High-Quality Loading Dock Equipment / Ellis Industries Corporation

A Commitment to Quality

Ellis Industries Corporation has been in business since 1969, and over the course of 38 years, has been doing repairs on every model of dock leveler available in Southern California. Soon after our conception, it became very evident that the products of each company has weak points; and over the past decade it seems as if every manufacturer has come to the conclusion that if they could cheapen their products and manufacturing processes enough, they will be able to sell a greater volume of product. However, while the prices decrease, so does the reliability of the products. With a "quantity over quality" methodology, dependability suffers greatly and each new customer is sold levelers that are doomed to fail after only one to three years of normal use.

Ellis Industries Corporation decided to put the expertise gained through years of experience repairing these other companies' weak points into designing and manufacturing only the best levelers possible, because we believe that there are people who still want safe, high-quality products with a long, trouble-free lifetime for their money. We realized that while you can't sell a top of the line, industry best product for the price of a lesser quality, mass-produced one - And therefore may not sell as many levelers initially - the repeat business from satisfied owners and their referrals would provide us with our growth. We have never had a customer buy another brand of leveler after purchasing one of ours.

Setting the Standard

First and foremost, the weakest point of every other dock leveler has been the rear hinges. While the leveler is extended and elevated into a truck, the rear hinges take the full impact of the forklift or pallet jack. Some manufacturers produce levelers with the rear hinges welded to sheet metal, some have thin strips, and others have huge, strong hinges welded to a little piece of flat bar. None of these approaches are a very effective solution to the problem. Therefore, Ellis Industries Corporation uses a full piano hinge at the rear of the leveler to eliminate the gaps that tear off caster wheels, and is the only brand of leveler that has never caused damage due to equipment catching on its' hinges.

A second point of weakness is the front load-carrying cross member, due to which a certain other manufacturer often encounters problems as they no longer implement one at all in order to cut costs. Other manufacturers use a flat plate stitch-welded to one side of the vertical load members, but the action of the lip pulling on the face plate bends and pulls it away from the load beams. When the front plate warps, it's strength is severely reduced. Ellis Industries Corporation uses an angled face plate continuously welded to the load beams and deck plate, eliminating any chance of bending. It is the only brand that we have never seen fail as a result of inadequate cross member reinforcement.

Also, in the front cross member, there is always a porthole for the lip lifter to pass through. Our competitors attempt to cut corners by merely using a press punch to create a hole. However, that hole then cracks outward at the corners, causing the faceplate to fail. Ellis Industries Corporation goes through the expense of setting in a section of structural tubing so that the corners and opening have radiussed, unbroken surfaces. We have never had a failure due to a porthole breaking out.

Most manufacturers use six deck support members on 6' wide levelers and eight on 7' wide levelers, with the center beams spread apart a bit to make room for their operating mechanisms. This production method commonly results in the deck plate bending in the center. Alternatively, we use eight (8) and ten (10) supports respectively and space them equally across the leveler, leaving no wide, unsupported deck areas.

The standard lip on other levelers is 16", with optional 18" lips at extra cost. Ellis Industries uses 18" lips as standard because many companies deal with containers or refrigerated trailers, or will come across another need at some point in time.

Certain other manufacturers use robots to do their welding; while it is cheaper, you certainly can't teach a robot to weld sheet metal to plate skillfully, and consequently, those manufacturers are experiencing more frequent weld failures. Ellis Industries Corporation uses only certified welders.

Our dock levelers are not the cheapest, and never will be. But they are, by design, the best in the industry.