FEATURE | REMOTE DEVICES
Occupational safety and health standards mean that remote control use must have top-tier reliability and be totally lossless.
has delivered 700,000 remote systems worldwide to customers such as DEMAG and Fassi. While Tele Radio counts John Deere, Tesla and KoneCranes as customers. For customers, it means a broad pool of suppliers who have to deliver on basics before getting ahead of themselves. “The robustness of product [is what customers like],” says Shipley. “But also strong radio capabilities, field programme functionality and [fair] price, too.” As Shipley experiences it, it’s hardly the most innovative products that customers are asking for. They want, as he says, the basics done well: simple on-off functionality, proportional control, screen capabilities to be used on lift circuits, bridge riggers and the like. Tele Radio’s current bestseller, he says, is an affordable series of remotes, with adaptable outputs (digital, analogue or dry relay), sensitive control with a 1,000ft range: the Panther Series. Nortek Air Solutions uses this Tele Radio ‘Panther’
product to control their bridge and hoist cranes, critical to their production of air handling equipment. Their manufacturing base has 18 single-girder EOT cranes and 35 chain hoists across a massive site. As such, the Panther series was critical, especially as it has a big radio range and is certified under EN ISO 13849-1, the Functional Safety of Machinery. As Alain Leclerc, president at Groupe Industriel Premium, wrote: “Its quality, robustness and security that matter.”
But suppliers are delivering on innovation, too.
The ‘secure’ Panther Series also enables control of multiple hoists at once with no festooning, as well as
cost reduction, with maximum adaptability to fit any standard crane application. Stated versatility says 95% of common cranes can be used with it, with four cranes used off a single transmitter. In fact, as Shipley sees it, customers do want
to innovate. Especially when it comes to having a product customised to their exact need. Indeed, the second most popular Tele Radio product is the Tiger Series. “It has more customisation capabilities, fully proportional duplex communication with feedback,” he explains. Market-leading Munck Cranes use the Tiger remote, with its joystick control able to be used from rescue vehicles to winches with millimetre precision. While Strong Machines, which manufactures construction equipment, also uses the Tiger series for its maximum safety, operational freedom and control – as well as an ability to synchronise multiple cranes in tandem. The market is driven by a range of broad, personalised needs. Joystick controls are popular but so are toggle switches, touch screens and push buttons. And it’s customising to customer needs, be it tandem control or careful control, where Shipley says customers are driving the market. “It’s the customisation of our technology, at the integrator level…if there’s an application they need, we want to be able to cover it.”
An innovative future Shipley summarises any market innovation as being driven by the customer’s need for performance. A critical focus, really, in trying to get a slice of the
growing (and billion-dollar) remote control market pie. It means firms like Tele Radio, Shipley adds, need to become true partners: a focus on listening to needs rather than technical leaps forward. “Gone are the old days where customers would want technical answers and a 300-page manual,” he adds. “They want you to have their back…to make their performance better.” At Cattron, for example, a global leader in industrial wireless control solutions, they have just expanded its portfolio with the launch of Excalibur-E. An advanced radio remote control system that meets the demands of industrial machinary and material handling, with future-ready technology to ensure safety, flexibility and integration. Using cutting-edge technology, it operates across multiple global frequencies while minimising interference and ensuring dependable communication. Performance, at least for remote device
customers, is also seen through the lens of personalisation. “The market is moving towards this was designed just for me,” says Shipley. With crane and hoist customers the biggest base in the remote device market, suppliers will have to have a keen eye on what they want. Virtue Market suggests this will be wanting lighter, modular designs of remotes, and flexibility when it comes to being able to switch between applications such as controlling different cranes from one device. Cattron’s Excalibur-E, for instance, offers tandem or multi-transmitter and/ or receiver operation. There’s also a focus on performance in extreme conditions and the need to
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