Capital Equipment News October 2016

MATERIALS HANDLING

BOBCATS TO THE RESCUE

JOHNSON CRANE HIRE MAKES LIGHT WORK OF TOUGH HEAVY LIFT

Johnson Crane Hire recently proved its lifting prowess on a challenging heavy lift project for a large marine diamond miner in Cape Town, South Africa. As part of routine quarterly maintenance, dredging vessels are brought into the Cape Town harbour where the necessary servicing and repair work is undertaken in the dry dock. In this particular instance, Johnson Crane Hire was called upon to remove three large components from the vessel, being the vessel’s 52 t gimbal head, the 42 t derrick and the 20 t crown. Removal of these large components facili- tated important repairs to both these critical items and the dredging vessel. A set number of days had been allocated to the mainte- nance programme and this meant that all contractors needed to adhere to the work schedule. Careful planning played an import- ant role in ensuring the successful comple- tion of the lifts, says Richard Simmons, heavy lift hydraulic cranes manager at Johnson Crane Hire. Close interface between the crane special- ist and the mining house’s own maintenance teams was critical. “The mining house had allocated exactly 35 days to the maintenance programme and we therefore had to ensure that we were able to meet their lifting dead- lines,” he says. Among the challenges that Johnson Crane Hire had to contend with on this specialised lift was the high wind speeds that occur in the area, which at times can reach 108 km per hour. This caused lift- ing operations to be stopped during such pe- riods. Conditions were monitored and close communication between the operator and the team on the ground was essential as the lifts could only be done when the wind was below 38 km per hour. Another complex- ity was the extremely congested working environment on the quay side, where there Skyjack partnered with fourth-year industri- al design students from the Bachelor in Indus- trial Design program offered by Humber Col- lege’s School of Applied Technology, which is based in Toronto, Canada. Skyjack challenged the students to work on the aesthetic styling of Skyjack’s DC scissors, RT scissors, articulat- ed booms and telescopic booms. “This styling project was awesome. When we interacted with a lift on our own, we saw different areas where we could improve the machine’s ergonomics,” says Michelle Tran, a student who participated

Durban recently experienced heavy rain- falls and floods which left debris washed down from the rivers along the coastlines. With the huge task of cleaning up rest- ing on Parks & Beaches and the Durban Municipality, Goscor Group’s Bobcat divi- sion offered to be involved in restoring the coastlines. “We approached Parks & Beaches man- ager, Bruce Blake, and Durban Municipali- ty’s technical engineering manager, Godfrey Vella, to offer our assistance,” says Bobcat’s Brian Rachman. “Using the T870 Bobcat fitted with a skeleton bucket, we managed to push and stockpile huge amounts of litter over a three- day period from the Blue Lagoon river mouth. This machinery enabled us to lift most of the heavy debris, leaving the beach sand behind. For collecting the finer material, we used the new beach cleaner attachment.” “When dealing with the outcome of natural disasters, particularly along our coastlines, every type of assistance is most welcome. It is indeed a mammoth task to get our beaches and parks to the state they were in before being hit by heavy rains and floods. “Companies such as Bobcat have demonstrated their commitment to keeping our areas clean and safe, and we commend them for coming forward without waiting on us to call for help. Watching the machinery in action was an amazing sight,” says Bruce Blake, Parks & Beaches manager. Bobcat machines were recently used to lift most of the heavy debris at the Durban coastline. Skyjack’s recent partnership with college students has resulted in potential concepts for the company’s future scissors and boom designs. Among the ideas students proposed were concepts for terrain detection and new camera systems. “The students’ designs were an impres- sive mix of innovation and practicality,” says Malcolm Early, vice-president of market, Sky- jack. “They independently visited customers and job sites, then used those inputs to come up with innovative ideas ranging from terrain detection to camera systems.”

Johnson Crane Hire used its 750 t mobile crane to undertake all three lifts.

was just enough space in the laydown area to place equipment and lower the boom and luffing section of the crane. Johnson Crane Hire used its 750 t mobile crane to undertake all three lifts. The crane was equipped with 204 t of counterweight and a 31,5 m luffing jib. The first component to be lifted was the gimbal head as this was on the critical path of the project. “With a 35 m lifting radius, the gimbal was the most complicated component to lift, and required accurate movements to extract it from the vessel in the dry dock and raise it safely out of the ship,” says Simmons. The crane’s sophisticated guide system helped to accurately control the deflections on the boom during all the lifts. This was particularly important during the lifting of the gimbal head. While state-of- the-art equipment is essential in ensuring successful lifts, Simmons is quick to point out that the company has a large pool of skilled operators. “Our operators have extensive heavy lift experience, and undergo regular training both in-house and at crane OEMs.” This is exactly what continues to give Johnson Crane Hire its competitive edge in the heavy lifting market. b in the project. “One thing I learnt through this project is that whatever we designed, we had to take manufacturability and keeping costs low into consideration.” The partnership was part of an industri- al design practices course, where faculty members in charge, Dennis L. Kappen and Glenn Moffatt, asked 27 students to re- search competitive brands, visit equipment rental companies, conduct ethnographic research and assimilate operators and rental companies’ feedback on the Skyjack products. b

Skyjack partners with university to innovate scissor, boom designs

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS OCTOBER 2016 8