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Editor’s noteKonecranes
January 2012
A service agreement for all 25 Konecranes cranes and the lift truck is a vital part to the operation of Vestas’ foundry in Xuzhou, East China.
Cranes take another step forward:
From smart runningTO SMART MAINTE
“Look at the money we invest in R&D. It’s
natural for Konecranes to be at the cutting edge of product and service
development.”
News around the world | January 2012
New vision
New products
Major order
NANCE
Story by Patrick Humphreys Photo by Konecranes
How TRUCONNECT® works
Story by Juha-Pekka Kervinen Photos by Lucas Schifres
The service team of Konecranes has participated in the Vestas China crane project from the start. An extensive service agreement guarantees that the lifting equipment vital to production operate without disturbances.
the enormous foundry for a moment in Xuzhou, East China. Incandescent steel molten with cheap night electricity flows into the depths of a mold box in the dusk of dawn.
According to a local museum, iron has been casted here since the times of the Qing dynasty. The timing is broad—the dynasty started in 1644 and ended in 1911.
After a cooling period of two days, the Foundry Worker Huang Hai at Vestas Casting (Xu Zhou) Co., Ltd. factory opens the mold with his work mates. The steel has solidified into a wind turbine hub, almost two meters in diameter.
A hub is the part where the rotor blades are attached.
The type designation of this hub is V , that is, the
diameter of the rotor blades will be meters (. feet).
One can get an idea of the proportions of such a wind
turbine when one sees the model power plant built next to
the factory. Seen from a close distance, its rotor of only
meters (. feet) in diameter seems to fill the whole sky.
Huang attaches the hub which weighs almost ten
tons to the two hooks of the Konecranes crane moving
at the ceiling level. It helps to turn the piece to different
positions for further processing.
Moving around and also inside the hub, Huang
controls the movements of the crane with the two
joysticks of the remote control which hangs from his belt.
In professional language, the crane has three
directions of movement. Along the rails, or bridge;
crosswise, or trolley; and up/down, or hoist.
Down time downThe foundry in Xuzhou is owned by Vestas Wind
Systems and it manufactures three wind power plant
components. In addition to hubs, steel is molded into
wind turbine foundations and bearing houses.
The products manufactured in Xuzhou are delivered to
the Vestas assembly plant in Tianjin, North China, or to
other factories of the company in the USA and Europe.
The Vestas Tianjin plant has over a hundred industrial
cranes supplied by Konecranes.
They also have a Konecranes service
agreement.
Vestas manufactures all wind
power plant parts in China. The
heaviest part of a power plant,
that is, the steel tower, is usually
purchased from a local steel
structure manufacturer near the construction site.
The cranes are a vital part of the operation of the
foundry. Each product is molded according to an order.
Meaning that someone is waiting for the timely arrival of
every hub, foundation and bearing house at the assembly
line.
“The production must run without interruptions one
hour after another /,” states Jan Nygaard, Technical
Manager of the plant.
“At other foundries I have seen what a terrible
headache a crane that acts up can be. In no case do I want
to experience such a thing again. That is why we have
concluded a service agreement for all our Konecranes
cranes and the Konecranes lift truck,” says Nygaard.
The Vestas foundry in Xuzhou concluded a two-year
site service agreement with Konecranes in . The
agreement covers regular inspections and services, repairs
planned in advance and those done on needs basis, and
training.
Konecranes has a team of three service engineers, led
by Ma Yong, at the foundry regularly.
“The personnel here at the factory have one less
worry. We guarantee that the cranes are available without
interruptions,” says Ma.
The production capacity of the foundry is tons
per week.
The cranes are divided into three categories of
importance. For equipment most critical for production,
there are detailed back up plans in case of disturbances.
These cranes are also serviced and inspected more often
than the others.
Right there from the very startThe service team of Konecranes has participated in the
Vestas Xuzhou crane project from the start.
“We want to find the best solution for the customer
from the start. All information concerning the project,
the different lifting equipment and service, is shared,”
says Yang Qi An, Service Manager at the Konecranes
Shanghai company.
“In Xuzhou, the service team worked together with the
customer’s project team already during the installation and
commissioning of the cranes, thus building a relationship
with the customer,” says Yang.
The service team also trains the factory’s own
personnel to use the cranes. Not one crane has its
own operator, but almost all workers have obtained
a crane license. Each of them can thus operate the
crane when needed.
Most cranes are equipped with a radio operated
remote controller. The operator can then use the
crane while walking on the factory floor.
The heaviest load to be lifted at a foundry is the
mold box which weighs over a hundred tons.
Ever more companies choose the service agreementThe East China regional unit of Konecranes operates in
the six eastern provinces of the country, located around
Shanghai. The area is the wealthiest in the country. The
service unit has more than contract customers in this
region.
“More than half of the cranes serviced under the
agreement are delivered by Konecranes. The rest are
other makes. All the time a bigger part of the buyers of
Konecranes cranes also want to make a service agreement
with us,” says Yang Qi An.
The Vestas foundry is an important reference for
Konecranes. Potential crane customers are often brought
here to get to know Konecranes products and to hear
about the operation of contract service directly from the
service customers.
“Vestas is one of our key customers worldwide and in
China. It is good that our other customers can see here
how the contract service works,” says Yang.
Xuzhou is located by the high-speed train track, the
construction of which was completed between Shanghai
and Beijing just a few months ago. The train which
makes the trip in five hours has considerably improved
the connections of Xuzhou to these two most important
cities of China.
Safety comes firstUncompromising safety thinking is seen everywhere
at the Vestas factory. Jan Nygaard informs the visitors
of safety instructions at the very start, for example, the
meeting place in case of an alarm.
Every person accessing the foundry must wear safety
shoes, protective clothing, hearing, breathing, and eye
protection, and a helmet.
Many workers also wear other protective gear
according to their work tasks. The workers of the fettling
and grinding area have got a fresh air hose breathing
apparatus which blows filtered air on their face, and a
working light on their helmets.
The safety status is told to a visitor right on the digital
display in the reception lobby. “ days have passed
since last industrial injury.”
An emergency generator is also part of the foundry
security system. It produces enough power for safely
emptying the furnace full of molten steel, and to run
down the other processes for the duration of an outage.
The electricity consumption of the foundry is three
million kilowatt hours per year, half of which is spent on
the night-time melting of steel. The power required for
melting cannot be produced by the emergency generator.
Together with the Vestas representatives, the service
team of Konecranes is all the time developing new
solutions for improving the safety and productivity of the
cranes.
RailQ and RopeQ into use soonIn Xuzhou, the new rail inspection system RailQ will
soon be taken into use. In it, a robot traveling the rails of
the crane inspects the evenness, straightness, and other
necessary parameters of the rails.
In China, industrial cranes must be inspected
regularly. A crane which passes the inspection acceptably
will receive an operation license from the authorities for
two years at a time.
The RopeQ service, which inspects the wire ropes of
the crane, will also be taken into use soon. RopeQ will
inspect the current condition of the wire ropes, also what
one cannot see visually of the rope, using magnetic flux
leakage.
heavy duty cranes of the altogether cranes at
the Vestas factory are made as special
order just for this foundry. Their
speeds, safety properties and control
technique are the best possible for the
special task of each. The ton forklift
of the foundry is also delivered by
Konecranes.
The Konecranes forklift complements the ceiling
suspended cranes. It is used for moving casts to outdoor
storage areas, or for lifting the casts onto storage shelves,
or from shelves onto a loading vehicle platform for
delivery to a customer.
The shake out of sand molds is one challenging
situation for a crane. The mold box weighing dozens of
tons is lowered onto a shaking surface to remove the sand
used in the previous casting from the mold before the
next casting. The handling of a shaking mold requires
special properties of a crane.
Many heavy cranes come with a sway control
system. When lifted loads are accelerated or decelerated,
load swing is always present. The sway control system
dampens and stops the load swing automatically so that
the operator does not have to do this manually. Through
sway control load handling is more accurate and faster.
Thus sway control helps to improve the safety and
productivity of the process.
AgendaKonecranes
he delivery reliability improves, efficiency increases, information becomes transparent, and more is left under the bottom line. A familiar speech from the ERP salespeople and suppliers of
development services. The licenses cost millions and development and deployment work many times over. An improvement in results is indeed needed to make the projects profitable. It takes typically over a year before a working system can be tested—before that, the project team has presented thousands of pages of blue prints, scripts, requirement specifications, system landscapes... Many decision-makers start to lose faith while at the same time, they hear or read about epic failures of ERP projects.
Tens of thousands of ERP projects have been made. Thousands of large ones too. A well implemented ERP system brings huge business benefits. Benefits the sales people promised. The benefits come especially from competent people, not only from the technical system.
Investments must be made on developing competence. When the investment starts to look exaggerated, it is in fact only at a satisfactory level.
First, the project team must learn to deliver a system that meets the requirements of the user. In such projects, the project team is unique and the experience increases by doing. The work must be chunked into smaller system entities which can be presented to the users, that way the team gets feedback for its work before the actual deployments.
The team learns to deliver, and the feedback received is an important part of learning. When the development work is done in small pieces lasting a few months each, the latest version can be even rejected without endangering the entire investment.
The users are faced with a two-fold learning challenge. First, they must learn to request features for processes and information systems which are under development. The initial requests often emerge from the ways the old systems are used. Second, they must learn to use and benefit from the capabilities provided by the new system. Learning through experience and the ability to apply the new into practice might develop slower if changes are big, but still these skills always develop!
This you haven’t thought of before. The long-term benefits of a well implemented ERP system are even greater than what the sellers promised. Due to lack of experience, at the beginning one cannot even dream of all the benefits that will be reached as the competence accumulates! Therefore, concentrate on the development of the competence of the project team and users.
oormrmatatioion oohe d d leliivery reliliababililitity y improves, effifficicienencycy i incncrereasaseses,, ininfofom line. mbecomes transparent, andnd m more is left under the bottomeersrs o off eeA familiar speech from the ERPRP salalesespepeopoplele a andnd s supupplplieie
You have heard this before!
Program Director
Thus the most critical success factor is personnel:
developers and users.
Service life analyses and planning
Repairs and
improve-ments
Moderni-zations
Predictive Maintenance
New equipment
THE HIGHEST
VALUE:
Story by Patrick Humphreys Photos by Lucas Schifres and Konecranes
The modern aluminum industry was discovered in 1888 by the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA), which has been the world’s largest producer ever since. ALCOA Lafayette, in turn, discovered Konecranes and RailQ in the last six years.
was getting some quotes for a crane rail replacement
project,” says Vern Hendrickson, Project Engineer at
ALCOA’s plant at Lafayette, Indiana.
“Almost at the last moment, someone said ‘Try
Konecranes’ and I said ‘Who?’”
Hendrickson turned to Dave Timble, Key Accounts
Manager at the nearby Konecranes service location in
Indianapolis.
“That’s when Dave and I first met. He came in with a
bid that convinced me and we’ve been working together
ever since.”
Hearing the differenceALCOA in Lafayette is dealing with the problems of
aging equipment. Some 60 percent of its production
cranes are over 40 years old.
RailQ was the answer, as Vern Hendrickson confirms.
“We used to replace crane wheels fairly frequently.
RailQ told us we needed to replace the crane rail in
several bays and adjust the elevation. Since then we
haven’t needed to replace any wheels. They don’t squeal
on the rail as they did before.”
Hendrickson’s Maintenance Manager Mark Mayes agrees: “After Konecranes started surveying the rails,
squaring the cranes and doing the maintenance, we could
hear the difference just by listening to the sound that the
cranes make when they go down the rails."
“In the past two years there have only been about
three times when I’ve had to use my engineers to get a
crane working again. Previously it was every day. We have
hardly any unscheduled downtime.”
Lifeline of the plantIn Mark Mayes’s words, cranes are the lifeline of an
ALCOA plant. “One of the first things I noticed,
when I came here from the Chrysler Corporation in
Service life analyses and planning
Repairs and
improve-ments
Moderni-zations
2007 was that when the cranes went down, we stopped
moving.”
“We have about 50 big overhead cranes on runways and
a lot more small ones. They are how we move everything
in shipping as well as production. We used to have a lot of
plant-wide crane issues. We were constantly changing wheels,
cables, and bearings.”
When ALCOA Lafayette started working with
Konecranes, the RailQ service was done manually.
“When I heard that Konecranes was going to start using
a robot I looked forward to it, and I’m glad it worked as well
as it did. It eliminated somebody climbing down the bays to
check spans and elevations. It has given us good results almost
every time.”
Surveys as a baselineLafayette is a 2½ hour drive from Chicago down Route 52.
The ALCOA plant there produces aluminum extrusions and
dates back to the late 1930s. Vern Hendrickson believes that
some of the problems with crane rail elevations have existed
since that time.
“Until Konecranes came along, we’d never had the
detailed survey that we get now. We’ve strung a tape between
people on each rail many times, but
nothing had ever been done with the
accuracy of the RailQ service.”
As long as annual inspections
continue, ALCOA can now expect
crane wheels to last for a long time. “In
any case I’ll be long gone,” Hendrickson
laughs.
Hendrickson is a believer in regular
surveys. “I like to have a survey after
we’ve done repair work so that we have
a baseline. We can then compare this
survey with the next survey and see if
anything has changed.”
Better liftingKonecranes now has two maintenance workers permanently
on site at Lafayette. It has also helped with ALCOA
operations, as Mark Mayes explains.
“I’ve had them attend meetings where we sat down with
the production people and explained the operations of a
crane. Some operators even thought that if a crane was out
of square, you could square it up by bumping it or using
emergency stops.”
“The operators now have a lot of faith in maintenance
and in Konecranes. It’s a matter of safety as well as money.
Management at ALCOA has its checkbooks open where
safety is concerned.”
“This is a union shop so you are always going to hear
some comments about using outside workers instead of plant
employees, but most of our guys wouldn’t want Konecranes
to leave. And I’d be scared to operate without them.”
Story by Patrick Humphreys Photos by Gary Francis / www.velhot.com
Service life analyses and planning
Repairs and
improve-ments
Moderni-zations
onecranes has revolutionized crane and runway
geometry surveys in Australia and New
Zealand, says James Dowe, General Manager
for Konecranes services in Australia and New
Zealand. One of the leading steel companies in the
region, BlueScope Steel, is certainly more than satisfied.
“Since we introduced RailQ to Australia in March
, we’ve used it in about inspections around
the country. We’re measuring tolerances down to a few
millimeters. In most cases, local standards demand that
variance between the rails has to be +/- mm,” says
James Dowe.
“Although RailQ is advanced, pricing is very
competitive. We have a pretty sophisticated market here
and our customers understand the value of accurate and
reliable information. They want to make decisions based
on actual data rather than assumptions.”
“An important customer for us is BlueScope Steel
Ltd. We work with them in every state of Australia.
At their Wingfield location in Adelaide, a relationship
of trust was formed between our South Australian
Branch Manager John Jackman and BlueScope Steel’s
Maintenance Manager Peter Terrison,” says James
Dowe.
“When Bluescope Steel was looking to replace one
of their production cranes at the Wingfield plant with a
high-performance SMARTON® crane, it also became the
very first SMARTON® crane that Konecranes delivered
to Australia. Our specialist, Inspector Bron Ryzak
conducted the RailQ survey to assess the suitability of the
rails and whether they were properly aligned before the
crane was installed–they weren’t. Certain columns needed
to be lifted and a new rail was installed.”
BlueScope Steel began life in as the renowned
Broken Hill Proprietary Company of New South Wales.
It later merged with two other pioneers of Australian
steelmaking and today has operations throughout Asia.
In Australia it makes a variety of steel products, mostly
related to construction.
Its plant at Wingfield, Adelaide, was one of the first
new customers when Konecranes was setting up an office
in South Australia.
“Which probably explains why they opened their
office directly across the road from us,” laughs Wingfield
Maintenance Manager Peter Terrison.
“RailQ’s performance was actually rather better than
we had expected because the data was more detailed.
That first survey would probably have taken us a whole
weekend using another system. With RailQ the whole
job was over and done with in about four hours,”
Terrison says.
“In fact it cost us no time at all because we scheduled
it in production downtime. Since then we’ve used RailQ
at two of our sites, testing rail alignment and crane
structure. It isn’t significantly more expensive than a
traditional survey."
“In fact, it’s probably cheaper when you take labor
and time into account. RailQ makes survey systems based
on lasers or wires look antiquated and inaccurate."
“We’ve built up a very good working relationship with
the Konecranes people in Australia in the past three years.
We think their products are very professional. If we start
looking for more cranes in the future, I think they would
be the first company that we’d turn to.”
Story by Marjatta Pietilä Illustration by Vesa Lehtimäki
In mobile machines every piece of equipment is a user interface which either allows or prevents interaction between the user and the system. In improving human access, including both operating and maintenance of the machine, ergonomics plays an important role.
I and—at the end of the day—the business success of the employer.
Easy access to the cabin, good visibility from the cabin, suitable temperature, good air conditioning, proper lighting and minimized exposure to noise and vibration create the basic elements for good work conditions. But it is equally important that the cabin dimensions allow for good working postures, easy access to the control equipment, computer displays and other instruments.
The design’s functionality depends on how easy it is to learn to use, how quickly the user can efficiently perform the required tasks, how errors can be avoided and recovered, and how much work satisfaction the easy usability of the design allows. Under the domain of the cognitive ergonomics these issues have an effect on the user’s experience of the workload, work stress, the command of professional skills and ability to perform on the level that satisfies both the user himself/herself and the employer.
Scientific tools for designers“Today operators of mobile machines are keenly aware of how the physical configuration of the cabin affects their productivity and therefore their profit. Because of this, manufacturers desire to produce machines that are more comfortable and functional from a user standpoint.
The ergonomics of a product can create a competitive advantage for a mobile machine manufacturer.
Customer choices can be driven by their perception of the comfort and usability of a machine,” says Judy Vance, Joseph C. and Elizabeth A. Anderlik Professor of Engineering from the Virtual
Applications Center at Iowa State University.Professors Vance’s research focuses on investigating
the application of virtual reality techniques to engineering design. This method allows the designers to evaluate the design in a 3D space in order to
generate the final design.“We use virtual reality to assess how operators interact
with machines. This allows the designer to investigate multiple configurations in the virtual environment that would not be possible if each configuration needed to be built as a physical prototype. We use large screen stereo projection systems with optical position trackers and surround sound. Because of the large screen projection, we can present the operator station in full scale. The position
is derived from the Greek words ergon and nomos. Ergon refers to work and nomos to laws. According to the International Ergonomics Association, IEA, ergonomics is a scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of the interaction of humans and other elements of the system and it focuses on maximizing human well-being and overall system performance.
In designing cabins for mobile machines the domain of physical ergonomics within the discipline of ergonomics plays an important role. When the operator of the machine spends the whole day in the cabin, the
work environment and work conditions have to be designed to allow maximum performance for the operator. Ergonomics and usability go hand in hand with employee health, work
satisfaction, efficiency, and productivity,
trackers allow us to track the user’s head position and modify the image as if he/she were looking in a certain direction. Position trackers also allow us to track the user’s hand so that he/she can interact with the workstation components,” Vance explains.
According to Vance, some modifications, changes or new designs for improved ergonomics include features that are relatively easy and inexpensive to implement, but others require significant investments. The trade-off that the designers face is which features will be profitable in the end—whether the buyers seek profits by cutting costs or focus on improved productivity in a more sustainable way.
Better designs by early customer engagement“Usually the mobile machine producers use external cabin designers and subcontractors for their cabin manufacture. Successful cabin design for mobile machines starts from recognizing the user needs. Usually an old cabin model is used as the basis for the design work. In such a case the client already knows the benefits and the disadvantages of the old model and can give clear instructions on the features that need to be improved,” tells Professor Asko Ellman from Tampere University of Technology, Finland.
Ellman has a background in model based design of complex mechatronic systems and leads a group of researchers focusing on Virtual Design. The research ranges from the methods and technologies of Virtual Design to novel applications and their impact on practical business uses.
“In our virtual reality laboratories located at the Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, Finland, we create virtual cabins. This method allows the customers and end-users to take part in the design work of the cabin almost from start. The cabins produced by three-dimensional visualization, are of the natural size and nearly identical to real cabins, and they give the customers and end-user a clear picture of the cabin and its functionality,” Ellman explains.
According to Ellman the customer focused design allows the developer to get a user experience for example on the visibility from the cabin, control function, ergonomics, and safety at an early stage of the design work, when the shortcomings are still easy to correct. The virtual testing tool increases customer satisfaction and reduces the time required for the development phase. When the virtual model satisfies all parties a prototype can be produced for physical evaluation and testing.
“Product modifications are often needed for different markets. Preferences in Africa may differ from those in Europe. For example in markets with high illiteracy rate, symbols are preferred over writing,” Ellman points out.
Konecranes strives for
Judy M. Vance
better ergonomics
Asko Ellman
Story by Mauri Kaarre Photos by Mikko Huotari
SAGT’S SECRET OF SUCCESS IS A HIGHLY ACCURATE CONTAINER YARD
High productivity and efficiency backed by Konecranes’ container positioning system helped South Asia Gateway Terminals (SAGT) in Sri Lanka to handle 1.9 million TEUs in 2010. An excellent figure for a terminal with a designed capacity of 1.1 million TEUs, don’t you agree?
t is a hot and humid August morning, approaching
eight. The monsoon season with the rain is far
behind. As a distant memory of it, partly cloudy
weather is forecast for Colombo, the usually oh so
sunny commercial capital of Sri Lanka (formerly
known as Ceylon before 1972) Colombo, only +28
degrees Celsius.
The multitude of people walking to work, and the
tricycle tuk tuk taxis which weave their way through
lines of buses are typical of the morning rush near the
World Trade Center in the immediate vicinity of Port of
Colombo.
The Indian Ocean and the sea of cranes rising at
the container freight terminal in the harbor loom in the
horizon. Some of the crane booms are up in accordance
with the safety policies, as if to remind the vessels that
they can come here. Some of the crane booms are
down, meaning that the cranes are at work loading and
unloading vessels. The container freight
terminal never sleeps.
The Port of Colombo with its
state owned Jaya and Unity Container
Terminals and Sri Lankas’s first modern
private container terminal, South Asia
Gateway Terminals (SAGT), is rated
amongst the top container ports in the
world. SAGT took over the historic
Queen Elizabeth Quay in the Port of Colombo in 1999
on a 30-year Build-Own-Transfer (BOT) concession.
Sri Lanka, an island nation in South Asia, located
about 31 kilometers (19.3 miles) off the southern coast
of India, is a strategically brilliant naval link on the
main East-West shipping route, linking the Far East
with Africa, Europe, and the East Coast of the US,
providing ideal connections to the trade in the Indian
sub-continent.
Famous for the production and export of tea,
coconuts and rubber, Sri Lanka boasts a progressive and
modern industrial economy and the highest per capita
income in South Asia.
The natural beauty of Sri Lanka’s tropical forests,
beaches and landscape, as well as its rich cultural heritage,
boost the island state’s transformation into an ever more
popular tourist attraction. Especially after the civil war in
the country ended a couple of years ago.
IT makes things happenAccording to Upul Jinadasa, SAGT’s General Manager,
Information Technology, his role is to identify the right
technology and solutions. After the identifying part he
implements and supports the chosen conclusions.
“Our main focus as a port is to maintain world
class service levels. The right IT solutions will play an
important role in making things happen,” Jinadasa says.
“Earlier we had 28 RTGs that came with PDS based
on transponders. Basically, the system didn’t work no
matter how we tried to fix it. We needed a good solution
fast. So we turned to Konecranes and had their container
positioning information system installed in one of our
RTGs as a pilot test in late 2006. It worked perfectly. In
2007 we installed their system in our 31 RTGs and 70
trucks.”
Jinadasa is very pleased with Konecranes’ system.
“Thanks to it our container inventory is very accurate.
If there are problems with the location of containers both
the planning and productivity go wrong. And you cannot
have a successful terminal without proper planning.”
“We have four critical factors that build our success.
We have world class systems, modern equipment in IT
and engineering, the best processes, and last but not least,
a very good staff,” Jinadasa says.
Accurate records ruleThe accurate container records, once again, play a key
role also for Laksiri Nonis, SAGT’s General Manager
Operations.
“My goal is to minimize the traffic and prevent any
congestion in the terminal area allowing a smooth and
efficient operation. This is a compact terminal so we
closely monitor everything and make sure we get the
maximum utilization of the container yard,” says Nonis.
“It not only makes a huge difference to the customer
but also to us if a box is staying in the yard longer than
it is supposed to. So, the sooner we get the transshipment
connection on its way, the better.”
“Containers are stored in the yard by linking the
container number to the yard location and we are very
much dependent on that information. We cannot run
without technology, so we wanted to make sure we got
a reliable system with a good back-up. If everything
stopped, just for a few minutes because of power failure
or so, it would have a big impact on the terminal’s
efficiency.”
Intelligence instead of ironMikko Sampo, General Manager, Konecranes YardIT,
has 27 years background in machine automation and
service. He oversaw the system deal and says
that terminals nowadays tend to increase
productivity and efficiency by purchasing
IT solutions.
“Now we focus more on intelligence,”
Sampo states.
“Another equally important thing is
that with the help of our remote connection
service team based in Hyvinkää, Finland,
the support agreement made with SAGT
and its engineering team at the site, and
with the local spare part arrangement we
can guarantee the functioning of the system
under all conditions,” Sampo says.
And just to make everything perfect, all
the positions are updated to the Terminal
Operation System (TOS) database even if
the crane operator accidentally tries to put
the box in a wrong place.
“Then the whistles are blown, that is, the system
sounds an alarm, which is transmitted to operators, and
the guy in the control tower. The result: 100 percent
accurate inventory of the container yard,” Sampo explains.
According to him, the operation of the Konecranes
IT solution is ingenious in its simplicity.
”The crane operator stacks the container and leaves
it in place. The system then intakes a signal from the
crane PLC (twistlock activity) and satellites. Based on
the information the container location’s X,Y and Z
coordinates are defined and reported directly to the TOS
software database.”
“And what’s best is that the crane operator does not
need to do anything, he can fully concentrate on his
container handling tasks, because reporting to TOS is
fully automatic. So this is also an important safety issue.
In the case of SAGT, we installed the system in other
manufacturers’ machines–our system is usable in all types
of container handling equipment.”
The view from Crane Operator Viraj Priyadarshana’s
crane cabin high up at 40 meters (131.2 feet) is just
majestic. Air conditioning blows smoothly and the
Indian Ocean is wide open. Not bad, some people really
work at the top.
“A very easy handling system. Now I can just
concentrate on my real work and focus on achieving
the productivity targets,” says Priyadarshana who’s been
handling containers for four years at SAGT.
Transshipment is the name of the businessErwin Haaze, CEO of SAGT says their business consists
of 80 percent of transshipment container traffic with
around 70 percent coming from Indian origin. The
terminal’s volumes have been increasing steadily during
the last years.
“We are fully booked berth wise. We have ten cranes
on a 940-meter berth and we hit almost 2 million TEUs
in 2010, and 2011 was the best year ever. It has been a
tremendous performance by the SAGT team and shows
the commitment and dedication of our staff as well as
the potential that is available in Sri Lanka! This year
we are also doing well, but the closer you get to the maximum
throughput, the more challenging it is,” Haaze says.
The statistics are impressive. From 2006 to 2010, with exeption
of the year 2009 in which SAGT still managed to achieve a
marginal increase in throughput (1.3 percent) despite the economic
turmoil, SAGT has realized year to year increases of 15.8 percent,
11.6 percent and 12.6 percent, doubling the throughput achieved
in 2005. Productivity wise the trend showed similar developments
leading to productivity levels averaging 27 crane moves per hour
on all vessels including the smaller feeders with regularly hitting
30+ crane moves per hour.
Haaze says also the busier SAGT gets, the more they need to
focus on strategies and make sure that all the primary structures
are in order.
“Installing Konecranes’ container positioning system in our
cranes was one of those good strategic decisions. We will also have
two new cranes with further outreach and higher lifting capacity
by the end of this year so that we can work more efficiently on the
bigger vessels. It’s all about the customer service,” Haaze says.
Gaining transshipment hub statusCEO Haaze’s mission is simply that SAGT need to perform in a
way that it remains the preferred number one terminal in South
Asia.
“To achieve this, reliability is the key. When our customers
come to the terminal they already know they can leave in a
reasonable time period which we indicate to them right from the
start.”
“Geographically the Port of Colombo has an advantage over
the other ports for setting up a real transhipment hub in the area.
We have everything here, including all the big shipping lines and
feeder network. We also have an excellent stability and good labor
conditions.”
Haaze also adds that SAGT is carefully making the whole
platform ready in case SAGT decides to make use of any
expansion opportunities in the future.
As part of the Colombo South Harbor Development Project
initiated by the Sri Lankan Ports Authority, the construction of the
new South Harbor adjacent to the Port of Colombo is currently
underway in order to meet the increasing need for greater capacity.
The new facility will provide four more container terminals and
can accommodate the next generation of container vessels.
In the harbor with leafy mango trees
Story and photos by Mikko Huotari
Konecranes
Safety, reliability and productivity to ports with
RTG TESTING
#1/12
Konecranes
Superior workspace for crane drivers
Introducing the new Konecranes cabin
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Story and photos by Vesa Eskola
What on earth does Konecranes have in common with a vineyard in Spain?
Amid the gently sloping hills–covered by orange trees, grapevines, and centuries old olive trees–is nested a very modern vinery, SAT Mas de Rander. The ultra modern design of the production buildings stands out.
The 20 hectare vineyard is run by Juan Domingo Tàrrega. The whole production is organic. Several grape varieties are used: Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Merlot, some Muscats and Syrah. Wine is sold of course in Spain but also exported to other European countries. Soon also the Chinese and Japanese wine lovers will be able to enjoy the red nectar from Mas de Rander.
We are standing with Juan Domingo Tarrega under a two ton crane. Not a typical tool you would expect to see in a vineyard.
“We use the crane to move grapes from the grape mill to the fermentation tanks. This helps us give our wine a special character. Traditionally, this task is done by pumps, but that way most of the grapes get broken. We do things a bit differently.”
The idea might be an original one, but everything also came together almost by accident.
“The engineer in charge of the project asked for offers from different crane manufacturers. When he had all the information he came to me: ‘One proposal, due to its design, could save you a lot of money. It wouldn’t just do the required tasks, it would also help you to erect the cellar, tanks, and platforms’.”
Juan Domingo Tarrega got very interested.“After that it was quite simple really. We sat down
with Konecranes representative, David Caro, and saw almost immediately that we had the perfect solution.”
He also agrees they were a bit lucky.“The truth is, we were very lucky. All the people
involved did their best to make the most out of our traditional cellar with a unique, subtle, and modern touch.”
Well, the settings certainly aren’t from a traditional vineyard. The two ton crane is also very busy during the wine season.
“The crane helps us to perform high precision tasks safely and reliably. It also helps us to work faster. The crane is actually one of the mechanical tools we use the most. Because of the crane we don’t have to use expensive conveyor belts. In our experience, we think that with the help of the crane we are one of the most advanced vineries in Spain.”
SAT Mas de Rander produces about 250,000 bottles of wine annually. The majority
of those wines are reds (225,000 bottles), the rest are sweet wines and a special mixture known as “mistela”, where a little bit of brandy is added to the wine. The result is a kind of Sherry.
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