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Alaskan Copper & Brass Co. was moving a large part of its operation from Seattle and Renton to a facility in Kent, Washington. The company needed new lifting equipment and also wanted to relocate some older cranes at the Rention facility, not purchased from Konecranes.
Alaskan Copper owned a total of 138 cranes as well as about 50 different types of underhook devices. Most of them were being maintained in a reactive mode, with repairs occurring only when something stopped working.
In Phase I of this operation, Alaskan Copper purchased two 5-ton single-girder CXT cranes from Konecranes and asked Konecranes to remove four older cranes from the Renton facility, modify them and move them to Kent. This process went well, and Eagle Hilton, Alaskan Copper’s new mechanical project coordinator, retained Konecranes to begin monthly inspections of all of its cranes using MAINMAN®, a multi-point visual inspection. MAINMAN inspection captures data on the condition of over 225 crane components and then analyzes, prioritizes and schedules required repairs in compliance with local statutes and laws. In Phase II, Alaskan Copper purchased four more 5-ton double-girder CXT cranes, and also asked Konecranes to provide and install over 700’ of runway for the new cranes in an existing building. The way the runway was installed in the long bay allowed offloading of product into smaller bays running perpendicular to the runway.
When the inspection program began, Konecranes technicians were working on the older cranes weekly. But one year later, as larger issues revealed by the inspections were resolved, Konecranes inspects just 15-18 cranes a month on a regular schedule. A parallel program for inspecting the under-hook devices has also been implemented. Konecranes takes care of significant repairs, while minor issues are handled in-house.
“In the first year, we spent a good bit of money resolving long-term problems with the older cranes, but since then our maintenance costs have gone down by around 60%,” says Eagle Hilton. “The biggest benefit is that downtime, and significant breakdowns have been drastically reduced. Now, we prefer to maintain equipment at more optimum levels. With our new policy of outsourcing of maintenance for critical equipment like forklifts and cranes, we’re down to one in-house electrician at this facility.”
“We are truly satisfied with every aspect of service we’ve received from Konecranes. Companies like yours make companies like ours better and stronger, not to mention making my job a lot easier.”
Learn more about Konecranes inspections and preventive maintenance.