It can be hot and filthy work in a steel mill or a foundry, so the cranes working there need to be tough just to do their job day in and day out.
But crane controls do not have to be simple to be durable.
The former Rouge Steel plant in the USA is testament to a new way of thinking, that heavy steel cranes can also be smart. It has installed digital drives that improve control and reduce electricity consumption (see article, p. 18).
Granted the controls cost more to maintain, and require a different kind of maintenance work. But maybe in these technological times, we should think about training people to work smarter, not harder.
* I would like to apologise to GIS and Ingersoll-Rand Assembly Solutions for the unintentional swipe I took at them in my comment last month about the R Stahl Foerdertechnik takeover. Both are parts of industrial conglomerates, like R Stahl was – and I asked whether their similar structure might make them attractive for acquisition by hoist companies. Or that’s what I meant to say. Unfortunately I implied that because they are part of industrial conglomerates they are badly run. I have no reason to think that, or to say so. Sorry.
