A regional provider of truck transmissions, rear differentials, and steering components was building a new facility for their transmission assembly. With existing buildings and a variety of applications, the company already had experience with several overhead lifting solutions.
"We have some I-beam cranes serving other applications in different buildings," said the production manager. "It's too much effort. It is hard enough to move the weight of a transmission - which could be 1,000 lb - but then you've got the weight of the crane that doesn't move very well. It's like pulling a wagon from one end of the work cell to the other."
When it was time to specify a lifting solution for the new building, the company knew that Gorbel was the best choice.
"In this business, you need an overhead crane, and in our experience, Gorbel is the best."
Heavy-Duty Solution Is Easiest to Use
One of the applications to be served in the new building was a final testing station where fully assembled automatic truck transmissions are given their last physical inspection and a live test prior to shipping. The full assemblies range in weight from 100 to 1,000 lb. They are dropped off just outside the work cell by a fork truck, where an operator slings the transmissions and brings them to one of two live test stations with the workstation crane.
The company decided to install a Gorbel ceiling-mounted workstation crane with 2 ton capacity runways and multiple 1,000 lb capacity aluminum bridges. The system was designed to cover not only the testing cells, but several other work cells on that side of the building. By installing the 1,000 lb bridges on 4,000 lb runways, the company ensured that the bridges can work side-by-side without buffers, giving the workers a very lightweight crane that doesn't restrict accessibility in any way.
Since installing the first Gorbel system, the Gorbel workstation cranes have quickly become the favorites of the workers using them.
"Of all the cranes we own, the Gorbel cranes are the Cadillacs," said the production manager.
While some of their facilities have been upgraded with the Gorbel workstation cranes, some older I-beam cranes still stand in a few buildings.
"The people who use the Gorbel cranes get spoiled. If we have to temporarily pull someone in from another building where they still use I-beams and let them use a Gorbel crane for a little while, they don't want to go back."
