Inspection Program Ensures Safety of Factory Cranes

Ambridge (PA) Regional Distribution and Manufacturing Center is a well-established industrial park. Its tenants over the years have included international corporations and Fortune 500 manufacturers.

Tenants love the center’s extensive space and high-quality construction. Tim Gilligan, maintenance manager for the center, says its 22 buildings encompass more than 1 million square feet of leasable space (standard and industrial manufacturing, warehouse, office and wet labs).

Most buildings have ceiling heights of more than 25 feet. And the width of all building columns exceeds the minimum standards for factories, warehouses and distribution centers.

Because building safety is also important to manufacturers, Gilligan recently implemented a program to regularly inspect overhead cranes installed throughout the complex. Developed and performed by Konecranes, the MainMan inspection program is customized for each manufacturer. It also includes crane repair, spare parts, operator training and maintenance software.

“[MainMan] not only keeps our downtime to a minimum,” says Gilligan. “It also keeps the cranes as safe as possible.”

Shortly after the program’s implementation, an inspector discovered some worn gear teeth in a few Ambridge crane systems. The teeth were quickly repaired without causing any downtime.

During an inspection, the inspector enters field data on a handheld device and uploads it to the MainMan database. The data includes records of inspections, maintenance and corrective actions.

An inspector also provides an e-mail safety summary to the manufacturer onsite. The summary lists safety deficiencies (confirmed by the manufacturer) from the highest priority to least urgent. It also may include Condition Reports (OSHA and MSHA compliant) and Gear Report Cards that rank the overall condition and criticality of each crane.

Another manufacturer benefitting from MainMan is Cameron Drilling Production Systems. Located in Moore, OK, this manufacturing facility was expanded in 2011 and now features more than 20 overhead cranes.

Shortly after the expansion, Cameron implemented a MainMan inspection program. Konecranes performs monthly inspections of each crane.

“After these inspections, we realized that we had a few outdated jibs,” says Clayton Schenk, manufacturing engineer for Cameron. “Safety is a priority for us, so we updated all of the cranes that were not up to code.”

For more information on crane inspection and maintenance, call 937-525-5533 or visit www.konecranesusa.com.

Jim was a senior editor of ASSEMBLY and has more than 30 years of editorial experience. Before joining ASSEMBLY, Camillo was the editor of PM Engineer, Association for Facilities Engineering Journal and Milling Journal. Jim has an English degree from DePaul University.

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