Competence That Carries Weight

In this issue of KCI Konecranes World, we have decided to focus on our larger cranes, or what we normally refer to as our special cranes. There has been some heavy investment in cranes of this type in recent years, particularly at ports, shipyards, and in the steel industry. Rather than look at our container cranes, RTG and RMG cranes, lift trucks, or the huge goliath gantry cranes used in shipyards, though we have decided to highlight our heavy-duty process cranes instead.

These cranes are true workhorses and an integral part of manufacturing processes in many industries like steel- and papermaking, and in waste-to-energy plants. These cranes face really tough operating conditions year after year, which means that they must offer not only high levels of safety but also superior operational reliability.

Similar cranes are used in power plants in service operations, performing to high standards of load-handling accuracy with high load-lifting capacities. Which is why we have included a story on our approach to those cranes. And as load-lifting needs or regulations can change over the years, or cranes simply come to the end of their life, we have included two modernization cases as well.

The lowest total lifetime costs, combined with the highest possible operational efficiency, have been, and will continue to be, our core crane design principles. KCI Konecranes is the world’s largest truly global vendor in the process crane area, and the largest maintenance service provider for cranes, including process cranes. We have had tremendous success worldwide, and would like to take this opportunity to thank our customers for the trust you have put in us.

Automation, load-handling accuracy, control technology, diagnostics, environmental issues, crane design, and safety remain the focus of our R&D efforts – and we have profiled some of our solutions in this issue. I hope they will provide you with inspiration for solving your needs.

And as always, we are here if you want to discuss a project or hear our ideas about possible future developments.

Mikko Uhari
President, Special Cranes