R&M Materials Handling distributor, Specht Industries, has installed bridge cranes and hoists at a manufacturer of customized autoclave systems in Santa Clarita, California.
The site is located a short distance from Specht’s facility in the same city. The end user, ASC Process Systems, is a manufacturer of special autoclaves and industrial ovens for the aerospace, composites, nuclear, vulcanizing and glass industries.
The original lead can be traced back to Crane Designer, R&M’s online configurating tool that offers recommendations and helpful information, based on specific lifting needs.
The quick, five-step process — available on R&M’s website — tells the manufacturer what the customer needs, so that it can help match the right crane and features to the application. These inputs include capacity, height of lift, span, environment and usage. Once the information is submitted, the configurator will generate an output page specific to the inputs entered. The output page includes crane drawings for the end user to share with a crane builder.
In this instance, the submission generated through Crane Designer was sent to Kimberly Cromwell, West Regional Sales Manager at R&M, who made the connection with the local crane builder in the region.
Cromwell said: “It allowed the end user to learn more about our equipment and request more information regarding R&M’s product offerings. The lead was passed to Specht Industries.”
The Application: A combination of four overhead bridge cranes and two hoists were required for a new building, where loads of 5 tons to 30 tons needed to be handled.
Cory Demaio, Facilities Manager at ASC Process Systems, said: “My responsibilities are to facilitate and repair equipment as needed. The new cranes will be used in the manufacturing of our oven builds and loading to ship out to customers.”
The Challenge: ASC was presented with the material handling challenge when sales of its ovens increased.
Demaio said: “In an effort to keep our shipping dates, we expanded and added another building, which required more overhead cranes. Previously, all of our production builds were being achieved in our two existing buildings that are at capacity.”
Specht Industries was asked to design a 30-ton structure with three 5-ton capacity bridge cranes and a single 30-ton capacity bridge crane, with two 15-ton capacity hoists.
Joe Specht, President and Owner at Specht Industries, said: “We overcame a 16-inch elevation slope within the facility, and larger-than-normal footings to meet seismic survey requirements. The customer needed to get the design, engineering, and the long lead time items within a two-month period.”
The Solution: ASC requested the R&M brand since the other facilities already possess the R&M product. The owner wanted to stay with the same product so that maintenance could service all the cranes. The material handling fleet is primarily operated by an Autec wireless remote system provided by the R&M team.
Specht provided the full structure, American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) rail, runway electrification conductor bar, all bridge cranes, concrete work, installation, testing, and start-up.
“Specht Industries were very reasonably priced and accommodating,” said Demaio. “Joe is very easy to work with.”
The Results: The installation was very successful.
Specht said: “The bridge cranes are all standard, but the structure was custom. Combined, we know that it will improve their productivity and safety.”
Demaio added: “The addition of the new building and overhead cranes will give us the space we need to work safely and efficiently. The future looks bright for ASC, and we may be expanding our cranes even further in the future.”
Specht confirmed that an additional 10-ton capacity crane is likely to be installed to further enhance productivity in the near future.