Konecranes and Demag South Africa was recently awarded a R20 million crane electrical modernisation contract for an industrial company based in Southern Africa. The 18-year-old Demag crane was originally purchased from Konecranes and Demag South Africa had started to show signs of wear mid-2024. 

The company contacted Konecranes in Johannesburg, who travelled to site to conduct an assessment.

“Once at site, we conducted a full electrical and mechanical evaluation of the crane. This assessment showed that the downtime and resulting breakdowns experienced by the client were as a result of the age of the electrical system and which was no longer performing optimally. We recommended an electrical modernisation programme be undertaken” said Alwyn Rautenbach, Modernisation and Sales Support Specialist at Konecranes and Demag South Africa.

The modernisation programme included the replacement of all key electrical components as well as the reprogramming of the variable speed drives. “As we hold a large supply of mechanical and electrical components for our products at our premises, we were able to supply all of the parts required to complete the modernisation upgrade from our Johannesburg Distribution Centre” commented Ian Grobler, Sales Manager for Konecranes and Demag South Africa.

Components such as variable speed drives, encoders, auxiliary panels, brake and hoist resistors formed part of the consignment of components. Full functionality testing as well as a Factory Acceptance Test was conducted before the complete electrical upgrade was delivered to site. The modernisation installation process took one month with ongoing monitoring of the crane’s performance ongoing for a further two months.

Rautenbach said “Despite the removal of the cranes complete electrical system, the modernisation transition was smooth and efficiently conducted. We will continue to supply assistance on site and conduct unscheduled maintenance that limits downtime for the customer, whilst we ensure that all in the new system is performing as it should”.

“The cost of maintaining crane electrical and control systems increases over time. An electrical system modernisation not only helps improve the performance of your existing equipment, it also extends the lifespan of your crane without the major CAPEX expenditure of purchasing a new crane.” said Grobler, adding that new safety features and positioning capabilities can simply replace high-maintenance, obsolete components with newer technology offering a newer, tailored and fully integrated system.

“We are proud to have been able to resolve the customers crane challenges as cost efficiently and as timeously as possible. The end result has delivered a modernised and fully operational ‘new crane’.  We are also delighted to be the preferred supplier to the same customer for a further two to three electrical crane upgrades over the next two years”.

“Konecranes receives a substantial number of enquiries from clients based in Southern Africa, no matter the make of the crane, and a key factor in our successful resolution of any mechanical or electrical performance issue is our quick technician-to-site response time for assessment purposes, our ability to supply spare parts and components from our Distribution Centre easily to site and to ensure that the refurbished crane equipment is fully operational quickly without cutting any safety requirements” concluded Grobler.