The Civil Engineering Contractor July 2019 | Page 40

SUPPLY CHAIN NEWS
Upfront engineering saves time and money
By Tarren Bolton
The heavy lifting capacity
of modern mobile cranes
is revolutionising industrial
project roll-out, with
complete structures now
being moved and lifted.
G
He notes that South Africa did not
historically have much capacity to
deal with abnormally wide, high
or heavy items, and many of the
country’s road routes were not
conducive to transporting them. “Our
whole construction methodology
was therefore aimed at much smaller
components, which could be more
easily transported, and then lifted by
smaller cranes,” he says.
“The downside, of course, is that the
‘stick-build’ required on site brought
a range of risks and costs. Working
at height is always hazardous, and
assembly on site generally takes much
longer than in a purpose-designed
manufacturing facility.”
Yaman notes that it is usually
preferable to build an engineered
structure or component in a factory
environment where manufacturing
conditions are more controlled. Here,
there are better quality controls, and
testing can be conducted before the
item leaves the facility for site. “This
is generally a lower-risk option than
fabricating the item on site, especially
where factors like adverse weather
conditions, limited availability of
specialised equipment and working
at height can make the process more
challenging,” he says.
Thorough assessment
for best solutions
aining full benefit from
this trend, however, needs
careful and early planning,
warns Johnson Crane Hire National
Sales Executive, Peter Yaman.
“Taking advantage of today’s
advanced lifting and moving
technology needs a thorough
assessment of lifting options, and
this needs to be done as early in
the project life cycle as possible,”
says Yaman. “For this reason, Johnson
Crane Hire offers customers our
‘upfront engineering’ service to fully
explore which solution will be safest,
quickest and most cost-effective for
the specific project.”
Upfront engineering on a tandem bridge lift by Johnson Crane Hire saw the lifting
project successfully completed.
38 | CEC July 2019
Yaman maintains that thorough
assessments are always required
irrespective of the size of equipment
and componentry being moved
and installed. It is essential that
companies make use of a reputable
lifting solutions provider and the
primary reason for this is that such an
organisation would have the depth of
expertise, experience and access to
equipment to offer the best solution
for the project.
It is this level of skill that Johnson
Crane Hire leverages when doing an
on-site assessment. However, these
assessments are not just confined
to a visual on-site inspection. The
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