In January 2015, Konecranes received an order for one SMARTON heavy-duty industrial crane from Smulders Projects Belgium NV in Belgium. The crane will be installed in a wind turbine construction facility in Hoboken, Belgium. The crane will have a lifting capacity of 50 tons, and will be delivered during this year, the company said in its press release.
Founded approximately 20 years ago, Smulders Group are making foundations and towers for on and offshore wind turbines. As the market for wind energy is developing, turbines are increasing in size and are placed further from shore in deeper waters. Smulders Group is anticipating this by expanding capacity and facilities, whilst taking into account the changing quality requirements, the most up to date technological developments and new generations of foundations.
This is the nineth Konecranes crane to be delivered to Smulders facility. The new SMARTON crane will operate on the same runway as the existing two 250 ton Konecranes cranes giving more productivity to the assembly line as well as handling smaller assembly tasks.
“The SMARTON crane is equipped with the latest technology,” says Arnoud Versteden, Manager of Modernization, Industrial Cranes, Europe. “New crane technology enables the operator to continuously stay up-to-date on not only the weight of the load but also its position relative to the available workspace.”
Through Konecranes TRUCONNECT® the new crane will also monitor its own condition and recommend when and what kind of inspection or preventive maintenance should be performed. This enables better maintenance planning and minimize maintenance shutdowns, thereby maximizing uptime and saving costs.
Smulders Projects Belgium NV also has a service agreement with Konecranes for all overhead cranes in their facilities. The cooperation has run very well between the companies, and this was also one of the key factors in this deal.