OVERHEAD CRANE CONTROLS | TECHNOLOGY REPORT
McKinnon’s global director of product management and strategic marketing. First, veteran crane operators are
retiring. That’s driving the development of features easily integrated and adapted by less-experienced operators, who may have to quickly get a feel for a crane’s capabilities and functionality. Second, the industry as a whole is
safety-conscious. More companies are bringing environmental, health, and safety officers onboard. “In the last few years, as there have become established EHS personnel in plants, the trend reverberates across the industry. Safety is an industry-wide concern,” says Butte. Company owners are making their
facilities safer to work in, while crane manufactures are making machines safer to use. While automation evolves, diagnostics and analytics are “taking the industry by storm,” say Beilfuss and Butte. But having information available at an operator’s fingertips, either by cell or tablet, is a key development. The crane owner now “can gather
information from the crane, measure certain metrics on performance, and get an idea of when a system may break down so he can keep the equipment up and running,” says Beilfuss. The crane now tells the owner when to
replace the ropes, check the bearings, oil, or brakes. Maintenance intervals “can be calculated based on the operation of the crane,” he says. Last fall, Italian industrial remote-
control manufacturer Autec introduced its LIFT series of handheld controllers, which interface with a smartphone app called My Lift Autec. Available for both Android and iOS systems, the remote control has Bluetooth technology. “Efficiency, ergonomics and ease of
use are what operators are looking for,” says Marco Chemello, marketing and communications, Autec. In addition to a rugged design, the
LIFT system displays machine status with four LEDs for data feedback. It allows the operator to monitor the currently selected hoists in a dual-hoist configuration, as well as other machine data. These types of data collection features
on overhead crane controls contribute to warehouse optimization and overall production efficiency. “Training efforts are significantly
reduced thanks to the simplicity to use,” Chemello says, but with the Autec product’s ‘smart’ installation, equipment
32 | May 2022 |
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R The Tiger LX by Tele Radio is a crane-to-crane communication system as an add-on to the company’s line of remote-control systems.
maintenance activities can be tracked through the smartphone interface. Safety, uptime, and productivity tools
now bring to bear operational matters in systems that network together. Microprocessors in the various systems harness the information that each machine tracks, says Beilfuss. In 2020, Columbus McKinnon launched
Intelli-Connect, its diagnostics package. “We’re trying now to make it the off-the- shelf version of our diagnostics package,” says Beilfuss. Butte says the coronavirus pandemic
actually moved the development forward. “I don’t want to use COVID as an excuse, but it did drive home this ability to monitor machinery and equipment remotely,” he explains. “People couldn’t get into facilities
or travel as readily. We’ve evolved the diagnostic capabilities of overhead cranes
more fully in the last couple of years.” Under the Intelli-Crane banner, Columbus McKinnon developed a suite of products, including a mobile version. Intelli-Connect Mobile takes the information from the machine to the smartphone or tablet. With it, the operator and the back office can now access the information directly from the hoist. The product is evolving to network multiple systems on a crane and multiple cranes in a facility. The version should be on the market in the next year or so, according to Butte. “This is the device most customers want,” he says. “With it, you can confirm parameters, check data trends in operations, look back at runs leading up to a fault, and determine what caused the fault. It also helps bring the hoist back online.” Intelli-Protect is the company’s proprietary no-fly zone function.
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