Capital Equipment News July 2018

TOWER CRANES

infrastructure projects (roads, bridge building sites or large hall building sites), you are even more flexible. You can change position of crane in less than one hour,” says Maier. Safe operation Safety is a very important parameter in any materials handling project of any nature. Maier says a fast-erecting crane is completely secured, because there are sensors that prevent overloading. Moreover, using modern cranes with PLC, manipulation is no longer possible. “Other features, such as operating-range limiting systems, prevent loads from swinging over hazardous areas, such as train tracks or busy roads. In general, relatively few accidents happen in comparison to other crane systems,” he says. Since the crane driver can always stand where he picks up or drops the load, he always sees what the fast-erecting crane is doing, reasons Maier. “There are no blind spots, meaning that he always has everything under control. Besides, there are no communication problems because he can always see the complete building site,” he adds. Zaffiro says having a self-erecting crane helps avoid a congested job site; this immediately creates a safer working environment. Then there’s the remote operation – by controlling the crane erection and dismantling with a remote control, this brings a high level of safety, particularly as the operator can keep his distance during operation. Also, the crane operation remote control provides key safety indicators to make the operations as safe and efficient as possible. Speaking of uptake of self-erecting tower cranes globally, Zaffiro says at the moment, the self-erecting crane culture is very European but it deserves to be implemented across the world. “We have already dispatched our self-erecting cranes to different Uptake in focus

Potain’s Hup 32-27 crane, one of the biggest models, uses only 4 m x 4 m on the ground while operating up to a 4-t capacity at 40 m high.

continents and we are noticing a growing interest in its characteristics: ease-of-operation, compactness and versatility,” says Zaffiro. He is of the view that training potential users is key to the market development of self-erecting cranes. “Customers can be afraid of change, especially considering that self-erecting cranes are still quite unknown in some areas until now. This can make potential buyers apprehensive about trying something new. Having the cranes available to try is the key to removing this uncertainty,” he says. Maier says in Central Europe, the fast-erecting crane of up to 45/50 m radius is the standard offering. Most projects – residential buildings up to 35 m height, civil engineering and industrial hall – are built with fast-erecting cranes. Top-slewing cranes are only used if it is not possible to use a fast-erecting crane, for example, due to large required hook heights or payloads. “Outside Europe, the fast-erecting crane isn’t known very well. In this case, an alternative lifting tool is often used for smaller building projects (telescopic handlers, terrain crane, goods lift). Of course, when building high-rise constructions in fast-growing mega cities, the top-slewing crane is preferred. But, nowadays even outside Europe, more and more customers are discovering the benefits of the fast- erecting crane compared to other hoists,” concludes Maier. ❂

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS JULY 2018 10