An E-Crane� is easy to operate and our training program aims to bring our customer up to speed on all aspects of their new crane so they can work as safely and efficiently as possible.

The first, and possibly most important, phase of training actually starts well before the crane arrives to the job site: the selection process.

The selection process for operators and maintenance personnel is often overlooked.  It is important that operators have qualities such as good hand-eye coordination, stamina to sit in the seat for several hours, good depth perception, and a positive attitude. Operating an E-Crane� is not for everyone eventhough E-Cranes are relative easy to operate and putting a person inside the crane who is not well suited will put at risk him or her self along with other people at the site.  For maintenance personnel, basic knowledge of electrical and hydraulic circuits are preferred.  However, having the right problem solving attitude and good communication skills are a must.  We always stress to our customers the importance of the selection process that way by the time we arrive the "weed out" process is over.

E-Crane� offers training both at our customer's facility and also at our own workshop. Back in our workshop we built a full scale mock up of an E-Crane� cab.  The operators can sit in the seat and interact with all the joysticks and toggle switches just like the real thing.  We also have the E-Crane� Electronic Machine Manager (EMM) display screen installed.  This allows our engineers to show the operators and maintenance persons what types of information is available from the E-Crane� and how to interact with the display itself.  The simulator cab is mobile so if your job site if too far away from our shop we can transport the cab ahead of time to get started on training.

Whether it is on site, or back at our shop, all training sessions begin in the classroom.  We have developed state of the art training slides that literally give trainees a complete walk thru of their crane.  We offer focused versions of our presentation depending on whether we are working with operators, electricians, mechanics, or maintenance personnel.

First and foremost, a bulk material handling crane should optimize the unloading and processing rate of the facility.

It's critically important that the work tool is correctly sized and optimally designed for the material being handled in order to achieve the most efficient processing rate.

The gross "load" of the material handling crane is the total weight of the empty work tool (or grab) plus the weight of the material being handled when it is filled to capacity. This total weight must not exceed the rated duty cycle capacity of the machine and therefore every pound (or kilo) of material that is built into the construction of the hydraulic clamshell (grab) means a kilo that is not available for net payload.  

Lafarge, even with 40.000+ hours, the E-Crane� still uses the original grab supplied by E-Crane Worldwide

As with all things in design, the correct balance between weight of the grab construction and service life needs to be achieved. Generally it would be assumed that a heavier grab would have a longer working life. However, this is not necessarily true and many details of the grab construction need to be considered.  

(Read More)