Castings Take Manitowoc Co.’s Cranes to Great Heights


For one of the world’s largest crane manufacturers, maintaining good casting help has become a priority.


Shea Gibbs, Senior Editor


experienced metalcasting expert re- tired in early 2010 is a priority. The company purchases a variety


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of steel castings for each model of the large industrial crawler cranes it produces. Though a spokesperson for the company declined to disclose exactly how much Manitowoc spends on castings annually, he indicated the components are key to the manufac- ture of its equipment. “On all of the most critical compo-


nents, or as a part of the most critical components, castings play a huge role,” said Tim Reybrock, a senior member of the crane builder’s sourcing team. To build its complicated machin-


ery, Manitowoc Cranes maintains a 575,00-sq.-ft. assembly plant on 92 acres in Wisconsin, where it performs a variety of machining and fabricating processes to produce the non-cast components it requires. Determining where castings might be used and how they will fit into a completed crane is a critical step in the process of de- signing the OEM’s products. “We’re about strength, strength


and weight loss, weight loss,” said Steve Brahm, Manitowoc’s vice president of operations. Unlocking metalcasting’s ability


to provide those improvements has fallen to a new group of designing and sourcing personnel with less knowledge of the manufacturing process than those who preceded it. “[The] engineer that retired six


months ago…was more of an expert than I am,” said Joel Zick, a staff engineer who has been thrust into


September/OctOber 2010


ani towoc Cranes, Mani towoc, Wis. , knows replacing the casting experience it lost when its most


the role of casting guru. “I have tried to follow in his footsteps. We try to stay knowledgeable [about the casting pro- cess], and I hope that continues.”


The Crane Gang The Manitowoc Co. Inc. has op-


erations in approximately 20 countries worldwide, and its crane division is comprised of four brands—Grove, Na- tional Crane and Potain, in addition to Manitowoc crawler cranes. The Manito- woc Crane division offers 16 different lattice-boom crawler crane models, ranging in capacity from 80-3,100 tons, as well as several lattice-boom truck cranes and wheeled cranes for special industrial and marine applications. According to Tom Cioni, Manitowoc’s director of worldwide marketing com- munications, the company’s product line is expanding rapidly. “We introduce 10-15 new products per year worldwide,” he said. While not all of those product intro-


ductions are directly related to produc- tion in Manitowoc, new releases mean the division is often in search of new metal casting suppliers. On both new and existing models, Manitowoc Cranes


Cranes, and More


said the heavy lifting equipment is still their bread and butter. Manitowoc was started in 1902 as a


I


shipbuilding and repair organization. It entered the lattice-boom crane business in the mid-1920s and added commercial refrigeration equipment, which eventually broadened into a full foodservice equipment arm, shortly after World War II.


METAL


n addition to its cranes, Manitowoc Co. Inc. produces a variety of foodservice items, but the company’s employees


consistently sends out updated requests for quote and seeks fresh “value propo- sitions” (areas where the supplier be- lieves it can save the buyer time, money or both) from potential sources. “We are pleased with our suppli-


ers but not set,” Reybrock said. “We are opening the door to [metalcasting facilities] or value propositions. We are pleased but not complacent.” From year to year, the number of


machines sold by Manitowoc varies greatly, in turn varying the number of metal castings the company pur- chases. During a good year, Brahm said Manitowoc can sell upwards of 100 cranes in a particular model; in a down year, the same model might sell in the single digits. In addition to the plant at its head-


quarters in Manitowoc, Manitowoc Crane also builds cranes in Germany, France, Italy, India and China. The company sells its cranes—all of which have to be assembled and tested on its grounds before being disas- sembled, shipped and reassembled in the field—all over the world. That affects the company’s casting sourcing strategy, as well. “We have a handful of suppliers,


both domestic and global,” Cioni said. “We balance localization vs. globalization. Castings would be some of the heaviest parts on the crane, so [the sourcing] needs to be as local as possible.”


The Purchase List Manitowoc Cranes buys more


track shoes than any other cast metal component. The shoes, rectangular and file cabinet-sized pieces of steel, are the “feet” of the large cranes’ crawler treads. Each machine has more than 100 track shoes that make


metal caSting DeSign anD purchaSing 23


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