Steel supply and breakbulk distribution company Abrolhos Steel has replaced a crane that had been in use for three decades at its Geraldton facility with a new Konecranes overhead crane.
The Western Australia-based distributor undertook this upgrade to address challenges with sourcing parts for the ageing equipment and to improve operational reliability.
The newly installed 5t single-girder overhead crane, which spans 18m, now facilitates the safe handling and dispatching of products including steel plates, sheets, hollow sections, pipes, roofing materials, and other structural components.
These items are typically transported to various destinations, some of which are remote, using breakbulk shipping methods that require specialised material handling due to the products’ large and irregular shapes.
Philip Martin, managing director at Abrolhos Steel, indicated that reliability was a deciding factor in selecting the new crane.
Martin said: “We chose Konecranes for our new crane because they have a reputation for high-quality products, good reliability, and outstanding service.
“Being in a remote area – about 400km north of Perth – reliability was a key consideration when choosing our new crane.
“We could have selected a cheaper and less capable crane, but if there was a breakdown that caused downtime, it would have cost us more in the long run. Konecranes gave us the reliability and service availability that we required.”
In addition to offering material handling across the company’s storage shed, the crane’s modern monitoring features now allow the team to better plan maintenance and reduce downtime.
This capability is expected to help Abrolhos Steel efficiently manage storage and the retrieval of steel products to meet customer needs, particularly within the mining sector.
The process of removing the old crane and installing the replacement was completed within one week.
Martin added: “Taking a crane offline is always a challenging task, when you have customer orders to fulfil. With careful strategic planning from my team, combined with hard work and excellent communication from Konecranes, we were able to coordinate this highly effectively.
“Having a modern crane means we now have modern features too. We are now able to monitor how many loads are being moved, so we can more effectively and strategically plan our crane services, and further minimise downtime. The crane is working perfectly in service, and the communication from the Konecranes team has been first class throughout the entire process.”
In July, Isokon, a Slovenian manufacturer, broadened its use of Konecranes equipment to streamline pallet handling at its production facility.
