Preventative maintenance isn’t just an investment in crane performance, it’s an investment in safety too. By Thomas Schnittger, Engineering Manager, Konecranes Australia.
When it comes to cranes, gone are the days where a fault would present itself, and then you’d call in a technician to fix it. The crane would be isolated and taken offline until the issue was identified and then repaired, creating costly downtime for busy facilities that just cannot afford unnecessary downtime.
Konecranes has always had a corporate culture of putting safety first and advocates for an intelligent preventative maintenance programme over a ‘fix it once something breaks’ approach. All companies want every employee and visitor to return home safely at the end of the day, and preventative maintenance is an ideal way to keep crane machinery operating at optimal levels of safety.
Crane machinery is generally designed for 10 years of operation, and crane structures for 25 years. For companies looking to extend or change usage, calculate remaining design life and maintain top levels of safety and Standards compliance, Konecranes can perform a Major Assessment. Major Assessments are a vital part of an ongoing preventative maintenance programme and a requirement of AS2550.1 2011 Section 9. They aim to identify maintenance needs and detect items that need repair before they fail.
A Major Assessment is particularly useful if production needs are changing, with the crane’s usage likely to change as a result. It can provide a detailed overview and show whether the crane can match the updated operational needs. The assessment looks at structures, mechanical components and electrical systems, and highlights possible maintenance, modernisation or upgrade needs.
In a Major Assessment, Konecranes specialists observe the production and operating environment of the crane. The overall condition of the crane structures and components is evaluated, with a focus on safety, productivity, reliability, usability and remaining design life. Operators and maintenance personnel are interviewed, and pertinent documentation is reviewed. The team provides a report and further consultation with advice on maintenance, modernisations and future investments
In addition to Major Assessments, Konecranes now has a raft of advanced technology available to remotely monitor cranes and identify early warning signs. Technologies like Konecranes’ TRUCONNECT Remote Monitoring and Reporting can look more deeply into a crane in real time to identify areas that need to be serviced, or find previously unseen efficiency gains.
Crane safety and compliance to Standards are two things that cannot be overlooked, even as Covid-19 changes the way businesses work across the globe. As the world’s largest crane service organisation, with more than 600,000 pieces of lifting equipment under service contract worldwide, Konecranes has extensive experience ensuring cranes are operating at peak efficiency and productivity.