Skid mounts are portable platforms used for mounting industrial equipment to facilitate easy and secure transportation and storage. The skid mount may take the form of a frame, rails, or pallet. The machinery is permanently mounted onto a skid at the point of manufacture, which gives the machinery’s future users advantages in terms of mobility, protection, and modularity.
Skid-Mount Alternatives
While industrial equipment doesn’t always need to be mounted on a skid, doing so often makes it easier to transport the equipment or to move it between locations within a facility. Alternatives to mounting machinery on skids include:
Permanent Installation
Industrial machinery that has not been mounted onto a skid must be installed on site. Known as the stick-build methodology, this method of on-site assembly can be very time consuming and disruptive to operations.
Machinery without a skid will be permanently installed in one location. This may present challenges such as:
- Architectural planning to determine the most ideal location for the equipment
- Logistical planning for millwrighting and rigging
- Inflexibility should the layout of the manufacturing facility expand or change
Complex Packaging During Transit
Skids are not only useful for moving machinery around a factory floor but are heavily relied upon during transportation to the machinery’s intended destination. The skid frames secure and protect machinery during transit.
Without skids, complex and costly temporary packing will be required to protect delicate machinery parts while the equipment is being transported to its destination.
Advantages of Skid-Mounted Systems
The three main advantages of skid-mounted systems are:
Mobility
Skids are assembled as modular units, so skid mounted process equipment can be more easily disassembled and reassembled when required. This enables benefits such as:
- The relocation of skid-mounted industrial equipment in an easy and secure manner. This is particularly important as business needs change and industrial processes are relocated or otherwise altered.
- Easier installation than a stick-build approach. The skid-mounted equipment is moved to the desired location and connected to existing machinery, often with single-point process connections.
- Flexibility in terms of acceptance testing.
- Smaller footprints as skid-mounted systems are designed to have a compact layout.
- Increased safety due to fewer on-site assembly hours.
- Increased speed and project completion times compared with the stick-built approach, leading to cost savings.
Protection
The frames of skid-mounted systems provide an added level of security, support, and protection for industrial equipment which often includes complex piping, delicate valves, and other valuable components. The frame protects the equipment during all the points at which the machinery is likely to be damaged, including transport, installation, and regular usage.
Modularity
Modern production facilities must have the flexibility to change in response to evolving business requirements. This means that modularity, or the ability for process components to be separated, moved about and recombined, is vital as processes are reconfigured.
Skid mounted systems are ready-to-use modular systems that are assembled offsite, tested, shipped to the customer’s facility and plugged into existing processes. Off-site assembly also means that skid mounted systems will not interfere with a new facility’s construction or renovation phase.
Working with Highland Equipment
Highland Equipment is a leader in the design and manufacture of custom stainless-steel equipment. Our team is highly experienced in the building of a wide array of skid-mounted systems. Contact us today to discuss your skid-mounted process equipment needs with an expert.