Industrial Overhead Crane handles loads from 30-500 tons.

Press Release Summary:




Featuring compact structure made of 98% recyclable material, SMARTON Crane provides tight hook approaches, allowing user to place load close to wall. Human Interface to Machine system continuously indicates load weight and position relative to available workspace. Monitoring its own condition, crane recommends various inspections and preventive maintenance. Automated positioning, extended speed range, defined working areas, maintenance monitoring, or remote diagnostics can be added as needed.



Original Press Release:



The SMARTON from Konecranes Provides a Smarter Way to Lift



New Industrial Crane Maximizes Productivity and Minimizes Total Lifecycle Costs

Konecranes, a global leader in the manufacturing of overhead lifting equipment, introduces the SMARTON, an industry-shaping overhead crane designed to minimize total lifecycle costs and maximize customer productivity. SMARTON is a rugged and flexible crane built to operate in a range of challengingand often changingindustrial environments. Depending on the set-up, SMARTON can lift loads ranging from 30 tons to more than 500 tons. SMARTON is designed with smart features that offer cost savings, adaptability, and a maintenance-friendly design backed by 24/7 service support.

SMARTON is the result of 3.5 years of intensive development work to satisfy the lifting needs of industrial customers. Named after the benefits it provides customers, SMARTON is space-making, maintenance-friendly, adjustable and applicable, reliable, and able to move tons. This robust crane can be used in industrial sectors such as steel handling and warehousing, automotive, general manufacturing, power, workshops, automatic storage systems and mining.

"We wanted to introduce a crane that satisfies customer needs and is implemented using the best available technology. The development of SMARTON incorporates the experience we have accumulated from the maintenance of hundreds of thousands of cranes and from our extensive product range, which is the most comprehensive in the field of industrial lifting applications," says Ari Kiviniitty, Konecranes' Chief Technology Officer.

SMARTON is a robust crane that is compact in size. This enables new industrial spaces to be smaller than before, reducing construction costs and heating expenses. The compact structure of SMARTON provides tight hook approaches, allowing the user to place the load much closer to the wall. A unique, space-saving service platform folds over the trolley to protect the trolley components. All of the crane's service points are located on one side and are easily accessible, as compared to other products on the market which require service points on both sides of the trolley.

With its compact design, SMARTON uses fewer natural resources in its production. Braking energy is fed back into the power grid, reducing energy consumption and energy costs by up to one third. In addition, SMARTON is made of 98% recyclable material.
A key driver of the design is adaptability to meet the customer's changing business and process needs. Customers only need to purchase what they need now, with the option of adding functions and features as future processes require. SMARTON can easily be updated at any time with additional features, such as automated positioning, extended speed range, defined working areas, maintenance monitoring, or remote diagnostics.

"The SMARTON offers a selection of standardized modules that are intelligently designed and coordinated. This innovative crane can be quickly configured to suit many customers' unique needs," says Jaakko Koppinen, Director, Heavy Duty Cranes.

One of the main goals in the development of SMARTON was to minimize the frequency and duration of maintenance shutdowns. SMARTON is built with time-tested components and the latest technology to maximize productivity and minimize total lifecycle costs.

"In today's industrial environment, shutdowns are very expensive. The better we can predict when equipment needs to be serviced and the faster we can perform maintenance, the longer a crane can operate and benefit the process," explains Koppinen.

The crane monitors its own condition and recommends when and what kinds of inspections or preventive maintenance should be performed. SMARTON keeps track of work cycles and predicts the remaining safe operating lifetime of the various components.

"The service life of hoisting wire ropes is a key element in maintenance expenses. Wire ropes are costly, and changing them is a time-consuming task. We have clearly extended the life of the wire ropes by optimizing the pulley rope angles in the hook housing, making them as small as possible to reduce the wear and tear on the wire ropes. Additionally, another innovation in SMARTON is its ability to predict the replacement interval of the wire ropes based on actual operating condition," explains Kiviniitty.

"We opted for tried-and-tested components instead of unique parts in SMARTON. Should spare parts be needed, their availability is guaranteed. We always have a given number of components in stock," says Koppinen.

SMARTON features an intelligent, yet easy-to-use Human Interface to Machine (HIM) system that keeps the user continuously up-to-date on load weight and its position relative to the available workspace. The HIM implementation tool makes it easy to understand the features of the device and speeds up user training. Error detection diagnostics instruct the user on how to deal with any problems. Additionally, the crane operator can program working cycles to boost productivity.

"The service panel enables faults to be solved quickly. Since the fault and its frequency are displayed on the panel, SMARTON is designed to speed up the inspection time, particular of the frequency inverter panels," explains Timo Ruokonen, a maintenance fitter at Konecranes.

SMARTON also has other productivity-enhancing features: Its precise, stepless-speed control ensures that loads can be lifted, moved, and lowered faster, thereby reducing the overall load-handling times.

Remote monitoring is an available feature with SMARTON. Three support centers located in different time zones around the world ensure that Konecranes can offer 24/7 support for equipment, regardless of the location.

To find out more about the SMARTON and other material handling products and services from Konecranes, contact Konecranes Americas, 4401 Gateway Boulevard, Springfield, OH 45502, by phone 937-525-5533, by fax 937-325-8945, or by using their toll free number 800-934-6976. You can also gain access to more information by checking out www.konecranesamericas.com.

Konecranes is a world-leading group of Lifting BusinessesTM, serving a broad range of customers, including manufacturing and process industries, shipyards, ports, and terminals. Konecranes provides productivity-enhancing lifting solutions as well as services for lifting equipment and machine tools of all makes. The Group has 9,600 employees, at more than 470 locations in 43 countries, including 100 branches in North America.

All Topics