Full beam

PT Waskita Beton Precast (WSBP) has a target capacity of around 3.25m tonnes of concrete beams this year, which will be used for construction and infrastructure projects, including flood mitigation structures, maritime piling and structures, as well as road, rail bridge, and civil engineering works.

The company worked with Konecranes and Konecranes’ East Java agent PT 16 CXT cranes. The cranes feature full inverter control, for speed, safety and precision, and log travel speeds of 100m a minute to increase efficiency.

The cranes are a combination of single and double girder types, with capacities of 8–10t, and feature tandem operation where required for hoisting wide, long and heavy concrete and steel loads.

The precision modelling, specification and engineering involved in preparing for the installation was overseen by a global collaboration between WSBP’s parent company PT Waskita Karya (Persero) Tbk, led by the plant manager of WSBP’s Sidoarjo plant Bidaruni Anggarawati, with JPC’s on-site personnel and Konecranes SEA operation extensively supported by engineers at Konecranes’ head office in Finland.

The new installation of Konecranes replaced slower and less efficient mobile cranes used as an interim measure since the Surabaya plant opened a year ago. JPC sales manager Siat Tjie Djiang said: “Obviously when you are handling long and heavy beams—6–20m, weighing 3–15t—safety is a top priority. Not only must any risk of collision be curtailed, but also the process must be robustly engineered to continue to reliably provide an uninterrupted supply to vital infrastructure projects.

“Because reliability is essential, PPC and Konecranes spent more than two months partnering with the customer, settling all the technical specifications and design criteria. This meant we were able to supply Konecranes’ latest proven lifting technologies complete with suitable statutory compliance, technical and design requirements based on actual usage.

“We believe this is the first-ever successfully installed full inverter control system with 100m/min long travel speeds, coupled with anti-sway technology and comprehensive safety devices for precast applications.

“All 16 cranes incorporate inverter control for smoother travelling motion, meaning better load control compared to one- or two-speed contactor control. All lift, cross travel and long travel speeds are tailored to the exact application.” Safety devices also include overload protection, upper/lower limit switch, cross travel and long travel limit switch, anti-collision devices and thermal protection for the motors