which we will leverage to the benefit of our
customers.”
A major producer of tower cranes and
self-erecting cranes since 1928, Potain offers
more than 60 models in a variety of product
ranges. Over 100 000 Potain cranes have
been sold and installed around the world.
“With at least 200 Potain cranes in active
service in South Africa alone, we can see
that the local market is very loyal to this
strong brand,” says Crous. “We look forward
to providing existing and new customers the
highest level of service and support.”
He highlights that Crane & Hoist
Equipment SA will make it easier for
customers to source original spares. The
company’s direct sourcing from Potain in
France will also make its pricing to customers
more competitive.
“We place a priority on safety and
compliance with all our products and
services, and being part of the Potain family
will also give us direct access to their global
expertise,” he says. “For our part, we are,
of course, a registered lifting machine entity
(LME) with the Department of Labour, and
believe in close compliance with OEM
specifications in all our work.”
Crane & Hoist Equipment SA was
formed in 2017 by a management team that
together have amassed over 40 years in the
tower crane sector. This team includes sales
director Louw Smit and operations director
Danie Roos. The experienced staff includes
two Potain-certified master technicians,
accredited lifting machine inspectors (LMIs),
and qualified riggers and electricians.
“We even have in-house training capacity
that is certified by Potain, so we are able to
train our own staff and customers’ staff,”
says Crous.
Strong relationships with key customers
in the local market have meant that Crane &
Hoist Equipment SA has been busy since day
one, mainly in rentals, servicing, anchoring,
and jacking, but also in crane sales. The
company already boasts its own fleet of
seven tower cranes suitable for medium-
sized and small projects, where five to eight
tonne lifting capacity is required with 50–60
metre jib lengths.
Beyond its Gauteng base, it has also
recently been active in several KwaZulu-Natal
residential developments and significantly,
its experts have been called on from as far
afield as Ghana, Sudan, and Burkina Faso.
Potain itself has also collaborated with
Crane & Hoist Equipment to assist with a
commissioning project in Guinea.
In addition to Potain’s GME and GMA
ranges, it also offers specialised cranes
such as the giant MD3200; this model has a
maximum capacity of 85 tonnes and can lift
26 tonnes at 85 metres, and boasts a hook
height of some 104.5 metres.
6
MAY 2019
WORLD NEWS
Wirtgen W 220 milling magic!
AFRICA NEWS
Wirtgen milling machine operating with a high milling drum speed and a
high advance rate.
The Wirtgen W 220 large milling machine’s first job in Italy did not take
the high-performance machine to a highway but to a winding country
road at the foot of Mont Blanc in the north-west of the country. It was at
this location that the extremely powerful 577kW machine made its mark,
milling the surface twice as fast as scheduled.
10km of new surface course along the route to the peak
The Strada Statale 26 (SS 26) stretches from the flat landscape of Piemont
to the Alpine regions around Mont Blanc and includes a link to the Mont
Blanc Tunnel. The road winds its way up to the Aosta Valley, reaching
altitudes of almost 1 000m and all sections are heavily trafficked, both by
tourists and freight traffic. It is used by an average of some
5 000 vehicles per day.
The road was due for rehabilitation in the summer of 2018. The 4cm-
thick surface course was to be renewed across the entire width along a
10km section. In some sections, rehabilitation of the 10cm-thick binder
course was due as well.
Cost-efficient quality
Full road closures are extremely difficult to achieve in the Alps, and so
only one side of the SS 26 was blocked at one time when the road was
rehabilitated in July and August 2018. But the contractor, Italfrese s.r.l.,
a Piemont-based company and one of Italy’s largest milling contractors,
was able to shorten the construction period by using the W 220. This is
partly due to the machine’s ability to mill across 2.2m in a single pass,
meaning that just two passes were required in most areas, rather than
three. What’s more, the milling machine operated at an advanced rate
of 28–30m/min — even at inclines of around 5%. Ultimately, the milling
contractor completed the milling work in just half the time that would
have been estimated for one of the smaller machines usually used on
confined sections such as those on the Alpine pass. And all of this without
compromising on quality.
Ernesto Franco and Emanuele Franco, managing director and technical
director of Italfrese, were well aware of the time savings when planning
the job. “In the run-up, we investigated which of our 12 milling machines
could complete this job as economically and quickly as possible. And the
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