Videos: How McCarthy Tents Completely Restructured Its Tent Installs
Sean McCarthy of the Rochester, NY-based McCarthy Tents & Events is one of a new breed of tent and event company owners. The company’s success since its founding in 2007 is due in large part to Sean leading by example, motivating his enthusiastic and efficient crews, and a well-organized back office staff. Their Rochester facility (they also operate out of Buffalo) even features a full gym!
8:00 AM – Unloading the trucks. Two of the four McCarthy Tent OX Systems’ articulated loaders are the first pieces of machinery to be unloaded from the open trailer when the crew arrives at about 7 am. Here, Tent OX helps make quick work of unloading supplies
By 2014, in the midst of strong growth, Sean began to look for ways to reduce crew workloads and improve efficiency in what has always been a physically demanding sector of the rental industry. “We were looking for something that would help us change the way we were putting up tents,” he recalls.
Tent OX Adds New Energy to the Installation Process
At about his time, Sean heard of a newly introduced product that promised to reduce labor for tent and event crews. He had the benefit of seeing Tent OX in action, including at the MATRA commercial tent business organization’s annual November show. “This,” he thought, “can help us as we build this business.”
His initial purchase of a Tent OX system was comprised of a series of attachments designed and built by Tent OX in the USA and a small Avant articulated loader that supplies the mobile hydraulic power that saves so much time and labor. The introduction of Tent OX that year was a welcome turning point for him, offering the promise of literally taking the weight of some of the most difficult tasks off his and his crews’ shoulders. He took the plunge, and it had the effect of re-energizing the tent installation process. It also allowed the company to take on additional work.
Restructuring the Way They Install Tents
Once Sean and his crew began to really use the machine, workloads on the crew lessened, jobs were completed faster, and both he and the crew were happier. The videos you see here hint at the several ways McCarthy’s team has changed the way they approach their effort. Watch the Tent OX System take on the most strenuous or time-consuming tasks, including materials movement from truck to tent, driving and pulling stakes, pushing center poles on big pole tents and speeding structure installs.
Now, Tent OX is entirely integrated into the team’s activities out in the field. Not long after investing in their first Tent OX, the business went on to purchase a second Tent OX system and later a third!
10:15 AM – Pushing poles on the first tent. For this Aztec 60 x 160 twin pole tent, a pair of Avant 700 Series loaders use the OX Push attachment to push two center poles.
By the time the pictures and videos for this blog were taken in May at Cornell University, Sean had just taken delivery of a FOURTH Tent OX System, making McCarthy Tents first Tent OX customer to break the three-machine record! Tent OX also was the key to allowing them to put up five tents (with some stake driving the day before) in a day, using a full 12-person crew in the morning and dropping down to a six-person crew for the last three tents in the afternoon.
10:45 AM – Raising frame of a second tent. A 40 x 80 frame tent is the second install of the morning. A combination of upright winches and Sean running the Tent OX System lifts the frame up in a hurry.
Videos of Tent OX in Action
Thanks to Sean and his remarkable crew for allowing us to tag along on the job at Cornell University. We watched him put up four of the five Aztec tents that day (some of them had been staked the day before to give them a head start).
11:30 AM – Two tents done, three to go. These two frame and pole tents were done before Noon using two Tent OX systems. Half the crew went off to another job, while a crew of six remained to finish another three additional tents that day.
By the time we left a little after 4pm, they were off to set up a fifth tent on campus before breaking for the day at 6:30pm. The following week was even bigger, on the same campus, where they reset a few tents in new locations and added additional tents, all in support of the University’s homecoming reunion.
11:40 AM – Shifting to another location. TwoTent OX Systems moves tent materials onto a trailer, and one Tent OX System is driven onto the trailer itself and is trucked to another location on campus to install two more tents.
1PM – Rapid transit materials handling. In the afternoon, Sean used the big Tent OX System 755 Avant loader to move poles required to install a 40 x 80 and 60 x 130 Aztec pole tents, no hand carries! A 60” high-back OX Fork attachment stabilizes heavy loads.
1:20 pm: The Tent OX can’t do everything! Sean McCarthy (left) lends a hand as his crew shifts fabric for a large Aztec pole tent.
2:15 pm – Third tent complete. A 6-person crew put up this 60 x 130 Aztec tent with one Tent OX System in under three hours, including lacing. Staking for the five tents put up this day was done the previous day.
4:15 pm – Four tents done, one to go! The afternoon crew pauses in front of a just completed 40 x 80 Aztec tent before moving to another campus location to install their fifth (!) tent of the day.
The Tent OX tent installation system helped Sean enjoy his work more, and it helped build his business further in a few, short years. Read more about why McCarthy Tents uses Tent OX.
Let us answer your questions and tell you more about why tent and event businesses from coast to coast are quickly investing in one…two…or more Tent OX tent installation systems!