Mobile Cranes - Demand Shifting to Higher Capacities

The Government’s boost to infrastructure development with plans including Smart Cities, Affordable Housing, Tunnels & Bridges, etc, is fuelling the CE Industry for all kinds of equipment. Cranes are also likely to see demand escalate, especially for the heavy-duty, higher capacity models, to meet construction requirements of mega projects like metros, railways, flyovers, mining, etc.

However, purchases could be slow due to factors like the current price hike in raw materials, transition to BS IV engines, and the resultant higher cost of maintenance, which is increasing the equipment owning and operating cost for customers.

To bring value additions in their cranes, manufacturers are making advancements to make them suitable for lifting higher loads, and are including competitive features like enhanced safety, sensors, more robust and stable structures using high grade steel, etc.

NBM&CW discusses these market trends with Sany, ACE, and Schwing Stetter.

Sanjay Saxena, Senior Vice President & Head of Heavy Equipment Business Unit, Sany Heavy Industry India

“We anticipate a sustained market growth and increase in business opportunities across India and in other South Asian countries.”

As a leading manufacturer and supplier of construction machinery, we have a wide market network and reach, and are successfully meeting the application requirements of our customers. Our mobile cranes have high efficiency and versatility to work even in the toughest of terrains by virtue of specially designed robust chassis and superstructure, high tensile steel U-shaped boom with high boom strength etc. Various driving configurations like multiple steering modes and multiple drive modes, meticulously designed approach and departure angle etc. of our mobile cranes entail high versatility and mobility for the crane owners. This in turn ensures high utilisation rates of our mobile cranes.

The mobile cranes’ hydraulic system is configured with the high efficiency pumps, motors, valves etc to ensure stable and reliable operation of the hydraulic system. Main and auxiliary winches are equipped with an over roll-out limiter to prevent over rolling-out of wire rope. The cranes’ boom head has an anemometer and angle sensor to indicate the operations of the crane in real-time, and in case of any dangerous actions, give off alarms and even automatic cut offs.

Our mobile cranes have led the way in the industry with regards to standardization of safety features, stringent compliance to Indian regulations, class leading lifting capacities and ergonomic designs. All SANY mobile cranes today are laced with state-of-the-art and intuitive SANY developed LMI systems, with special focus on user-friendly HMI (Human Machine Interface) and safety devices as standard. Further, our advances in material and manufacturing technologies has led to efficient hydraulics design, better service weights, easier serviceability and high fuel efficiency in haulage and crane operations. These improvements are recognised and trusted by our patrons and today, we are India’s No. 1 mobile crane manufacturer.

Manish Mathur, CEO, Cranes Division, ACE

“The topline will grow @ 25% due to 12-15% growth in numbers YoY and because the market will move to higher capacities. Next-gen & multi–activity cranes will be the key drivers.”

Demand for pick and carry cranes is expanding. This year, we will launch 25-35-ton capacity cranes along with the higher capacity conventional cranes. These will come with many competitive features, better stability, improved kinematics, and structural strength since they will be made of high-grade steel. We will provide the required customer support through our dealers, who will be adding new touchpoints for the benefit of the customers.

V.G. Sakthikumar, Managing Director, Schwing Stetter India

“We see demand of mobile cranes from refinery expansions, metro projects, and windmill projects."

Through XCMG all-terrain cranes, we are strongly positioned to meet demand. We are offering models with 160 to 500-ton lifting capacities, and 50 to 150 ton lifting capacities in truck cranes. Safety features include auto tensioning of super lift attachment while assembling to achieve balanced boom system and to eliminate errors in case of poor operator judgement.

XCMG tyre-mounted cranes have sliders to increase the contact area between the boom sections, which improves the overall integrity of the extended boom structure. A patented telescoping technology controls boom extension and retraction for smoother operation.We are also the first in India to introduce the all-axle steering in truck cranes for better maneuverability and overall performance.

XCMG mobile cranes have the standard, safe load indicator system with overload prevention, wind speed alarm, and indication alarm for operations on uneven grounds. Our 28 branches across India provide timely product support, scheduled health checkups for all our equipment, and periodic operator audits. We will soon be unveiling our e-commerce portal for procuring spare parts online.

We have an operator training school at Irungattukottai and at GMH Cheyyar, where we provide training on safe usage of our mobile and crawler cranes. We are affiliated with NSDC and IESC for third party assessment and certifications of trained operators. We also provide machine maintenance and operation training at the jobsite of our customers.