During the early 2000’s, shortly after the launch of Hoist magazine, Renfroe officials and their distributors were seeing an increased demand for retrofitting the older cranes that were now being put back into use.
While Renfroe has established an international reputation for manufacturing an extensive line of large industrial lifting clamps, the company understood that much of their existing market were the ones who also needed components for retrofitting smaller capacity cranes.
The company began expanding its product lines to include sheaves and hook blocks. "It was the first major change in our manufacturing and marketing process in the history of our company," said company president Anne Renfroe. The company was founded over 70 years ago by Joseph Renfroe, the father of Mrs. Renfroe’s deceased husband, to provide customized clamps for industry.
Renfroe is known worldwide for its very durable and reliable lifting clamps. The company manufactures clamps for almost every lifting purpose, from vertical to horizontal and for structural shapes. The company believes that a customer can most likely find the clamp they need at Renfroe. If not, Renfroe has the capability to engineer and fabricate customized clamps to handle specific applications.
With input from their clamp customers who needed fast delivery of retrofitted crane components, Renfroe began manufacturing sheaves and blocks in 2004. The company uses cold roll form fabrication to produce wire rope sheaves from 6 inch to 80 inch O.D. Renfroe has the capability of offering a variety of wire rope sizes, lot sizes, loading profiles and service classes. All of their sheaves are produced in a finished state, including primer coating and bearings, if requested.
Like their clamps, Renfroe can manufacture custom sheaves, from an order of one to an order of hundreds. The block line features bridge crane blocks and mobile crane blocks 50 tons and under. They are available, depending on specifications, in single and multiple sheave configurations, and with double and quad hooks.
The company also offers a line of load weighing and motorized crane blocks, along with snatch blocks, load limiters and roller bearing and angular contact bearing swivels.
"About 85% of our block business is for 5 tons and under," explained Mrs. Renfroe. "And we sell more bridge crane blocks than mobile blocks. But our biggest seller is the sheaves.
"We have become a valuable resource for the customer who utilizes smaller equipment and who needs a faster delivery time. We are filling that gap in the market where most OEMs are not prepared to address or even want to handle economically," said Mrs. Renfroe. The addition of crane components has been steady growth for Renfroe. "Like our clamp line, we have instituted a process that delivers dependable products in a timely manner, monitored throughout the process by our customer service staff,"Mrs. Renfroe added.
The addition of crane products was the result of a strategic alliance with Gosan of Ortuella, Spain, a major European manufacturer of sheaves and crane components.
