EQUIPMENT FOCUSCRANES more news at www.heavyliftpfi.com


Liebherr’s new eight- axle 450-tonne lift capacity crane has an 85 m telescopic boom.


Innovation in design and technology means that heavy-duty cranes are increasingly strong and versatile. Yvonne Mulder looks at some of the innovations across the sector.


rane manufacturers must be innovative or they will go out of


taller and larger windmills. “The wind energy sector has


business, said Wolfgang Beringer of Liebherr’s mobile and crawler crane division. “Cranes have to work but they also do a lot of waiting, especially in the heavy lift market, so they usually last a long time,” he explained. “Also, the lifting is very controlled, so there should not be hard shocks and the cranes do not have a lot of parts that wear out.” Liebherr’s answer is to


develop new cranes that increase the range of possibilities for its customers. This is especially evident in the wind power market where building higher capacity cranes enables the construction of


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driven mobile crane design and production in the last few years, especially with the slowdown in the oil, gas and steel sectors,” Beringer said. This growth is especially evident in Central Europe, although India, China, the USA and South America are also increasing their use of wind power.


Redesigns And the answer is not always to design a completely new crane, but to redesign – and even retrofit – existing models. “Customers might say they have a 5 m higher tower but now want to load something that is just 2 tonnes more. They do not want a new model, so ask if we can do something to


Innovating to survive C


The wind energy sector has driven mobile crane design and production in the last few years, especially with the slowdown in the oil, gas and steel sectors. –Wolfgang Beringer, Liebherr


the configuration or boom, for instance, to increase capacity,” Beringer added. Yannick Sel, senior sales


manager, global projects division at UK headquartered ALE, said that in an increasingly competitive environment, companies delivering heavy lift services have to offer something new. “We have to stay innovative in order not to be commoditised. Clients are more price driven, so innovation is key to adding value. So it is a win-win for the client as well.” ALE’s research and


development team is working on a number of innovations, continually utilising the experience and knowledge gained by the engineering of its AL.SK cranes and other bespoke solutions on existing projects. It is currently building a new heavy-duty jib that can fit onto


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