similar product.    

When you look deep into the ideas behind the design and engineering, our customers really have the most say in how our new products are developed.  It really starts and ends with them. We believe it is important for our team of over 20 U.S engineers to understand customer needs and develop products to meet them. A great deal of thought, time and effort goes into designing a Rotary Lift, but as you can see it’s our customers that are the true designers.  Without our loyal customer base and our family of distributors, Rotary wouldn’t be where we are today.    

There are several variables that we considered when designing and building lifts. Just as important are the variables you use when deciding what lift to buy. Need help with which lift is right for you?  Download our “Lift Buyer’s Guide” below: