During the past 20 years Farra has generated tens of millions of dollars in export receipts manufacturing more than 50 building maintenance units, some weighing up to 50 tonnes each and worth more than $1 million apiece.
The standard units run on roof-top rails across some of the world's tallest high-rises, giving access from the cages slung hundreds of metres below for window and facade maintenance and cleaning.
The latest Farra BMU, worth $300,000, weighs two tonnes and has a 250kg payload, but can be dismantled and shifted around in hotel lifts and through doorways; to reach inaccessible areas up to 150m below the BMU.
Farra Engineering manager of engineering and design division, Marc Murray, said about 18 months of research and development had gone into the mobile BMU, and said its portability was unique and it was the smallest known unit of its kind in the world.
He envisaged multiple uses for buyers, especially in the Asian market and cities with many high rises.
"It can be broken down; with the 1 tonne counterweight and 1 tonne machine able to be taken through doors and put in lifts," he said.
The architecture of some new high rises meant a standard BMU could not be installed.
He said Hong Kong was a good example of where the portable unit could be used toward the end of construction time, as without the 1 tonne cage its pay-load hanging directly off the wire ropes would increase from 250kg to 400kg; such as window frames, for glass installation or the delivery of building materials or fittings, in lieu of a lift from a tower crane.
Farra, which received its first order for the new unitafter beginning research and development, is now concentrating on marketing the mobile BMU in Hong Kong and further afield around Asia.
The mobile BMU would take three staff about four months to build, and while the first unit was priced at $300,000, this figure would be expected to drop as more orders were received, Mr Murray said.
The company is presently working on building two of the larger "standard" BMUs, destined for Auckland and Brisbane, the latter being a 20-tonne model.
