PRG Belgium Invests in ProLyft Controllers

	Bruno Lerminiaux with the new Prolyte ProLyte Pro controllers

PRG Belgium has recently received a large batch of Prolyte ProLyft Pro controllers, which will instantly be deployed on productions. After a thorough selection procedure, Prolyte was selected to supply PRG Belgium with its' high-end control systems. Investing in 30 12-way control units is the first step in further professionalizing and renewing their rigging department.

PRG's segment advisor rigging, Stef De Raet and Michiel van der Zijde, product manager ProLyft, met during the STEPP contact days, with the leading leitmotiv of "Lifting above the public." Both entirely dedicated to making rigging as safe as possible, discussing rigging, regulations, and how the market will develop towards the future, they shared their common vision on how safer products can contribute to improve work floor safety, an obvious concern for all involved in rigging. "Whenever you're ready -- come to us" was De Raet's reply back then.

"When we were ready" van der Zijde remembers, "We were convinced we had the right product for them, so Bruno Lerminiaux (distributor manager for Prolyte) invited De Reat to come to Leek for one day of brainstorming. Asking the question of how PRG would like to be positioned in 10 years, verses two years, opened their eyes to the philosophy behind our controllers. They are built for the future. Implementing the possibility for load measuring, overload protection, and encoders in our controllers really convinced them of the assets the ProLyft controllers will be to their productions."

At the end of June, Lerminiaux, invited by De Raet, was enjoying himself immensely -- helping to build the Rock Werchter festival to refresh his road-skills, they continued their discussion on rigging and rigging controls. Considering that PRG was looking to replace their old rigging controls and ProLyft just launching its new series of Pro controllers, both found themselves seeing eye-to-eye.

After a demo day in PRG Belgium's offices, both parties were convinced it was a match. "The philosophy behind the Pro controllers reflects our view on safe rigging," states De Raet. "We were totally impressed by functionality, the safety of the controllers, the control functions, and the fact that all these functions are made visible. That's a great advantage when you work in conditions without much daylight. The sealed front-panel with integrated buttons and its' very user-friendly interface makes it an easy and intuitive system to work with. Furthermore, we have benefited from the excellent support from the complete ProLyft team -- I know of no other party that can deliver this level of support."

"We now have invested in 30 12-way units -- for PRG this is a first step in further professionalizing and renewing our rigging department,", De Raet continues.

van der Zijde adds: "The rigging department is the last discipline within the entertainment market to digitalize the standard equipment. User friendliness with plug-and-play solutions is of major importance to create the acceptance of new technology in our industry. Like Stef told me: 'Do not touch the first one-and-a-half hour of the load in.' Any loss of time in that specific timeframe will delay the whole production and will reduce the acceptance of the equipment."

The ProLyft Pro controllers are fully compliant with the latest standards, regulations, and quality demands. They are built as a growing system, so users can easily convert them to adapt load monitoring systems or encoders. The whole system follows the thought process from a riggers point of view, which the company says is quite unique.

Lerminiaux continues: "We see a tendency for professional users to be more and more aware about safety and ease of use. You just want to be sure that when you choose to run your rig up, all hoists will do exactly what you ask of them. It's clear that for PRG these considerations are of major importance and this played an important role in their final decision. They are fully focussed on the future and on the deployment of safe systems. Whichever way you look at it, PRG is one of the major players in our industry and aims to set an example. This may create broader awareness on safety, something we can only be grateful for."