At our facility in Pasadena, Texas, we have four identical cell room cranes. These cranes, due to the cell room environment, need a lot of maintenance. Constant exposure to chemicals, along with extreme heat, deteriorates components quickly, making it difficult to keep our cranes in top condition. We needed to find a way to make our cranes last longer in adverse conditions — especially since the amount of time our personnel can spend working on the cranes is limited.
We instantly knew who to call. Konecranes had been our crane service vendor for several years, and we were confident they could develop a solution to our unique problem.
Konecranes devises strategy to protect cranes
Konecranes sent their best technicians to assess the situation and make the necessary adjustments to our cranes. In order to enhance the performance of our cranes and reduce corrosion, their first step was to seal our cranes with fiberglass. This created a higher classification of enclosure and would protect the controls from heat and chemicals.
Once our hoists, trollies, bridges and mainline controls were enclosed, technicians installed high-heat and chemical-resistant cables, as well as protective enclosures for our pendant controls. Then, to reduce general wear and tear on each crane, Konecranes added soft starts in the panels, which starts off each crane at a lower torque. Then, to top it all off, they standardized the wiring for all of our controls. Overall, Konecranes worked hard to make our cranes safer, more reliable and less prone to corrosion. Now, our plant can function at full capacity with reduced threat of breakdowns.
Related resource
Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) helps link production and consumption points in the U.S., and across the world, with a network to deliver the energy, food, raw materials, durable and consumer goods to support the nation’s growth.
Michael Hancock - District Technical Trainer
A program of regularly-scheduled crane inspections conducted by specially-trained, third-party technical professionals can save companies great expense by verifying compliance with local regulations and highlighting safety and production issues.
