MAY 2022 | NEWS
BB CRANES UPGRADES MANUFACTURING FACILITY
wholly-owned subsidiary of the Condra group of companies. The acquisition, completed last month,
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is expected to increase BB’s share of the Western Cape market over time. Johannesburg-headquartered
Condra manufactures custom-designed overhead cranes, portal cranes, jib cranes, hoists and general crane components for countries throughout central and southern Africa, as well as North America, South America, Asia and Eastern Europe. According to BB Cranes director
Barry Brink, the additional resources of the Condra group will expand his factory’s manufacturing and refurbishing
ape Town crane manufacturer BB Cranes has upgraded its manufacturing capacity, as part of plans to become a
capabilities, increase capacity and improve productivity. “We will be able to manufacture more
cranes more quickly and efficiently than before, and we will be able to more energetically serve the Western Cape market. Our focus will continue to be on the Western Cape Province. Our intention is to reach additional customers and to expand our base of over 400 successful installations,” said Brink. He added, the first of the factory
upgrades resulting from the changed shareholding, a girder jig, had already been installed and commissioned to enable quicker, more efficient manufacture of cambered girder box sections, reducing production time by approximately 75%. BB Cranes’ staff and branding will
remain the same. The company will operate independently within the Condra group, and existing employees will continue to service the customer base. A condition of the acquisition is that
all workers there retain their jobs. The management team is to remain in place, and the expertise of the founder Barry Brink, now in semi-retirement, will continue to be available to all customers whenever needed. BB Cranes was originally established in 1992 to marry crane girders and electrification systems manufactured in Cape Town to technically complex hoists, crabs, end-carriages and other crane components supplied by Condra, saving customers the cost of transport between
12 | May 2022 |
www.hoistmagazine.com
Johannesburg and the Mother City. Majority-owned by Condra since 2016, the company is currently working towards the ISO 9000 certification of the parent company group. Cranes made by BB have shown a
steady increase in size over the years, from the 11-metre-span overhead gantry cranes manufactured in the original Paarden Eiland factory, to the 25 and 26-metre spans of recent orders made at the current works in Rivergate Industrial Park. Though the majority of new deliveries have spans and capacities of around 20 metres and 50 tons, the company has the ability to deliver cranes with spans of any length, and capacities of up to 250 tons. The majority of orders are for single and double-girder electric overhead travelling cranes, and for portal machines. There are four service teams, which can
supply installation services, load testing, commissioning and other maintenance capabilities for their clients. Recent contracts have included a 5-ton
portal crane for Everflo (refrigeration systems), a 16-metre-span 20 ton portal crane for a local power station, and two 5 ton container handling portal cranes for Bumbo (baby products). Ongoing work is provided by orders
for overhead travelling cranes placed by wastewater treatment works. BB Cranes enjoys a competitive advantage in this market because of the shot-blast zinc metal spray paint specification, supplied in South Africa by only one company which is also based in Cape Town. ●
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