Konecranes is introducing an industry shaping industrial crane, SMARTON®. It presents an evolution in crane technology, designed to maximize customer productivity and minimize total lifecycle costs. SMARTON® can be used in industrial sectors such as steel handling and warehousing, automotive, general manufacturing, power, workshops, automatic storage systems and mining. Depending on the set up, SMARTON® can lift loads ranging from 30 tons to more than 500 tons.

This new overhead crane is the result of 3.5 years of intensive development work to satisfy the lifting needs of industrial customers. The letters in the SMARTON® name form an acronym for customer expectations: Space-making, Maintenance friendly and modular, Adjustable and applicable, Reliable, and able to move TONs.

SMARTON® is an evolutionary, not revolutionary, technology that combines time-tested components with innovative refinements.

“We wanted to introduce a crane that satisfies customer needs and is implemented using the best available technology. The development of SMARTON® incorporates the experience we have accumulated from the maintenance of hundreds of thousands of cranes and from our extensive product range, which is the most comprehensive in the field of industrial lifting applications,” says Ari Kiviniitty, Konecranes’ Chief Technology Officer.

Adapts to customer needs

A key driver of the design is modularity with intelligence. “The SMARTON® offers a selection of standardized modules that are intelligently designed and coordinated. This innovative crane can be quickly configured to suit many customers’ unique needs. Additionally, the SMARTON® is more maintenance friendly than typical competing cranes in this lifting category. SMARTON® consists of elements that maintenance engineers are accustomed to handling,” explains Jaakko Koppinen, Director, Heavy Duty Cranes.

There is no need to equip SMARTON® in the beginning with everything that the customer expects to use in the future. This crane can easily be updated anytime with additional features, such as automated positioning, extended speed range, defined working areas, maintenance monitoring, or remote diagnostics.

“SMARTON® grows with the customer’s business, enabling future needs and challenges to be taken into consideration. Customers will learn that they no longer have to compromise on features, delivery and performance. This machine will make ordinary cranes obsolete”, says Koppinen.

Saves space and energy

SMARTON® is a robust crane that is compact in size. This enables new industrial spaces to be smaller than before, reducing construction costs and heating expenses. The compact structure of SMARTON® provides tight hook approaches, allowing the user to put the load down much closer to the wall.

SMARTON® is designed with environmental responsibility in mind. Braking energy is fed back into the power grid, reducing energy consumption and energy costs by up to one third. In addition, SMARTON® is made of 98% recyclable material. With its compact and modular design, SMARTON® uses fewer natural resources in its production.

Minimizes maintenance shutdowns

One of the main goals in the development of SMARTON® was to minimize the frequency and duration of maintenance shutdowns.

“In today’s industrial environment, shutdowns are very expensive. The better we can predict when equipment needs to be serviced and the faster we can perform maintenance, the longer a crane can operate and benefit the process,” says Koppinen.

The crane monitors its own condition and recommends when and what kinds of inspections or preventive maintenance should be performed. SMARTON® keeps track of work cycles and predicts the remaining safe operating lifetime of the various components.

“The service life of hoisting wire ropes is a key element in maintenance expenses. Wire ropes are costly, and changing them is a time-consuming task. We have clearly extended the life of the wire ropes by optimizing the pulley rope angles in the hook housing, making them as small as possible to reduce the wear and tear on the wire ropes, Additionally, another innovation in SMARTON® is its ability to predict the replacement interval of the wire ropes based on actual operating condition. ” explains Kiviniitty.

“The service panel enables faults to be solved quickly. Since the fault and its frequency are displayed on the panel, SMARTON® is designed to speed up the inspection time, particular of the frequency inverter panels,” explains Timo Ruokonen, a maintenance fitter at Konecranes.

“We opted for tried-and-tested components instead of unique parts in SMARTON®. Should spare parts be needed, their availability is guaranteed. We always have a given number of components in stock,” says Koppinen.

The SMARTON® service platform folds over the trolley to protect the trolley components. The space-saving, foldable platform is a brand new concept for which Konecranes has a patent pending. All of SMARTON®’s service points are located on one side and are easily accessible, as compared to other products on the market which require service points on both sides of the trolley.

Remote monitoring is an available feature with SMARTON®. Three support centers located in different time zones around the world ensure that Konecranes can offer 24/7 support for equipment, regardless of the location.

Makes operations easy and efficient

SMARTON®’s intelligent, yet easy-to-use Human Interface to Machine (HIM) system keeps the user continuously up to date on not only the weight of the load but also its position relative to the available workspace.

The HIM implementation tool makes it easy to understand the features of the device and speeds up user training. In case of problems, the user gets guidance from the device’s error detection diagnostics. In other words, HIM can provide instant instructions on how to deal with a problem. And it’s not only HIM providing instructions: With HIM, the crane operator can program SMARTON®’s working cycle - a feature that can definitely boost productivity!

SMARTON® also has other productivity-enhancing features: Its precise, stepless-speed control ensures that loads can be lifted, moved, and lowered faster, thereby reducing the overall load-handling times.



SMARTON® in brief

SMARTON® is an innovative, intelligent and robust crane for a variety of demanding industrial applications. Customers will learn that they no longer have to compromise on features, delivery and performance. This machine will make ordinary cranes obsolete

SMARTON® is:
Space-making
Maintenance friendly and Modular
Adjustable and Applicable
Reliable,and able to move
TONs

For additional information, please contact:

Hannu Piispanen, Industry Specialist, Konecranes

Email: Hannu.piispanen@konecranes.com
Phone +358 20 427 2214
www.konecranes.com

 

Konecranes is a world-leading group of Lifting Businesses™, serving a broad range of customers, including manufacturing and process industries, shipyards, ports and terminals. Konecranes provides productivity-enhancing lifting solutions as well as services for lifting equipment and machine tools of all makes. In 2008, Group sales totaled EUR 2,103 million. The Group has 9,700 employees, at 485 locations in 43 countries. Konecranes is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd (symbol: KCR1V).

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