Capital Equipment News October 2016

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS

OCTOBER 2016

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

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.

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.

JOHNSON CRANE HIRE MAKES LIGHT WORK OF

TOUGH HEAVY LIFT

BOBCATS TO THE RESCUE

MATERIALS HANDLING

Johnson

Crane Hire

used its 750 t

mobile crane

to undertake

all three lifts.

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.”

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

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.

Skyjack partners with university to innovate scissor, boom designs