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3. Spare Parts: What will spare parts cost?
What is the lead time on spares delivery?
According to Kleiner, spare parts ordered
from Europe – expensive because of the
exchange rate – can take up to two months
to arrive at remote installation sites.
“In other words, production stops for
two months in the event of a breakdown,”
he says. “This is a cost that quickly
outstrips any initial price advantage at the
time of purchase.
Completed double-girder overhead crane leaving Condra’s Johannesburg
factory for delivery by road by sister company Transcon Haulers.
company with a technical service capability.
The absence of agencies representing
rival companies in Democratic Republic
of Congo, for example, allows Condra a
competitive advantage through its agent
Kolwezi Lifting Solutions, which manages
crane installation and servicing in that
country and holds spares to facilitate it.
“We are currently talking to a
Copperbelt mine where spares and
maintenance are no longer available
for two cranes supplied by a northern
4. After Sales Service: For customers
distant from major cities (mines in central
Africa, for example), what is the response
time on service calls? How far away is the
authorised service centre?
Condra has a well-developed network
of authorised agents across the sub-
continent to deliver quick and cost-effective
service. In some regions it is the only
tankhouse crane to replace an identical
machine delivered three decades ago. The
original crane was installed in 1990 to lift
and position copper plates and slabs within
the acid tanks used during the electrolytic
refining process, a highly corrosive
environment. The reliability of this machine
was so good was that it was replaced at
the end of its life with a twin.
An electric motor is fitted to a main hoist. It is being positioned by a
Condra overhead crane working inside a Condra factory.
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hemisphere competitor,” says Kleiner.
“We are investigating the possibility of
converting the installed cranes to Condra
standard so that they can be properly
maintained in the future.”
Kleiner says that a similar situation at
a Cape Town zinc plant recently resulted
in three overhead cranes undergoing this
type of conversion to facilitate effective
future maintenance.
Condra has formalised agencies across
South Africa, as well as in Namibia, Kenya,
Botswana and Zambia, with qualified
technicians based in Kitwe travelling to
Tanzania when needed. The company is
currently establishing service relationships
with representatives in Mozambique,
Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Angola with a
view to formally appointing agents in those
countries as soon as possible.
5. Technological Standard: Does the
crane include the most effective available
technology with respect to the application?
Is the machine fast enough, durable
enough, reliable enough?
Kleiner says that Condra’s cranes are
as feature-rich as the application requires.
They are also quick, with long-travel speeds
as high as 140 metres per minute when
required, more than three times the speed
of a standard crane and about as fast as an
average person’s jogging speed.
A grabbing crane recently delivered to a
local mine incorporates variable frequency
drives throughout, a radio remote control
with optional pendant control, downlights,
proxy lights to indicate movement
clearance on the gantry and grab, a digital
scale monitor on the remote control to
show the exact grab load on a continuous
basis, and a second, bigger digital scale
read-out on the crane itself, to transmit
grab load status at a glance when not
reading the remote control.
AUGUST 2019
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