Machinery Handling
Industrial Machinery Handling and Moving Services
JB Rawcliffe & Sons Ltd are specialist machine movers with more than 45 years of extensive experience in handling and removing industrial equipment.
Our clients include the National Grid, British Aerospace (BAE), Alstom, and the AMEC Group, plus many more. From repositioning a single piece of machinery to factory relocations and clearing an entire production facility, we have the equipment and personnel to get the job done safely.
All work is carried out in accordance with LOLER and PUWER regulations. We produce a full risk assessment and method statement (RAMS) for every project before we start, and our in-house lifting systems are tested, certified and adapted to the specific requirements of your load.
Machinery Handling and Repositioning
Our machinery handling service covers the controlled movement of equipment within a site using specialist machinery, without the need for road transport.
Our in-house fleet of machinery handling equipment is tested and certified, and can be configured to meet your specific alignment and precision levelling requirements. We carry and operate:
- Turntables that allow heavy machinery to be rotated in tight spaces without the need to reposition lifting equipment around it.
- Machine skates that sit under a load and allow it to be moved horizontally across a floor with minimal effort.
- Forklift trucks with an operator for loading, unloading and short-distance movement of machinery on site.
- A hydraulic skid system to move loads that cannot be lifted by conventional means or that need to be positioned with a high degree of accuracy.
The hydraulic skid system is designed and built in-house, allowing it to be adapted to configurations that standard equipment can’t handle.
This type of work comes up most often during facility upgrades, production line reconfigurations, and new machinery installations, where the machine arrives on site but still needs to be moved into its final position and levelled correctly.
Heavy Machinery Moving and Relocation Services
Our machine moving service covers site-to-site relocations, from a single machine to a full production line. We work with you during the planning stage to agree on scope, access routes, equipment requirements, and timelines, keeping disruption to your operation as minimal as possible.
We regularly support businesses relocating to new premises, consolidating production lines, and decommissioning plants.
Where transport beyond the site boundary is needed, we can provide our own fleet as part of a full turnkey service. The more notice you can give us at the planning stage, the more precisely we can work around your schedule.
We work closely with regional electricity companies and power stations during planned shutdowns and outages, delivering time-sensitive solutions where finishing on schedule is not optional. This type of work requires detailed pre-planning and a team with expertise in operating within tight site constraints without compromising safety.
Machinery Removal Services
Professional machinery removal will save you time, money, and stress – we will work closely with you to carefully plan the move, ensuring every aspect runs smoothly, and disruption is kept to an absolute minimum. Providing the right equipment for the job in hand, we prioritise health and safety for you, your employees and your machinery.
We provide industrial machinery removal for businesses replacing equipment, clearing production sites, or preparing a refurbishment facility. This covers removing redundant plant, decommissioning machinery, and coordinating strip-outs with multiple machines.
Why Choose our Professional Machinery Movers?
Decades of Experience for Projects of all Types
We have been working as industrial machinery movers for more than 45 years. Our in-house fleet has been designed and built to our own specification, and we have recently merged our heavy lifting systems with our handling, installations, and removal division to give us greater capability across a wider range of projects.
Bespoke Lifting That Remains Compliant
Our equipment can be tailored to your alignment and precision levelling requirements, and all lifts are fully certified and compliant with LOLER and PUWER.
A Tried-and-Tested Reputation in the Industry
Our clients include some of the largest industrial operators in the UK. We are trusted to work within power stations during live shutdowns, on defence and aerospace sites with tight access restrictions, and in food and pharmaceutical environments with strict cross-contamination standards.
What can we Move with our Machine Handling Services?
Our machinery relocation services cover a broad range of industries. As expert machinery movers, our specialist lifting equipment can be used to move:
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- Chemist and pharmaceutical machinery
- Food processing machinery
- Medical and diagnostic heavy equipment
- Manufacturing equipment, including CNC machines
- Conveyor systems
- Redundant machinery
…and more.
Once on site, our machinery installation team can position and commission the equipment.
If your sector is not listed, contact us. We have worked across most industrial environments and can advise on whether we are the right fit for your project.
Contact our Machinery Movers Today
Want a free quote for a specific project? Not sure what heavy machines we can shift?
The experienced team at JB Rawcliffe & Sons Ltd is always on hand to help, so if you’d like to know more about our machine moving equipment, don’t hesitate to call 01695 737 880 or email enquiries@jbrawcliffe.com. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Using a specialist machinery handling contractor offers several advantages over attempting the work in-house:
- Reduces the risk of damage to high-value equipment during repositioning and installation thanks to expert project management
- Efficient solutions so loads can be moved accurately in spaces where cranes or forklifts cannot operate, or in difficult environments
- Removes the liability from your own team, keeping your workforce away from a common source of workplace injury
- Reduce disruption to production schedules thanks to a professional service
- Specialist equipment, such as air skates, machine skates, and hydraulic skid systems can handle configurations and heavy loads that standard lifting equipment cannot
- All work is carried out by trained, certified personnel in accordance with LOLER and PUWER regulations
Yes. Where the move requires road transport, we can provide our own fleet as part of a full turnkey machinery moving service. This covers loading, securing, transporting, and offloading at the destination site. For abnormal or oversized loads, we can arrange the necessary permits and route planning. We’re also experienced in transporting heavy equipment.
You need in-plant machinery handling when the machine is already on site but not in its final position, or when you are reconfiguring a production layout without moving equipment off-site. It also applies when a new plant arrives and needs to be moved from where it was offloaded to its working position and levelled correctly. If the work stays within the site boundary and does not require transport, handling is the right service.
A factory clearance covers the removal of all plant and moving heavy equipment from a site, whether in preparation for a sale, a refurbishment, or a change of use. We coordinate the strip-out sequence, handle the dismantling and removal of each machine, and manage the logistics of getting everything off-site. For larger clearances, we produce a detailed programme of works in advance so you know what is coming out and when.
JB Rawcliffe & Sons Ltd
Reviews
Very helpful booking staff who helped me decide what to hire. My Haulage delivered and collected within the chosen time slots and both drivers were cheery and polite.
Heavy haulage..anything big and long you want moving they are the guys..
Delivered a container to be unloaded only there 43 minutes and I was unloaded great guys 5 stars
We used this local company to deliver a piece of equipment to our site. Access was tight, but the driver managed it easily and safely. The communication from the office was great and all at the best possible price.