Crane Manufacturers Share Heightened Business Confidence at bauma Conexpo India 2016

Crane manufacturers participated at bauma Conexpo India 2016 and expressed their firm optimism based on revival of the demand as they went on to exhibit newer solutions closely indexed to application, while reporting improved orders. Lifting & Specialized Transport reports.

In a bid to improve their market presence, crane manufacturers across the value chain exhibited newer solutions at the show. Majority of the products displayed come with improved lifting capabilities, versatility in application and safety.

Liebherr India displayed its new LTM 1250-5.1, five axle mobile crane of 300 ton class, which was handed over to J&K Lifters of Mumbai. The company will be renting out the crane for general erection jobs. Mentioning about the crane, Mr. A.K Somani, Director, Liebherr India said, "The crane is commercially more suitable for rental agencies given the compressed rental rates in India. Feasible for quicker taxi application, the crane is much easier to move and make ready for operation for small time jobs like girder launching, bridge and industrial projects maintenance."

Mr. Somani said, "The crane comes with three special features, like Vario base, eco mode, and Vario ballast. Vario Base gives an option to rig the crane with individual outrigger extended as per space available at site and crane software calculating crane capacity in each direction as per outrigger extension in that direction. It also allows crane to be set up at constricted sites, generally at Metro and industrial construction sites in India and have more capacity over outrigger direction with less counterweight. This will be a big feature as it will allow crane to work in congested job site areas with best capacities. Also, Vario ballast gives the facility to increase counterweight radius to get better capacity. Eco mode allows the crane to reduce fuel consumption without compromising efficiency of the work."

LTM 1250-5.1 is equipped with 60 meters five sections telescopic boom, 36 m swing away jib, 46 m strong straight jib and 50 m hydraulically angle adjusting strong jib which can be moved between 0 to 45 degrees, hydraulically from operator cabin. Liebherr also unveiled its NC-B series, new flat top crane at bC India 2016. Completely manufactured at the company's Pune facility, the crane with internal and external climbing features, come in 6 and 9 ton versions with working radius of 62.5 m, and can lift 1.2 tons @ 62.5 meters jib length.

Sharing details of the product, Mr. Krishna Kumar, Divisional Head, Tower Cranes, Liebherr India Pvt. Ltd. said, "The crane with 53.2 meters freestanding hook height and enormous 501 meters hook height either for internal or external climbing, makes the crane suitable for any high-rise in India. The safety features like wind load control which makes the jib safe in high wind conditions and the different slew gear operation modes makes possible sensitive slew with low speed and high torque and also high handling capacity with high speed and low torque. Another feature which is known as 'fine positioning' with press of button on control lever, possible to hold the load without brake engaged, thus, it is the safest and fast positioning of load as no swinging or jerk happens while positioning load. The Liebherr Li-connect system makes an easier erection or dismantling work of this crane."

Mr. Krishna Kumar mentioned further, "Looking forward to tap the growing precast erection requirements, the 9 ton version will be suitable to handle certain demand in precast segments too. With long working radius of 62.5m, the crane is suitable for residential commercial buildings, and industrial construction."

"Liebherr which currently manufactures 85 EC B5-i, 5 ton capacity with 50m jib, flat top tower crane in Pune, has bagged an order for a prestigious project, supplying its 180 meters tower crane to Krishna Leela temple in Bangalore, one of the highest temples in India. The crane will work both with internal and external climbing feature."

Manitowoc displayed two cranes on its booth at bC India 2016 alongside large display pavilions, one dedicated to its Grove brand of mobile cranes and the other showcasing its industry-leading Crane Care customer support program. Both the cranes at the show were from Potain brand; an MCT 85 from the range of top-slewing cranes, and a refurbished HD 16 A from the manufacturer's self-erecting crane line.


The MCT 85 is built at the Manitowoc factory in Pune and has a 5 t maximum capacity and can lift 1.1 t with its jib end of 52 m. It replaces the popular MCi 85 A, and offers customers improved reach, capacity and ease of assembly. The practical unit is surprisingly easy to transport, with the entire top portion of the crane able to travel on just two trucks.

The HD 16 A was displayed at bC India 2016 for two reasons. First to highlight the features and benefits of self-erecting cranes which are still relatively rare in India, although numbers are on the rise. Second to highlight the quality and efficiency of products that pass through Manitowoc's EnCORE refurbishment service. Refurbishing an older crane can deliver years of additional usage and boost return on investment levels for owners. The HD 16 A has a maximum capacity of 2 t and a 22 m jib. It can lift 600 kg with its jib end.

Ashwani Mattoo, Manitowoc's sales director for tower cranes for India and the subcontinent, said customers had responded very strongly to both cranes on display.

"We sold the HD 16 A on display to Kesar Construction, while the MCT 85 was sold to GLS Infra-Tech," he said. "On top of this, Prashant Logistics placed an order for five machines, and we've started deliveries of these. Same for another customer, Strong Build Construction, which ordered four units. Activity levels in the market have been relatively quiet recently, but this show was the opposite. I would say it was our most successful show ever in India."

While there were no Grove mobile cranes or Manitowoc crawler cranes on display, there were still several customers at the Manitowoc booth during the event to talk about business. Prem Naithani, Manitowoc's Sales & Service director for mobile cranes in India and the subcontinent, said confidence levels are good among buyers.

"We welcomed companies such as Noor Lifters, Sanghvi Movers, Shethia Erectors and Steel Carriers, as well as several rental customers over the course of the event," he said. "The Grove brand is well established in India and several recent innovations were also presented at bC India. Our customers were keen to learn about the latest lifting technologies that are available with us."

Haulotte exhibited its latest generation of Rough Terrain Articulated Boom, Vertical Mast, Electric Scissor and Telehandler. Each variant has its own USP, but one of the many distinguishing notable features is in the lower ground control Box of its articulating boom. The company has incorporated the Haulotte Diagnostic screen in the panel which will enable the user to get all details of performance and related parameter at the touch of a button. Further, any fault diagnosis can also be done on this screen, which gives a pictorial description of the nature and location of the fault. This tremendously helps in reducing the downtime of the machine and any intervention can be done in the shortest possible time.

Being very much concern for operators' safety as safety legislations for working at heights is still absent in India, Haulotte besides spreading safety awareness amongst the customers, is also placing appropriate safety solutions. Mr. Souma Ray, Director - Haulotte India informed, “The introduction of our patented option of ACTIV SHEILD BAR in the boom lifts, is with a view to avoid entrapment for the personnel working at heights. Apart from this, our newest introduction is the provision of LED lights integrated on our new HT28RTJ 28m meter Telescopic Boom is to facilitate safe loading operations of the machine at night. Furthermore, our emphasis will also be to ensure increased availability of the equipment, enabling the users to get higher rental rates and productivity. This will be ensured through maintenance support features integrated in our machines and training support from the Haulotte India team."

Delhi NCR based construction equipment conglomerate displayed its new range of cranes at the event. Sharing details of the new products, Mr. Sorab Agarwal, Director, ACE said, “The new Nex Gen F210 Mobile Crane is the most versatile offering from our stable. We are the first to offer 4x4 20 Tons Mobile Crane, highly suitable for work on loose soil. The crane comes with a robust structure and compact geometry, featuring 20 tons lifting capacity and four section telescopic boom. The boom of the crane has been equipped with lifting capacity of 16 ton using the snatch block with best in class winch. One of the unique features of the crane is that the full rated capacity of 20 ton is available even in articulated and steered condition."

The crane comes with a luffing range of 10 and 65 degrees. The working height of the crane is 19. 4 meters, extendable to a height of 22 meters, through fly jib attachment. F210 is equipped with 101hp, Ashok Leyland, 4 cylinder, water cooled diesel engines delivering a top speed of 35 kms/hr.

ACE also displayed its new F-160, 16 tons, Nexgen mobile crane which comes with 4 section telescopic boom, 2nd and 3rd part being hydraulically operated and synchronized and 4th part, power extended. The crane is powered with an option of Tata/Ashok Leyland, 4 cylinder water cooled, turbo charged and after cooled engines.

Apart from these, ACE displayed its new 40 tons truck mounted mobile Crane on its own dedicated chassis. Sharing details of the product, Mr. Agarwal informed, “Earlier the 40 tons Truck Mounted Crane was on Ashok Leyland chassis. This increased the overall height of the Crane. To further increase the stability of the 40 Tons Crane, we decided to use our own manufactured dedicated chassis having better centre of gravity." The crane is powered by Ashok Leyland/Tata Turbo charged, inter cooled diesel engine developing 225 bhp @ 2500 rpm. ACE manufactures Truck Mounted Cranes between 25-40 tons. The 25 and 30 tons are mounted on Ashok Leyland chassis currently.

Mentioning about the company's future initiative towards product support for its existing and newer products, especially training support, Mr. Agarwal said, “We are adequately positioned with a network of 100-dealer locations in the country and our own sales and service network. These outlets are fully equipped to provide genuine spare parts and services by the company trained Engineers. Our dedicated product training Centre in Faridabad, provides training on maintenance and operation of the machines. We constantly upgrade the training tools in line with advancements carried in our equipment.

Everest Engineering reported its prestigious order to deliver 32 units of 12 tons, Topsky, flattop tower cranes from BG Shirke for Delhi Development Authority housing cluster. Delivery of the cranes will start from the next month and will run till March 2017.


Sharing details of the major order, claimed to be one of the highest in the Indian tower cranes industry, Mr. P.V. Ramdev, MD, Everest Engineering said, “The major order is the second one from BG Shirke followed by 86 units of flat top tower cranes required in the first phase of DDA's housing construction. This constituted 74 GJJ tower cranes and 12 numbers of Top sky units of six tons capacities."

The new cranes to be deployed for the second phase construction, will assist in lifting of precast sections for the housing project involving total 900 buildings with 24 floors, targeted for completion within period of 30-33 months. The cranes will be lifting 5.5 tons precast sections @ 40 meters working radius.

Mentioning about the Topsky flattop tower cranes that come with a free standing height of 60 meters and one anchorage for 80 meters, Mr. Ramdev says, “The cranes based on Jost German design has higher slewing and lifting speeds, making them suitable for projects with tighter completion schedules. Further, the cranes are more durable and also score on safety factors. Based on Jost safety factors, the crane is 2.5 factor of safety as compared to 2 on other cranes. Safe load indicator and anti collision device is standard inbuilt in the cranes."

The company showed its new tower crane camera systems at the event. Informing on the application of the product, Mr. Ramdev said, “The camera can be installed on the trolley of the tower cranes, enabling the operator to have better view of the hook & ground conditions up to a depth of 600m." Everest provides anti collision device as tower cranes supporting solutions.

Mr. Jonas Nilsson, VP, Volvo Penta India informed that Volvo Penta has entered into an agreement for supplying its BS CEV III Certified TAD852VE, 286 hp, 8 litres engines to TIL for certain segments of its mobile cranes. The company will offer the engines for other range of TIL's mobile cranes as well.

The introduction of the newer products and supporting solutions augurs well for the crane industry as they will well likely ensure higher equipment availability and commensurate optimization of the plants. However, it will be pertinent for the manufacturers to support the products with requisite support services.