solutions can be introduced to address specific challenges. “It is not necessary to implement everything at once,” she adds. “An incremental approach allows operators to validate what works, demonstrate value early and scale based on proven outcomes. What works for one operation may not work in the same way for another.” The company recently launched its Digital Campus to help customers realise the full benefits of its products. It combines practical and theoretical training environments. The practical elements aim to reflect real customer operations, with application- focused scenarios.
“Our Digital Solution Campus is about making digital solutions tangible for our customers,” says Gallacher. “This helps them assess how the solutions fit into their processes and what value they deliver in day-to-day use. It also strengthens the feedback loop and brings us closer to operational realities.”
Adoption rates The industry is now embracing digitalisation at a rapid pace. Kuenz has noticed a significant uptick in adoption rates in the past few years. Customer usage has increased sixfold in the past two years, while its own people’s use of the system has increased four times during the same period. “It is exciting to see more terminal
operators realising the value of Big Data,” says Eberharter. “We have seen significant increases in adoption in the past two years. And above that, we can see usage from existing customers. This shows that they are getting more out of the system. I still get the feeling that the industry needs more time to fully realise all the benefits of Big Data, so we need to be patient.” One reason the adoption is slower than in other areas of lifting equipment is the product life cycle. “The typical life of a crane is 20 to 30 years,” says Eberharter. “It is not like a cell phone where it is replaced every three years. But we still see that interest is growing and that is very exciting for me.” Kalmar has seen digital subscriptions
surge by 300% since 2020, and the adoption rate of customers buying Kalmar parts online has increased by 63% since 2021. “We can definitely see a huge demand and interest from the customer side, and we focus a lot on expanding the value offering in our digital platforms,” says Reinhold. While its MyKalmar customer portal
is free of charge and open to all Kalmar customers, modules such as Geofence and
Alina Reinhold, Kalmar’s director of digital services business.
www.hoistmagazine.com | July/August 2026 | xvii Liebherr has launched a Digital Campus to help customers see the benefits of digitalisation.
Inspector come with a subscription fee. “The main reason for that is that the value and payback of such solutions is immense considering the investment,” adds Reinhold. “Making decisions based on data and facts is powerful and customers are on that track.”
Key benefits The rise of terminal operating systems (TOS) means that terminal operators increasingly understand the importance of oversight. “We can only focus on the crane within that ecosystem,” says Eberharter. “But this is a very important element.” Common KPIs used by its
customers include monthly productivity reports based on total number of crane movements. Its Kuenz Information System (KIS) uses traffic lights graphics to highlight when a crane is underutilised or working at capacity.
Aligned with this is crane availability, highlighting periods when the crane was inactive due to breakdowns or scheduled maintenance. The user can also see periods of availability for scheduling maintenance or identify fallow periods where they can bring in more trucks or trains for loading and offloading.
“One of our clients used this KPI to identify that their cranes were running at full capacity,” says Eberharter. “This informed their investment decision to buy another crane.” In addition, the user can drill down into when a crane operator starts and ends their shift, and how many crane movements occurred during that shift. The system can also monitor idling time – when a crane is turned on, but none of its four axes of movement are engaged. “Every normal operation will involve some waiting time,” says Eberharter. “However, sometimes this
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