A significant investment in new welding technology at Manitowoc’s Wilhelmshaven facility in Germany is resulting in better booms for the company’s Grove GMK all-terrain cranes.
The new laser-hybrid welding and cutting machine offers a level of precision that delivers noticeable improvements for customers using the cranes on the job site.
Michael Hüneke, welding director for Manitowoc in EMEA, said there were many advantages to the new system.
“To our knowledge, this factory is the only one in the mobile crane industry to use this cutting-edge welding technology – and we are very proud of it,” he said.
“The advantages are immediately obvious. For example, we do much less manipulation of the steel prior to forming the boom, which is better for maintaining and prolonging the structural integrity of the steel we use. It also uses less material than before and is much faster, because we need to do less preparation before starting to weld.”
One of the latest companies to benefit from a GMK crane with a boom from the new laser welding set-up is Munich, Germany-based crane rental company Tecra, a subsidiary of Klema GmbH.
The company took delivery of a new GMK5095 earlier this year and Wolfgang Klenner, general manager of Klema GmbH, explained the benefits his company sees from the crane and also the new welding process.
“In comparison with other crane models, the Grove GMK5095 offers significantly higher capacity,” he said. “And since the boom is longer than most it gives us a clear competitive advantage. Here in Munich precise compliance with weight limits is crucial, so when you’ve got a boom that’s been as highly engineered as this latest one on our GMK5095 you can see tangible benefits in terms of weight and design.”
The 100t, five-axle GMK5095 excels as a universally deployable taxi crane and it was one of the first Grove models to benefit from Manitowoc’s new laser-hybrid welding process at its Wilhelmshaven facility.
