SECTOR SPOTLIGHT Ӏ REPAIR AND REFURBISHMENT
also impacting the OEMs. Because their customers don’t have the skills in house, the OEMs are having to send out technicians to do simple jobs like oil changes. “Their service and maintenance
workload is growing, which impacts their ability to deal with breakdowns as an engineer can’t be in two places at once.” However, part of Crowland’s
growth can be attributed to Pete’s promotion of collaboration rather than competition. “We work with all the major OEMs; they all make use of our facilities in some form or function. We paint cranes for some of them and fabricate for others. Technically we do compete against them for repair and refurbishment work, but in my view, there is plenty of work out there for all of us.”
MARKET ADVANTAGE Pete believes that Crowland’s unique position in the UK marketplace means it can offer a better service to the crane industry. “In many cases, we can be a lot more fluid and responsive than the manufacturer,” he says. “We are not a massive corporation, so we can make decisions straight away. For example, some OEM parts can have quite long lead times. We can fabricate the steel parts we need like panel work, which speeds up the process for the customer. We prefer to fit an OEM’s deck panel or cover where we can. However, if the manufacturer is quoting a three-month lead time, that’s no good for our customer. So, we make them one instead. “We have the capabilities to do about 95 percent of it all in house. Pretty much the only thing we can’t make is the specialist hydraulic cylinders. Having this level of control over the entire process means we can quote realistic and accurate lead times.”
GLOW-UP FOR 50-YEAR-OLD GROVE
A rough terrain crane in Kenya will mark its 50th birthday looking as good as the day it was built – and performing even better. Cranes are renowned for their long working life, but 50 years is still an
exceptional achievement. The Grove RT75S rough terrain crane has been in service since 1975, and
is currently deployed in Malindi, Kenya. The crane is owned by a multinational organisation that gathers and transmits satellite messages and works at a remote facility near the equator. The owners wanted to give the crane a new lease of life, so they turned to
Manitowoc’s local dealer, Ports & Harbours Support Services, a logistics and equipment company based in nearby Mombasa. Glyn Cross, the sales and marketing director of Ports & Harbours, led the
team in evaluating the crane before any work started. Through their detective work they discovered that the machine had been manufactured at the Shady Grove factory in Pennsylvania, U.S., back in 1975. But unfortunately, there were no records available to help – no manuals, load charts, nor displays. Undeterred, the team assessed the work required to bring the crane back to operational status, also calling on the expertise of Manitowoc’s EnCORE refurbishment specialists. The restoration plan included:
• Re-sealing of the hoist cylinder • Re-sealing of outrigger cylinders and jacks • Complete refurbishment of service and parking brake systems
• Replacement of all gauges • Full service of the engine and transmission • Installation of a completely new LMI system Ports & Harbours sourced the spare parts through Manitowoc and called on the company’s EnCORE consultants for insights and guidance. The refurbishment took a full week, but has completely restored the
crane’s functionality. “Manitowoc’s parts support and its EnCORE specialists really came
through for us for this project,” said Glyn. “The customer was thrilled that their nearly 50-year-old Grove crane continues to deliver value.”
CRANES TODAY 55
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