Karmax Heavy Stamping, a manufacturing division of leading automotive supplier Magna International, Inc., stamps a wide variety of parts for the world’s major automakers
On the front line of production
Konecranes Burlington, Ontario, branch supports Karmax’s operations through Konecranes MAINMAN® inspection and maintenance contracts for 18 pieces of lifting equipment.
One of the 18–a 75-ton overhead trolley crane–more than pulls its weight at the front of the Karmax production line. On the job since 1985, it lifts 35-metric ton coils of steel–24 a day–which are fed into the facility’s 800-ton blanking press. The crane also helps change dies on the press, which cuts blanks from the steel. Then, the blanks move on to other presses that stamp them into parts.
Technicians quick to respond on the scene
In the middle of a night shift, in early 2013, the crane bridge jumped the rail, due to flanges that had gradually worn off two of the wheels. That halted blank production and threatened to bring the plant to a standstill and impact orders from Karmax customers.
Within two hours, the first of Konecranes technicians arrived on the scene. A little after 2 a.m. Karmax maintenance manager Mike Crevier said, “The response was fantastic, very timely and efficient.”
“In a 24-hour period we had eight technicians working on this and dedicated to getting Karmax back up and running,” Mark Wilson, Konecranes sales representative, said.
Konecranes' dependability 'indispensable'
Overall, Karmax lost about eight hours of production time, but Crevier said the Konecranes team prevented a complete shutdown. After returning it to the rails, the technicians made the crane available for production between steps in the repair process.
Since the repair, Konecranes has been helping Karmax solve the issue that caused the crane wheel flanges to wear prematurely in order to prevent a recurrence.
“It’s indispensable to have a service provider you can depend on to maintain your operations,” Crevier said. “For the 25 years I’ve been at Karmax, they have provided us excellent, timely service.”
