They have a plan

Computerised plans have revolutionised the appearance and consistency of lift plans, and now, advances in technology have made it possible to anticipate many complex lift movements to within millimetres.

American software developer Lift Planner’s CEO Jim Meehan says demand for crane and rigging planning software is increasing worldwide, especially as large construction projects often impose firm guidelines as to when a lift diagram must be generated.

“One customer involved in building a power plant related that he must produce lift diagrams for lifts over 75% capacity of any crane, all lifts involving two cranes and any lift over 20 US ton. These three criteria will result in the generation of many lift diagrams. The reason for emphasising lift diagrams is to avoid errors that can lead to accidents.”

Meehan says, broadly, two types of software have emerged. The first is focused on crane capacity optimisation, with a crane and capacity database and elementary graphics used to produce a lift sketch. This software is useful for crane dispatchers, and is generally offered by the crane manufacturers.

The other type of lift planning software are the AutoCAD computer-aided design systems made for the refinery and industrial sectors. As these facilities tend to have plot plans and equipment drawings already prepared in AutoCAD, they require a compatible lift planning tool, which usually includes a library of rigging elements.

Canadian firm Irving Equipment claims to have led the lifting industry with the development of Crane/CAD lift planning software in 1983, which allowed their engineering team to “select the ideal crane for any lift by looking at clearances and capacities and providing detailed drawings”. The software featured on the cover of Cranes Today back in 1992. The latest Crane/Cad version configures the equipment for specific lift requirements, taking into account ‘all critical factors’. According to the company, the three-dimensional computer-aided drafting system assists with the creation of drawings detailing each aspect of a proposed lift.

Developments in lift planning software continue to be complemented by advances in technology, and an emerging phenomenon is the lift supervisor equipped with palm-held PC.

In 2007, Australian planning software Crane Planner was adapted for use on palm-held PCs by foremen and supervisors at the jobsite, allowing real time lift management and providing an electronic record that could be used for future lift planning in maintenance and shutdowns. This advance meant the system would help the lifting team deal with last minute changes to plans. Users could create new crane plans on the spot and email completed plans to customers using the handheld. The handheld does not create the crane plan itself, but sends the instructions over the internet to the software running on a computer at the company's headquarters. It prompts users to enter the load weight, distance, lift height, obstacle height, radius and to select a particular crane. Crane Planner's mobile web interface was designed as an add-on to the main software.

In October 2008 German job planning software firm kranXpert released a free Pocket-PC version for Microsoft Mobile Pocket-PC. Another development to come from kranXpert, in February 2009, was a user editable wiki on its homepage where users will find crane import file format descriptions. In the future, all kranXpert documentation and tutorials will be stored on the wiki.

A major advance in recent years has come via laser scanning systems. These tools offer unprecedented accuracy in the modelling of crane working spaces. They have been particularly welcomed in more complex environments where they offer a way to safely and efficiently create detailed three-dimensional models. Due to the disparity between the architects and engineers original designs and the inevitably modified construction, surveyors are usually needed in complex jobs to map an as-built plan of the lift environment. This led to a time-consuming and labour-intensive process of taking measurements one at a time with total stations or theodolites, and the costs made it prohibitively expensive to measure points any closer than a metre or so apart. Since the late 1990s companies have developed three dimensional laser scanners capable of taking thousands of measurements per second, to an accuracy of a few millimetres.

In March last year American company Link-Belt Cranes announced “an industry first” when it launched a web-based three-dimensional lift planning tool. The online program gives Link-Belt crane owners remote access to the tool, which was designed to be simple to use and does not require CAD programmes, extensive updates or training. It was designed to offer secure storage of any lift plan, complete with metric or imperial units, load and rigging data and jobsite obstructions. During the simulation, the actual lift is viewed with three-dimensional graphics that create detailed jobsites complete with views of changing machine configurations, load charts, landscape and site obstruction items. Once a plan is set, an engineer-scale lift plan can be printed from any angle to document the plan. Link-Belt commissioned A1A Software to create the software, and asked the developer to meet user demand for ‘one bucket in which to put all makes of their cranes’. 3D Lift Plan is marketed as being updated online as needed, accepting all manufacturers’ models, and not requiring special training to operate.

CraniMax CEO Michael Köelsch says a major challenge in the field has been to combine the two key applications of crane capacity optimisation, and CAD compatible 3D modelling generation. This is what the company has designed into its Crane Manager Cranimation V3.

CraniMax is in partnerships with crane manufacturers Terex, Kobelco and Sennebogen, but any model can be imported into the software and it currently includes models from seven manufacturers.

The Crane Manager Cranimation V3 is used for mobile and crawler crane jobs. The software contains two parts: the first calculates data regarding ground pressure for the selected cranes and the second part can generate three dimensional graphics for an industrial, petrochemical or construction jobsite. A range of 105 mobile and crawler cranes ranging from 25t-3,200t is supported. The user can input up to 99 crane models in each instance to simulate which will be the best configuration for the job.

The software supports the AutoCAD and BricsCAD environment and implements two libraries for object and rigging equipment. The customer can also implement their own equipment, which means the program grows with each crane lift. An implemented environment pre-configurator can help if the user needs assistance, while an option at the end of the project planning is to print out a full parts list, including things like load, summary of shackles, slings, the rope length, and hook blocks.

CraniMax also offers the ToM Tower Manager V1.1 for the tower crane sector, covering a fleet of 240 different tower crane models. The company provides professional training for CAD systems and their own products worldwide for all different user experiences.

To distribute the plan between those involved in the lift, sales manager Marc-André Roka says, “The project files can be shared and modified between the jobsite engineers” while “all necessary project information can be printed out by PDF for meetings or for people involved off-site.”

Meanwhile, Kölsch says the company is working on a third tier to its software, a piece of software that will be used for crane transportation optimisation. Yet to be named, it will compile a list after users input the equipment that needs transporting. It will break down all components and allocate them into individual lorry loads and be used to streamline the transport process. It is expected to be completed within the year.

A Terex spokesperson noted CraniMax’s setup as a local application meant it was able to function in a network, so “there can be multiple users working simultaneously on the same project.” A senior Kobelco Cranes sales executive said the software was often judged to not be cost effective for use with smaller model cranes.

Crane manufacturer Manitowoc offers an industrial lift planning and crane selection tool free to its affiliates called Compu-Crane, which it purchased the software and rights to from PAT in February of 2005. The standard version includes current Grove models with a capacity over 60 US ton or 50t and current Manitowoc cranes with a capacity of 120 US ton or above.

Compu-Crane allows users to draw simple or detailed jobsites with any number of obstructions. A complete replica of the jobsite can be created allowing the application to provide a selection of suitable cranes and appropriate rigging configurations to accomplish the lift. The software displays the lifting task in detail, showing the selected crane with all lift obstructions. Users can simulate the lift and check all clearances (boom, tail, swing, tip height, and hook height). Lift data can be printed for presentation, bids, company records, or on-site reference. An equipment dispatcher can enter jobsite parameters and then examine the list of optimal configurations. Like its competitors, the company is constantly revising the software based on customer feedback. Users can customise their version by searching for the models and then downloading. A recent addition to the software is the outrigger pad load estimator which enables users to perform outrigger pad load calculations within seconds and have the results emailed back for future reference.

Senior business analyst at Manitowoc for Compu-Crane Gene Duffey says, “We hope to add outrigger pad loads for our all-terrain cranes in the near future. At the moment, we keep those values stored on the Compu-Crane software itself.”

He says the company chose to purchase Compu-Crane “to have greater control over the lift planning software we were offering”. He added the program functions with a newly expanded website and there are plans for a major overhaul in 2009. While it is a local application, he said they had investigated making the program available on-line “and this is something we may pursue in the future”.

Tadano Faun is in a partnership with German developer kranXpert, which it says is the easiest system on the market, largely because it does not require users to be specialists in CAD. The system is open to all manufacturers and models. It is a local application, which companies purchase a license to use. A spokesperson for Tadano Faun says the simple-to-use program means a site inspector may prepare the lift plan on-site, and it may be distributed to those involved in the lift through print-outs, by email or discussed at the hire board in the office.

Asked what advances Tadano Faun would like to see in lift planning software in the future, the company listed automatically produced job cost calculations for offers and the final calculations including invoicing; stemming from this would be functions allowing users to monitor and achieve different kind of transparent costs information, with charts and so forth, but, importantly, keeping the program simple and easy to handle.

LiftPlanner is another piece of software that was made to work with all crane models. It allows cranes and rigging to be shown in the same diagram, import plot plans of the work site and vendor drawings of payloads as well as having a consistent interface to control RT, AT, crawler, tower cranes, gantries and platform trailers. It is a full featured AutoCAD based package that offers output diagrams. It has been purchased by crane owners with a single crane in their fleet with plans to expand their system later as they purchase more cranes. At the other extreme are large fleet owners in the largest refinery and chemical plants. They had developed plot plans of their facilities in AutoCAD verified for accuracy (25mm) and the candidate crane may be “inserted” directly into these plot plans and configured within minutes.

Meehan says a major development from LiftPlanner has been the addition of a lift movie feature that can show an animation of a lift, including all the aspects that may be included in a slideshow sequence such as boom assembly, manoeuvring of platform trailers with vessels, setup of multiple crane lifts and so forth. “This tool is becoming increasingly popular as it can be indispensible for critical lifts as it communicates visually what a thick pile of drawings may be unable to do. When a lift team is shown a movie before conducting a lift there will not be any head scratching or befuddled looks by the crew as to what comes next: crews have said it was 'like we were doing the lift for the second time'.”