The American manufacturer’s recently opened EnCORE facility in Passo Fundo, Brazil, completed the total refurbishment of a Grove GMK6250L that fell into the port of Rio de Janeiro. The all terrain crane belonged to Sao Paulo-based Locar, a crane rental company that works across South America. The company chose to rebuild the crane, which was badly damaged by the sea water using Manitowoc’s EnCORE service rather than purchase a new crane.

The EnCORE team in Brazil disassembled and washed the GMK6250L before rebuilding it with all-new parts. It performed structural repairs and replaced all the electrical components of the crane. It was then repainted, load tested and delivered to Locar in nine months. The manufacturer said that the newly rebuilt crane came with a full manufacturer’s warranty for parts and service.

The GMK6250L all-terrain crane has a 220t capacity and a 72m), six-section, full-power Megaform boom with Twin-lock pinning. It also features Megatrak suspension and all-wheel steering, which easily handle rugged job site environments.

Locar uses these cranes mainly for heavy-duty construction work around South America.

In a strange coincidence, the GMK6250L was put to work on the factory that handled its refurbishment: Manitowoc’s Passo Fundo factory. Eisenmann, a Böblingen, Germany-based supply company, were contracted by Manitowoc to install Locar’s paint booth inside their Passo Fundo factory. Eisenmann used the GMK6250L to move heavy components inside the factory, including the exhausters of the painting line. This gave operators a chance to break in the newly refurbished crane’s components.

EnCORE is a long standing part of Manitowoc’s offering, but has over recent years become a more significant contributor to the company’s bottom line (as is the case with many leading manufacturers, where aftersales services are increasingly important). Much of the recent growth of the EnCORE programme came under Robert Hund, as EVP of Crane Care. Hund helped lead the development of the programme in the US, appointing Gilberto Ferraira to lead the programme worldwide. Over the last year or so, EnCORE has been developed directly at Manitowoc plants, and through partners, worldwide.

Manitowoc announced this week that Hund would be leaving the crane side of the business, to become president of its food service division. A replacement has not yet been announced.