A producer of concrete elements in Norway has ABUS EOT cranes
Among the ABUS customers in Norway there are many highly traditional large companies of international renown that have been using ABUS cranes for many years such as the national energy company Statkraft or the company Brunvoll, a producer of bow and stern thrusters with an international reputation. However, the Norwegian ABUS agency, Industrikran Norge A/S (www.industrikran.no), with their points of sale and service spread across the country, do not only look after the large companies but also serve many small and medium sized companies characterised by innovation and continuous expansion. One such company is Elementpartner A/S (www.elementpartner.no) at Andalsnes, in the southwest of Norway. Elementpartners A/S, founded in 2003, is still a young company employing 41 staff at present and specialising in the production of prefabricated concrete components. Concrete elements for domestic and industrial buildings, stairs, beams and pillars, and tunnel and bridge construction elements are produced in a production area measuring 1,502 m². The production plant is right next to the quays and large concrete elements can often be shipped by boat.
The transport of these elements within the factory is carried out by two ABUS EOT cranes, type ELS. These are single girder travelling cranes with torsionally stiff welded box girders and so-called side-running trolleys which allows optimal use of the available lifting height in fairly low buildings. The side-running trolley achieves this optimum use of the available lifting height by having the rope lead-off placed beside the main girder of the crane. Use of the available space is further optimised through a special main girder version, i.e. the main girder is stooled down. Thus the transport tasks at the customer’s place have been solved perfectly despite a demanding building layout.
The two identical EOT cranes have spans of 10,395 mm and maximum load capacities of 10 tonnes. Both cranes are operating on the same runway. Therefore Industrikran Norge A/S recommended the installation of a collision prevention system for safety reasons in order to prevent the cranes from colliding unintentionally. The cranes are kept at a distance from each other through a system using two light barriers. If the cranes approach each other the crane travel speed is reduced to slow speed in the first step of the switching-off process. The second step in the final switch-off process is optional: Braking to standstill. The cranes may also be used in tandem operation via radio remote control to transport large concrete elements. Tandem operation is particularly useful when transporting long or cumbersome goods. A large load display has also been installed so that staff can view the current load suspended from the hook(s).
The company Elementpartner A/S continues to grow and is already planning the next step in the expansion of the production. In the new part of the building ABUS cranes will be used also.
