Sometimes the best way to transport product through a warehouse or manufacturing facility is to lift it up then move it along. Handling materials overhead can increase productivity, enhance safety, improve ergonomics and maximize available floor space by using space above the floor to move goods.
While some industrial and commercial operations can only be accomplished using a crane building set-up, there are also crane options that can be an addition to, and often more economical use of, a smaller factory or warehouse space.
Cranes range from simple, manual hoists to fully automated systems with movements directed by software. The right choice depends on the process, the product being moved, the task being performed and the desired rate of throughput. For example, workstation cranes and jib cranes are used to improve ergonomics in small areas, while bridge and gantry cranes handle the heavy lifting tasks over longer distances.
All crane options will have three basic components– bridge, trolley and hoist.
Bridge: Made up of rails and can be stationary or mobile. It can carry one or more trolleys.
Trolley: The unit that travels side to side and carries the hoist.
Hoist: The lifting device that hooks onto and manipulates the load.
There are two main overarching categories of crane. They are Workstation Cranes (freestanding rigs which are generally employed in production environments) and Overhead Cranes (used for lifting heavy loads over large spans of area).
OVERHEAD CRANES
Overhead Cranes consist primarily of Bridge Cranes. Designed for major lifting tasks, bridge cranes are mounted on the ceiling, and provide superb precision and a high degree of safety that can be achieved in the positioning of massive loads. Bridge cranes can lift loads of up to 600 tons or more.
Another type of overhead crane is the “top-running, under-hung crane” where underhung crane trolleys run on the bottom of support I-beams, and are meant for much lighter loads (15 tons or less). The good point is their ability to move the loads much closer to the facility walls but they cannot lift the load as high as bridge crane systems.
WORKSTATION CRANES
Workstation cranes are free-standing, as opposed to being supported by the components of the structure. There are three sub-classifications: Gantry Cranes, Jib Cranes and Monorails.
Gantry cranes share many of their characteristics with the bridge crane, but they are freestanding, hence limited to load capacities of typically 1 to 5 tons, and spans of up to 30 feet (about 9m). Gantry cranes consist of two uprights connected by an I-beam that serves as a bridge for the trolley. These uprights are either fixed onto the floor or are on wheels and are commonly deployed in maintenance operations.
Jib cranes offer rotations of 360 degrees (for free-standing systems bolted to the floor) or 180~200 degrees (for wall/counter mounted systems). Jib cranes can typically support loads of up to 5 tons and provide practicality and ease in precision positioning.
Monorails are composed of an I-beam track that hangs from the ceiling and are limited to loads of about 10 tons. They have the advantage of speed with which they can transport the load over a great distance. However, there are costs involved in making changes to the layout and path of a monorail system. Hence it is important for you to be certain of the desired path for your monorail crane before undertaking its installation.
This article has taken reference from Modern Materials Handling Equipment 101: Overhead handling equipment basics by Lorie King Rogers.
Should you wish to incorporate crane systems into your facility, please highlight your requirements to Nova Buildings at the building design stage so that we could offer you design alternatives to consider in conjunction with crane options. Nova Buildings can also refer you to crane suppliers or work with the supplier of your choice on your crane building set-up.
