With the construction of a rubber processing factory in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands nearing completion, Paragon Steel Structures will install two overhead cranes, delivered by Condra Cranes, to work the floor area of the plant
Peter Hallowes, managing director of Paragon, reported that the cranes will be delivered in September, with installation and commissioning scheduled for the same month.
Condra’s two cranes are electric overhead travelling machines with a double-girder configuration, have lifting heights of little over nine metres and individual lifting capacities of 40 tons. They are identical apart from long-travel speeds of 31 and 10 metres per minute, different in order to maximise production efficiencies.
The cranes will span the full 28 metres of the factory floor, moving raw rubber from the receiving area to the processing area, then transferring processed material to different points within the plant for specific value-adding procedures.
When complete, the two new 40-tonners will feature frequency drives on the hoists and cross-travels for accurate and easy load positioning, and walkways across the full length of their 28-metre spans.
A spokesperson for Condra said that the cranes would be hard-working machines that will need to perform durably and reliably. Though they are being built as Class FEM-2M machines, manufacture is being undertaken very close to 3M standard because of the minimal periods during which these cranes are expected to stand idle, the spokesman said.
After delivery of the completed machines to site, installation and commissioning will be undertaken by Durban-based specialists Natal Cranes & Hoists.
Condra and Paragon Steel Structures have worked together on new factory projects before, at Pietermaritzburg in South Africa, and at Luanshya in Zambia.
