If you have have been struggling along with an unsatisfactory old crane, and put off replacing it for fear of the cost, it may be that refurbishment is the appropriate solution, according to the regeneration team of Scottish company KCI Carruthers.
KCI Regeneration claims that three of its recent projects for separate clients have demonstrated the potential benefits of refurbishment over replacement.
First, British Steel in Wales had a crane down because of a failed hoist rope drum and gearbox. It was removed, refurbished, re-fitted and back in action within just four days, Carruthers reports.
Second, Cumbria-based Iggesund Paper & Board had IP55 motors and KCI’s proprietary Dynahoist and Dynac invertor control features fitted to its intensively-worked main paper machine crane.
Thirdly, Alcan in Merseyside had its main crane upgraded by KCI Regeneration, with new motors fitted with Dynahoist and Dynac controls.
With all three contracts together having a combined value of no more than £120,000 ($190,000), KCI Carruthers says that these projects “prove that it is often the most economically efficient step to have a crane modernised rather than ordering in a new one or limping along with less than satisfactory performance from an old machine”.
KCI Carruthers also completed two new installations in the UK in the last two months of 1998, which together were worth more than £250,000 ($400,000) to the company.
Four M6-class Goliath double girder cranes with spans of 12m to 24m and capacities of 10t each were installed for Birdport in Gwent. The cranes are used for handling steel coils and are fitted with Dynac invertor speed control on the travel motion, CUI condition monitoring units and Remox radio remote control.
The second contract was for Kirby Steel Tubes of Merseyside, for which Carruthers installed six M6 class, 3.2t capacity, 15.5m span cranes from KCI’s XL range.
Four of these cranes have 2×1.6t hoists and two have a single 3.2t hoist. All are pendant controlled and have stepless speed controls for up to 60m/min.
