For a maintenance contractor, few things stall a job faster than a part that is no longer available from the OEM. A worn bush, a damaged shaft, or an obsolete winding unit can turn a straightforward repair into a long wait while the machine sits out of service and the client grows impatient. The older the installation, the more common this becomes.
When OEM stock runs out, the answer is not always a full machine replacement. In many cases the component can be manufactured in-house to specification, keeping the legacy installation running without the lead time or the cost of a new unit.
Which parts are most commonly manufactured
The components we manufacture most often for trade contractors are bushes and bearings, where the original is no longer stocked or the dimensions are non-standard. Shafts and winding units are also regularly remanufactured, either because the OEM part is obsolete or because the lead time quoted runs into months. One-off brackets, bed plates, and structural components that would normally need a specialist fabricator are produced in the same workshop, under the same scope, so the contractor is not coordinating a separate fabrication supplier alongside the engineering work.
Why in-house manufacture beats waiting on discontinued stock
The advantage is control. When the part is made in our own workshop, the dimensions, tolerances, and material specification are confirmed against the machine before it goes back into service. There is no waiting on a third-party supplier, no ambiguity about whether a substitute part will fit, and no risk of a mismatched component causing a repeat failure weeks after handover.
It also keeps the scope under one quote. The contractor does not need to source a fabricator, raise a separate purchase order, and manage a second delivery. The engineering work and the manufactured part land together, with one set of RAMS and one completion report for the contract file.
Keeping legacy installations running
Many of the installations we support are decades old, and the supply chain for their components has thinned or disappeared entirely. Precision manufacture of replacement parts is what keeps those machines in service safely and economically, rather than forcing the client into a full modernisation they did not budget for.
At EES Vertical Transportation, our precision engineers manufacture bushes, bearings, shafts, and winding units where OEM parts are obsolete or carry long lead times, alongside one-off brackets and bed plates. All work is carried out with full RAMS documentation. Operating from Middleton, Greater Manchester, attending sites UK-wide. See our steelwork modifications and fabrication service for the full scope.