Italian-American

When the plant opened, the production line and process were completely different to today’s. The raw materials arrived on site and all the crane parts were manufactured in-house.

Over the years, the process was transformed into linear production in order to boost productivity. Today all the crane components arrive at the factory finished, pre-painted and pre-tested. “Most components are entering the factory with a free pass, we only check critical characteristics of a few components. Critical characteristics are those that when faulty we won’t be able to move the machine at a later stage of the production process, for example if we can not turn the engine on or slew the superstructure,” says Cristiano Giacomello, the newly appointed director of operations.

In order to speed up the process, some component suppliers send their products in a kit with the exact sequence used during the assembly process. The production is currently in single working stations, crane assembly starts and finishes in the same position.

The 50th year of the facility will mark another production change: as of September there will be a shift to lean production, with the implementation of a moving line.

The main objectives are to improve safety conditions, increase productivity by 20% and reduce space by a fifth. The space reduction will be achieved through the setting of six moving line positions instead of the current 12 static assembly positions.

“Now two people work on every single position, each must know all the different working phases to complete the machine. On the contrary in a moving assembly line of six positions, every team member has to know just one-sixth of the total operation. In this way people can become more specialised and quicker,” Giacomello explains.

At Crespellano, eight RT models are produced, with capacities ranging from 35t to 90t. This plant supplies cranes around the world, apart from North America, which is served by the Oklahoma facility.

With the introduction of the global RT concept, which resulted in the new RT 90, the two factories are cooperating more than ever.

Giacomello says: “Instead of having each factory making its own products for its own market, we decided for same capacity models to work together in order to have a common design, bill of materials and components; so the crane can virtually be produced wherever is closer to the market.”

Terex says the RT 90 is a global product, because apart from the two manufacturing plants, the competence centre in Zweibrucken and the engineering centre in India also contributed in the design and manufacturing process. Through the involvement of the controls competence centre, the new crane features the IC-1 system used on Demag cranes, this is the first time it is used on an RT crane. Terex says all new RT models in the future will have the IC-1.

“This is the philosophy going forward, so now all the new models that we will introduce will be global RT models and the RT 90 is the first of this new generation,” adds Giacomello.

The 90t category was selected because the manufacturer wanted to update its offering in this market segment and to respond to an increased demand for higher capacity rough terrains globally.

“Ten years ago the 60t A 600 was our best seller, but now it is no longer in production, and we see the market moving more towards the 70, 75, 90t capacity classes.”

Terex says that RT 90 has been received well from the market, with a number of customers enquiring about it. Recently the company delivered the new RT 90 to Italian company Tecno-Gru and received orders for this model from Vernazza Autogru and Arabian Consolidated Trading.

Terex is seeing a revamping of the rough terrain market, which was negatively affected by the oil price and the economic crisis experienced in a number of countries.

“I am confident that we passed the lowest point of the cycle. We know this is a cyclical business so we didn’t stop to design and manufacture new models during the challenging years,” says Giacomello.

Italian towers

Terex manufactures tower cranes in Fontanafredda, near Venezia, a couple of hours drive north-east of Crespellano. Since the plant’s foundation in 1962 as Comedil, innovation in the design of tower cranes has never ceased at the facility. In the late 1990s, the company launched a complete flat top range. After 1998, when Terex acquired Comedil, the range of tower cranes manufactured at this location expanded and now includes flat-top, luffing jib, hammerhead and self-erecting tower cranes.

In the past two years, Terex has launched a number of new models across its tower crane product portfolio, including the CTT 132-6 flat-top, the SK 452 hammerhead crane and the CTT 472-20 flat top, which was launched last October.

Explaining the reasons behind the launch of the 20t CTT 472-20, vice president and general manager for global tower cranes at Terex Cranes Marco Gentilini says the 400- 500 tonne-metre category is a key segment and the company wanted to develop a crane to cover it.

Through the launch of CTT 472- 20, Terex introduced a new control system and a new cabin; both will be standard in all of its new tower crane models. The new control system has new functions, which can be performed electronically using the crane’s cabin display and joystick.

According to Terex, the system can save up to 75% of the time to configure the crane. Through the Terex Power Plus function, users can add 10% on the load chart to maximise lifting capacity, while the Power Match optimises hoist speed and consumption to the different jobsite needs and constraints.

The new cabin offers improved comfort for the operator and visibility. It features a built-in air conditioning and heating system, an adjustable seat, a new 7in display and a multi function joystick.

The cranes produced in this factory are shipped around the world. Responding to how different standards in different countries affect the overall manufacturing process, Gentilini says: “There are some standards that are different, but they normally do not impact the structure of the crane. There are specific standards, for example for the electric system, requiring some differentiation to meet European or North American standards.”

He adds that the way people use the features of the cranes varies around the world. He gives the example of densely populated cities like London, where building time is critical because of permissions, limited space and high costs. In these circumstances customers are looking to maximise efficiency, speed of operations and easy and quick erection.

At Fontanafredda there is an applications engineering team who closely works with customers to develop tailored solutions and products.

The team at the facility is working really hard as there are a number of new tower cranes in the pipeline. Gentilini says they are currently working on a new luffing jib crane in the range of between 200-300 tonne-metres. “It is an important segment where we have successful products, but we really look forward to incorporate the features we have developed for our latest models.

We will also improve features that are typically needed in the luffing jib crane segment—reducing the parking radius, improve comfort for operator and enhance control features.

“We are also working on a new model in our flat top product line, precisely in the City Class range and we are also aiming to renew our range of self-erecting cranes, definitely another important project that will keep us very competitive in the near future.”

Since 2008, Terex has seen slowly recovering demand for tower cranes, with a boost in the past couple of years.

Gentilini says: “In 2017 we have seen meaningful growth in demand in Europe, especially in Central and Northern Europe. The UK is a very important market for us and so far we have not seen major impact from Brexit. Scandinavia and Poland are also good markets for us. The US demand has now stabilized on good volumes and we hope this continues, depending also on the investments infrastructure projects.

There is a strong demand for tower cranes in Canada as well. The Middle East has been a bit down for a couple of years but it continues to be an important market. We also see a positive market trend in East Asia.

“We see different areas having different trends but overall the market is increasing. Looking ahead I am positive for next year, the signs are positive.”