ADVERTORIAL FEATURE
cameras, sensors and software functions may contribute to the operating concept, but the safety architecture must be established according to the identified risks and required safety functions.
production by the warehouse management system. Rather than operators deciding every movement, the system dynamically manages priorities, storage locations, product tracking and crane task allocation in real time. The impact can be significant. Projects have demonstrated productivity improvements of up to 30%, crane availability exceeding 98% in automatic mode and maintenance cost reductions of up to 25 to 30%.
Safety must evolve with automation Moving from conventional operator-controlled equipment toward remote and autonomous operation also changes the way people interact with the crane. Consequently, the safety concept has to evolve with the operating concept. The transition requires risk assessment and consideration of situations associated with crane travel, suspended loads, access to operational areas, visibility, communication failures and transitions between operating modes. Safety-related control functions must be designed and
validated according to the required performance level or safety integrity level, with particular attention to controlled transitions between manual, maintenance, remote and automatic operating modes. Importantly, automation does not replace functional safety. Motion control, anti-sway, positioning systems,
Automation also changes the operator’s role At higher levels of automation, human involvement can increasingly shift towards supervision, exception management and intervention when operating conditions fall outside the automated process. This is particularly relevant in industrial environments facing workforce and skills challenges. Rather than considering automation purely as a means of removing an operator, it can be viewed as a way of reorganising how human expertise is used. Operational knowledge remains valuable, but the operator’s role can evolve from continuously driving an individual crane towards supervising multiple assets and managing increasingly automated material-handling processes.
From crane data to predictive maintenance One of the greatest opportunities for industrial operations lies in transforming data into actionable intelligence. Schneider Electric’s Automation-Ready Crane
Architecture is designed not only to control the crane, but also to establish the digital foundation required to exploit its operational data available from drives, instrumentation and crane automation. The available data can come from various technologies and systems, including variable frequency drives, positioning and angle sensors, load measurement systems, vibration and temperature sensors, energy monitoring, equipment alarms and operational events. The next step is to transform appropriate data into information that maintenance teams can use. Condition monitoring and analytical tools can support the earlier identification of abnormal electrical and mechanical behaviour to help maintenance teams investigate potential issues before they result in unplanned production interruptions. For critical production environments, where an unexpected crane outage can impact the wider production chain, these capabilities can support the transition from reactive maintenance towards more condition-based and predictive maintenance strategies.
Building the automation-ready crane together The automation-ready crane is less a product than an architectural philosophy. The objective is not necessarily to automate every crane but to ensure that today’s engineering decisions do not become tomorrow’s limitations. By combining the crane expertise of the OEM, the
process knowledge of the end user and Schneider Electric’s experience in automation, motion control, functional safety and digital technologies, cranes can be designed not simply for their next lift, but for their next operating model. This collaboration should start early. Decisions concerning mechanical design, electrical architecture, sensors, communications and safety can then reflect not only how the crane will operate at commissioning, but how the asset may need to evolve throughout its operating life. Automation is not a product. It is a journey.
Top left: Real-time monitoring system providing condition- based alerts and advanced diagnostics.
Bottom Left: 3D yard visualisation for real-time monitoring of product locations, material movements, equipment status and other logistics functions.
Top left: Schneider Electric’s C-Sense Predictive Maintenance solution.
Bottom left: A view of C-Sense available trends combining real-time condition monitoring and historical data analysis to support maintenance decisions.
www.hoistmagazine.com | November/December 2026 | 39
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