TECHNOLOGY REPORT | OVERHEAD CRANE CONTROLS


As a stand-alone feature, it’s an easy


to set up laser positioning system. With it the user can install multiple no-fly zones within a runway, and it includes slow- down functions that restrict the hook movement to, say, only the upper portion when the crane travels over certain zones. Intelli-Lift is the company’s off-center pick control, ensuring the load is vertically below the hook when the operator lifts it. Every product in the Columbus


McKinnon suite is designed to be field retrofittable. As Butte says; “they’re all designed with the thought that a customer can put them on an existing crane and realize the benefit from better safety and stronger productivity.” Mazzella Companies, in Cleveland, Ohio, prides itself on offering the crane owner everything under one roof. The company has devoted product research and development efforts in productivity and safety. As a result, its no-fly and collision avoidance systems have been well received by customers. Recently, Mazzella worked with Laser-


View Technologies, Chester Springs, PA, to develop a hoist monitoring system to prevent or mitigate side pulling and snag loading. “Snag load can happen in an automotive facility where you’re swapping out 20- or 30-ton dies, stacked in a die field. The operator knows which die he needs and will pull it from the die field to take to the press,” explains Kenneth Wright, Mazzella’s vice president, process cranes and modernizations. “If a guy forgets to unhook one side


of the die bolster, the die can tip at an angle and can possibly pull. It becomes snagged when the load is hoisted while it’s still connected somewhere.” Wright believes one of the biggest challenges for the overhead crane industry right now is that younger operators tend to run cranes like a computer console game. As a result, safety has become


“a big deal” in the industry, he says. It’s reassuring that most companies have a high standard for acceptable crane operation. “They don’t just bring somebody in off the street and say ‘read this book.’” However, operator unfamiliarity with a particular crane’s operation can also be a factor in customers’ seeking simple no-fly and crane monitoring systems, explains Steven Lubeck, Laser-View president. “One of the things that happens in facilities such as automotive plants


is people rotate in and out of different departments. An operator may work on a different crane and may not know how the machine will react.” Similarly, the worker may lack the


training required to operate a particular machine and may not realize the crane is unable to stop on a dime, he says. The company’s Crane Sentry products,


chiefly its no-fly zone system, came about at the request of a customer who wanted to keep its cranes with a load from hitting automotive stamping presses. “We take some of the equipment sensitivity out of the mix and make the system more robust. Where we shine is our no-fly zone systems, which have come to life in the past two years along with hoist safety.” In steel and automotive fabrication plants, no-fly systems keep the crane from hitting buildings, presses and machines, and keep people from lifting


a load unsafely. “Imagine picking up a 40-ton die and the load is 12 inches off center as you’re standing next to it,” says Lubeck. “The minute you pick up the load it will swing faster than you can get out of the way. People get smashed or maimed. Our system mitigates side loading or off- center picks.” If systems that ensure safety are


number one on the shopping list, number two is technology that helps achieve higher production levels under the right conditions. Employers “don’t necessarily want crane operators to work quickly, but to operate more precisely - and to prevent damages to staff, equipment, or material being lifted,” says Lubeck. Wright cites an incident at an


automotive plant in Mexico as an example of the need for safety equipment. “They had an incident involving a snag load with a die in the stack. The die fell, and the


Q Mazzella and Laser-View Technologies partnered on a hoist monitoring system that mitigates side pulling.


www.hoistmagazine.com | May 2022 | 33


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