A main theme was how trade associations can help companies in the crane industry. FEM president Heinz Kempkes, who is also managing director of German firm Kuli Hebezeuge, spoke about the Fédération Européene de Manutention, 50 years old in 2003. This European materials handling trade association develops technical standards, encourages safety at work, helps lobby for the industry, and promotes cooperation within the industry. The association includes a lifting equipment and hoisting equipment committee.
According to another speaker, Yukinori Ouchi, president of the Japan Crane Association, in 2003 there were more than 100,000 overhead cranes working in Japan, 24 of which were over 500t capacity. Crane drivers need a license to operate cranes over 5t capacity. Every year the association holds a crane safety conference and crane operator competition.
Afternoon sessions on both days focused in more detail about overhead cranes.
Two speakers focused on control systems. ABB’s Kari Kovanen took a small-scale approach. He argued that its AC drives are often the best way to control motors on overhead cranes and can render PLCs unnecessary. The AC induction motors that they control are common and relatively inexpensive. ABB’s motor controls can remember the last torque output, to prevent the slight drop of loads that were being hoisted, then stopped, and then started again. They can also perform torque proving, where they check the mechanics of the system and their own ability to produce torque before the brake is opened.
In summarising a four-year international research project to develop new crane control systems, Janusz Szpytko, a professor of Poland’s AGH University of Science and Technology, looked at the bigger picture. The research programme developed four bits of crane-related software for maintenance management, performance monitoring, crane girder displacement prediction and track supervision system. PPHU EkoEnergia of Poland is selling the system.
Two speakers touched on the management of crane operators.
Swedish lifting engineer Thomas Hagman explained the crane operator training and certification system that he developed reduced crane accidents at Ringhals nuclear plants of Sweden. The system cut training costs by 40% and reduced the percentage of accidents due to operator errors by a third.
Ergonomist Andy Nicholson, of the UK’s Hu-Tech, explained how international standards EN 1005 and ISO 11228 are lowering the limits of the heaviest loads that people can lift by hand in factories – on the order of 20kg (45 lbs). Anything heavier will need to be lifted by a machine, which gives factory crane vendors an opportunity, he said.
Two speakers covered the work of maintaining cranes. Freek Hillebrand explained how the company manages the 500-odd cranes working at the Corus steel facility in Ijmuiden, Holland helping make steel strip and sheet products. He explained that the company requires a rail for a harness attachment on all new cranes. Liquid metal-carrying cranes must be single-failure proof and be specced with redundant drives. He went on to cover the company’s crane inspection regime. Hot items included end switches, wheel break support, anti-collision devices, and overload safety devices.
Walter Heinrichs shared his wealth of experience detecting cracks in mobile and overhead crane girders for Norway’s tk certification agency Det Norske Veritas. He focused particularly on how welding heat can create tension in box girders that are not properly prepared for it. He also argued that the FEM’s duty cycle standards for grab cranes are not sufficiently robust.
Derrick Bailes, chief executive of the Lifting Equipment Engineers Association, spoke about how to manage a stock of lifting tackle. “Last-minute lash-ups made under pressure of time and money are a common cause of accidents,” he said. He advised companies to plan ahead, specify lifting points, consider how to connect and set down and release the load, think more widely about the equipment and invest in safety.
The conference was sponsored by Ainscough Crane Hire, Kobelco, Modulift and Terex-Demag.
