Product category:
Cranes, hoists, winches, chains and ancillaries
News Release from: Konecranes (UK) | Subject: Konecranes SM Spacemaker trolleys
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 07 March 2002
Car plant updates cranage for better
efficiency
A UK crane manufacturer has updated cranes at Jaguar Cars' Halewood, UK, plant, replacing open winch trolley designs and modernising motor and control systems.
"Jaguar Cars recently inaugurated its new GBP 300 million plant The new Jaguar X - Type now on sale is to be built at the plant." Source: Jaguar Cars press release, Date 25th May 2001, Liverpool England
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 26 Jun 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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Realising that modernising an old crane is a good alternative to the capital outlay involved in a new one, Nissan called in East Kilbride Crane experts, Konecranes UK.
At this date Konecranes (UK) had been working with Jaguar Cars for over two years on this project in the area of the refurbishment and modernisation of their cranes.
The launch of the Jaguar X - Type can be seen as the single biggest step in Jaguar's growth strategy, accelerating Jaguar's transformation into a major competitor in the premium car segment.
Jaguar Cars Halewood plant has production capacity of at least 100,000 vehicles per annum.
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The modernisation division of Konecranes UK based at East Kilbride in Scotland recently won the contract to upgrade some of the plant at Jaguar's Halewood plant in Merseyside.
Coach builder buys new cranage
Plaxton Coaches have taken delivery of three 1 tonne CXT single girder cranes from East Kilbride based Konecranes UK.
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East Kilbride overhead crane manufacturer Konecranes UK has won another order to supply its renowned SMD Goliath design to the CTR 240 project.
The new Jaguar X - Type is expected to double Jaguar car sales when it is in full production.
During 2001 Jaguar estimated to sell across its model range over 85,000 cars worldwide.
The cornerstone of the transformation at Jaguar Cars Halewood plant has been achieved through significant investment in technology and people.
Konecranes (UK) is proud to be part of this transformation at Jaguar Cars.
The history of the Halewood plant the Halewood automotive plant was originally opened by the Ford Motor Companyin the early 1960s' with the first car being produced in March 1963.
Over the years, Ford produced models such as the Anglia, Corsair, Cortina, Capri, Zephyr, Zodiac and of course the highly successful Ford Escort which was first introduced in 1968, In 1991 Halewood's 5 millionth Escort came off theproduction line.
In July 2000 the last ever Ford Escort to be produced at the plant rolled of the production line and Jaguar implemented its major plant refurbishment programme.
The Cranes at Halewood Nearly all of the cranes at the Hale-wood plant were built by J H Carruthers and Co, now known as Konecranes (UK).
The cranes are mainly of conventional double girder construction with a small number of Carruthers Monobox single girder torsion cranes.
Jaguar Cars and Konecranes (UK) engineers inspected the existing cranes, checking the original design requisite, comparing this with the plants new requirements for crane operations.
This joint review resulted in specifications and phased refurbishment and modernisation proposals being created for the key cranes to match the X -Type production build.
The main thrust of Konecranes (UK) project team's proposals was to give the old Carruthers cranes a step change in performance, control, safety and reliability to match that of the new Jaguar X - Type compared to the models previously produced at the Halewood plant.
However, the new crane features that were offered for the cranes did not include leather seats, cruise control or satellite navigation, all of which are available on the new Jaguar X-Type.
The refurbishment and modernisation of the cranes involved replacing the old Carruthers open winch double girder trolleys with all new Konecranes SM Spacemaker trolleys, replacing existing slipring motor control with Konecranes DynAHoist and DynAC drives for trolley and bridge movements.
Complete electrical rewire was required with new festoon cables and new electrical control cubicles.
The line shaft single motor long travel drive arrangements have also been replaced with twin Konecranes GM drives, utilising existing wheels where they have been altered to be of live axle design.
Two of the cranes had suffered extensively through poor rail alignment and hard use over a number of years.
Both of these cranes were removed from the rails, returned to Konecranes (UK) factory in East Kilbride near Glasgow, totally stripped of the old end carriages and drive arrangements and all new Konecranes SH bogeys were fitted.
Prior to the end carriage change, the offending long travel rails were replaced and re-aligned.
The fitting of Konecranes SM Spacemaker trolleys, with the advantage of low dead weight (allowing some increased capacity where required), true vertical lifting, and overall modern design complete with plafforms for maintenance access, overload protection for added safety, and the ability to be customised for Jaguar Cars without affecting standardisation issues, has proven to be the ideal solution.
Konecranes DynAHoist and DynAC inverter variable speed drives removed the need for micro speed control, reduced stress in components and structure, giving peak performance with smooth operation, added safety supervision and maintenance diagnostics.
DynA drive technology and some new slipring motor controls were also employed in some of the other cranes where the hoist machinery was retained.
The design brief on the selection of equipment was to give the ultimate in crane performance that would see these cranes operate for many years to come, ensure spares availability and use a common design approach with the same components on more than one crane, thereby reducing the number of spare parts to be held.
The refurbishment project for the cranes at Jaguar Cars is phased well into 2002 with the benefits of the refurbished and modernised crane operations extending to more of the cranes at the Halewood plant as the new Jaguar X-Type approaches full production.
Jaguar Cars orders for the Halewood plant placed wilh Konecranes (UK) for this project now exceeds Euros 1,370,000 (about GBP 856,250).
Konecranes UK has recently been contracted by Polynorm Stadco to supply a range of cranes and fittings to Jaguar's Castle Bromwich, UK, plant.
Konecranes UK has enjoyed a long and successful relationship with Jaguar and is currently completing an extensive refurbishment and modernisation contract at their Halewood UK, plant.
The Castle Bromwich order is for:- 32 tonne (2 x 16 tonne) crane; 10 tonne (2 x 5 tonne) crane; 2 x 10 tonne cranes; 3 x gantries; 32/16 tonne crane; spares and modification to existing cranes.
The new cranes to be supplied are a mix of CXT and XLD models each fitted with the appropriate state-of-the-art DynAHoist and DynAC controls with built-in maintenance diagnostics allowing faster and more accurate trouble shooting and planned servcie and repairs.
Named Premium, this new monitoring system from Konecranes is designed to maximise hoist and crane safety and performance control.
The system is based on modern electronics and software design and makes the handling of heavy loads safer and easier.
The modernisation of the existing Konecrane at Castle Bromwich involves the fitting of Konecranes DynAHoist that will synchronise the main and auxiliary hoists during tandem operation.
The order, worth in excess of GBP 1/4m will be delivered March/April.
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