- So you've done your research
and selected your overhead crane.
You've picked your manufacturer and cut the check.
Now, it's time to install your overhead crane.
Welcome back to Cranes 101.
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Hey guys, Devon here from Mazzella Companies,
and today we're going to talk about
the process for installing an overhead crane.
In this video we'll cover what happens
before the installers get there,
the entire process of installing a crane
from start to finish and then what they do
after the fact to make sure that your crane
does what you want it to do the way
that you want it to do it.
So if you've been with us for a while,
you might remember Ryan Willoughby,
one of our field service technicians.
He did the video about the overhead crane installation cost.
He's back again to talk about the installation process
this time, with just covering how long this should take.
- The crane installation process should
generally take between two and 10 days.
It could take a month, it depends on how complex
this installation's gonna be.
A couple days sometimes on a small Gorbel system,
some pre-manufactured systems they have two-ton push pull,
it might only take a couple days.
- Knowing that between two days and one month
seems like a huge margin of time,
but if you think about it,
each overhead crane is different
and each facility that they install it in is different.
But Ryan also told me,
there's a bunch of things that need to happen
before the installers even get to your facility.
- The installers wanna go to the site
and see what they gotta work with,
what obstacles they gotta work around,
and meet with the customers and
see where they're gonna stage their product
when they arrive,
what kind of equipment they need,
how they're gonna get into the facility,
how big the overhead doors are,
if there's pits in the floor,
if there's equipment, machines, conveyor belts
that need to be moved around.
You need to cover all this stuff
with the point of contact so they know
what they can do to prep before you arrive
and make it smooth.
- So have you ever had somebody ask
you to house-sit for them?
Only they didn't tell you where the key was
or that they had a pet pitbull
that may have gotten loose and bit you in the face.
Well installation is the same thing sans the dog.
The more information that you tell
the installers ahead of time,
the better prepared they can be to get there
and get right to work.
But how much you should you expect
to discuss with them ahead of time?
- The context between the manufacturer
and the installer will depend
on the complexity of the project.
If it's a really simple project
that's pretty straightforward,
it might only be every couple weeks
that you contact them.
But if it's a real complex project
where there's a lot of variables involved
and a lot of managers involved,
it could be a daily meeting.
- So how exactly does your overhead crane
get into your building?
Well as Ryan tells me,
there's a lot to it.
- The type of equipment that installers
usually have to use to put the cranes in
vary depending on the layout of the land obviously
but if you have overhead cranes available
sometimes you can use those overhead cranes to
unload the truck and put up columns.
If not, you gotta bring in a mobile crane,
sometimes you gotta use rigging above head
just to get stuff into place.
Lifts, obviously, are part of the job.
Aerial lifts, central lifts, articulating lifts.
- So understandably so, it takes a heck of a lot
of gear to get an overhead crane up
in the air in your facility.
But the good news is,
if you have your own gear
and you have your own workers,
you might be able to save some money.
- Generally we bring our own equipment.
Customers can get a break on the price
a lot of times if they have their own lifts,
fork lifts available.
If they have JLGs,
if they have a mobile crane on site,
or if we can use their overhead crane,
that saves us obviously a lot of money.
If they have welders, generally we like to
use their welders and not our welders,
so we don't have to hook up to their power supply
and the more they have available, the better it is for us.
- So if you can, use your team,
your own equipment
and you'll be able to save quite a bit of money.
But I also wanted to know
what installers are gonna look for
when they get their equipment set
and they're ready to start.
- Generally, I'll look at head room, accesibility,
how they're gonna get in the building,
what equipment they gotta maneuver around,
where their power source is,
what equipment they're gonna use,
how they're gonna rig it,
just whatever obstacles they're might have to work around,
pits in the floor,
a conveyor belt that they have to work around,
things that can't be moved,
piping, conduit, duct work that they have to work around.
- So fun fact, installers are pretty great at their jobs.
And I can say that, because I talk to a lot of them
several times a week.
So when I was talking to Ryan
about the different obstacles that installers may face,
I was wondering about how they combat that.
- Generally, installers have been around for a while.
They've been doing this for a while.
They know ways to get around all those obstacles.
It's best if the customer can eliminate
the obstacles the best they can
but if they can't, if we have to push a piece
of conduit out of the way or we need to work around a pit
or a conveyor belt, we have ways of doing it.
Head room issues, obviously we deal with on a regular basis
and we can find ways to get that crane up in the air.
- So you want your overhead crane
for a very specific reason.
That's why you bought it.
What I wanted to know was about accountability.
How do you verify that what you want this
overhead crane to do, it can actually be done
the way that you want it to be done.
And what Ryan told me is there is a lot
of things that they do to verify, in front of you,
that it will do what you want it to do.
- Before the installation occurs,
the installer will meet with the customer
and the manufacturer to verify that the
crane system itself is gonna operate
the way the customer intends it to operate.
So if they want so much lift,
it gets the proper lift, the proper speed,
it has the right hook approach,
clearances running down the runway,
they got the right span,
basically all the bells and whistles
that they need it to have
to do the process that they need it to do.
- Alright, that's before it gets installed,
but what about after it gets installed?
- After the installation has occurred,
we'll wanna do a load test of 110% of the load
to verify that it'll statically hold the load
and there's no break, slippage, or anything like that.
And then we want to run the crane, all directions,
full range of motion, to verify that clearances
are okay and that there is no creak
and there's no pop
and everything's running the way it's supposed to run.
- Well that's well and fine if everything goes well.
But everybody's had a bad day, mistakes happen.
What happens if they test it and something goes wrong?
- If we notice something during the load test
that's abnormal, we'll have to investigate that, obviously.
Sometimes go back to the manufacturer
to come up with a solution.
For instance, if there's too much deflection,
if we hear a rail popping, that's significant.
Maybe we need tie-backs in that area, the runway system.
Generally, that'll go back to the manufacturer
to redesign that area.
Clearance is obviously, if something is not clear,
we might have duct work moved
or have to modify the trolley deck
or end truck to compensate for that.
- One of the last things that Ryan and I talked about
was the importance of agreeing upon a date
and then meeting it.
And I'm going to tell you to listen
to every word that Ryan tells you
what happens if you are not ready
for the installers when they get there.
- Lots of factors go into that date.
Renting equipment, obviously, per diem for employees
out there on the job site.
If there's a hold up due to the customer not being ready,
everybody's sitting there, trucks sitting outside
with the equipment on there, everything's being rented,
everybody's getting paid and nothing's getting done,
obviously the timeline's not gonna get met
and that's gonna cost quite a bit more than expected.
- Now I can't imagine how bad that conversation would suck.
I'm a time freak.
I go nuts about it.
If I'm not 10 minutes or 15 minutes early,
I have my own panic attacks.
It's just how I'm wired.
And I know that for me, to be a time freak,
it's all about what you control,
how early you start,
what you can do to prepare yourself
to make sure there are no surprises.
And that's exactly what I wanted to know from Ryan.
What can you, the customer, do to make sure
that you are as ready as possible
for the installers when they get there?
- There's things the customer can do
to make this process go smooth.
If you know you have a safety program
that everybody needs to go through,
you can have that set up with the safety guy.
Have doors free, clear, clear of equipment.
Any areas that need to be cleared out,
make sure they're cleared out.
If you need to have work permits or hot work permits,
have a guy set up ready to handle that.
Have everybody aware that that area
is gonna be need to be worked on that day
and everybody needs to be out of the way
and you come up with a plan on how you're
gonna load equipment, unload equipment,
and stage all your product during this process.
- So hopefully, this video was able to
better help you understand the process for
installing an overhead crane.
If you haven't already, check out the rest
of our Cranes 101 series.
There's a ton of videos there.
And while you're there,
consider subscribing to our YouTube channel
so you don't miss out on anything else
that we make going forward.
At Mazella Companies, we have a team of
highly trained lifting specialists and
field service technicians that want nothing more
than to help you figure out your lifting needs
as soon as possible and help you with the install.
If you're still not sure what overhead crane that you need,
the link above will take you to our
"10 Things to Consider When
Buying an Overhead Crane" checklist.
It's 100% free, you don't have to pay for it.
It's resource that was built with you in mind,
to make sure that you're ready to go
when you're ready to buy an overhead crane.
So if you still have questions about
forthcoming lifting project,
don't hesitate to reach out
and schedule a lifting consultation.
We'd be happy to help you out however we can.
Thank you for watching.
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