The Asian facility, which completes assembly of large engines primarily for aircrafts, has taken delivery of its second e10 hook with plans already in place for the possible placing of orders for additional units.

The Elebia hooks work with overhead cranes to lift modules and engines, and in this case, are being used for the lifting of Trent engine modules, which weigh between 1t and 2t, while a complete engine is 5t.

The company’s facility comprises 154,000 square-metres and is the largest aerospace facility in Singapore.

It is designed to allow the simultaneous assembly and testing of Rolls-Royce Trent 900 and Trent 1000 aero engines, while at full capacity, SATU can produce up to 250 engines per year.

The Trent 900 aero engine was developed for the Airbus A380 family. It is claimed to deliver the lowest lifetime fuel burn in addition to its excellent environmental attributes, and been selected by 11 of the 17 airlines who operate the aircraft.

Bok Thye Boon, production leader at Rolls-Royce’s SATU facility, explains: "The Elebia hooks are simple to use and keep crane operators and those responsible for rigging at a safe distance when connecting modules and engines to lifting equipment.

Previously, when we joined the engine core to the fan case, our crane hoist was locked away for two days until the engine could be rotated to a horizontal position. "Now, with the Elebia hook, we can free up the crane hoist for other usage. We particularly like the fail-proof safety features that prevent the hook from opening when a lift is taking place." Boon, who is principally responsible for final engine assembly, explains that prior to using the Elebia hooks, it took four hours to lift the engine core to the fan case, 40 hours to connect other engine parts and tighten the flange bolts before tipping, and an additional four hours to tip the engine.

Now, the engine core is lifted to the fan case and the Elebia hook is used only as required to detach the hoist from the engine tooling and handle the tipping operation.

Boon adds: "With the Elebia tool, we can free-up 16 to 20 hours additional crane capacity on our current hoist to support other lifting work.

"We almost purchased another crane to support our factory’s lifting requirements, an investment forecasted to exceed [Singapore] $350,000."

SATU engineers first alerted Boon to the Elebia automatic hook concept earlier this year and, further to extensive research and consultation with overhead crane manufacturer, Demag, it introduced the innovation to the facility.

The overhead lifting manufacturer has installed a variety of lifting equipment at the facility, which includes a 10t/10t overhead crane, 5t jib crane and 50kg below-the-hook attachment.

The patented Elebia hook is equipped with a magnet that both attracts and positions slings and other rigging gear.