How to quote a crane system

Okay, I'll just run down our quoting sheet so you get an idea of the type of information to look for when quoting a crane system. We give this sheet to our new sales employees when they call on potential customers. I'll bold the most important items.

GENERAL SPECS:

Customer Name __________

Project Name __________

Customer Phone # __________

Capacity __________

SUPPORT SPECS:

Ceiling or Floor __________

Ceiling height or max height __________

Ceiling type __________

Ceiling beam size __________

Any ceiling obstructions __________

BRIDGE SPECS:

Length or max outer dimensions __________

# of bridges __________

Trolley height required __________

RUNWAY SPECS:

Length __________

Center line of supports __________

OPTION SPECS

Internal electric bar __________

External electric festooning __________

External air festooning __________

Raised Bridge Ends __________

Motorization __________

read more at http://ping.fm/LSZR6

Raised Bridge Ends

When we talk about hook height, we are talking about the elevation at which the hoist hooks to the trolley on the bridge. LET ME REPEAT THIS - THE HOOK HEIGHT IS THE ELEVATION AT WHICH THE HOIST HOOKS TO THE TROLLEY IN THE BRIDGE.

In most crane applications the hook height is extremely important. Hook height is extremely important because people want to have the ability to lift something as high as they need to. They might want to lift something 20ft into the air, or they might want to lift something 3ft into the air. It all depends on the application. But one thing still remains certain - people want the highest hook height they can get.

This is where there is a conflict. See, 95% of our customers (roughly 1 million) install cranes inside a warehouse, shop, what-have-you. The problem is simple: The roof sometimes does not allow them to reach the hook height that they want with a normal system. This is when we go above and beyond (no pun intended).

When the roof is low and a high hook height is needed, we offer a solution called raised bridge ends. Raised bridge ends do exactly what it says - it raises the bridge ends so that the bridge is in the same plane as the runway. I'll just show you a picture... So there you have it, our solution when you need to achieve the highest hook height.

read more at: http://kundelcranes.wordpress.com/2011/10/04/raised-bridge-ends/

Internal Conductor Bar

The internal conductor bar replaces messy festooning. This allows for a safer, cleaner, more professional looking system. Internal electric gives the bridge(s) freedom to move the entire length of the workstation without getting tangled in festooning or worrying about gliders not stacking up properly. Right now you're probably asking, what is festooning anyway? Here I'll show you...

We offer an alternative to festooning. We call it an internal conductor bar, and this is how it works:

[youtube=http://ping.fm/vtAdB]

read more at http://ping.fm/HhlIp

1/2 Ton System (1,000lbs Max)

Our Snaptrac system is the lightest capacity crane system we offer - with a max capacity (load) of 1,000 lbs. the Snaptrac is a perfect system for garages, workshops, fab shops, etc. You get the drift. Instead of rambling, I'll just show you pictures and list a couple of its' top features.

[youtube=http://ping.fm/rclZb]

Some of Snaptracs best features include: Internal electric bus bar, headerless, festooning free, ships in 5-7 business days, versatile configuration, lifetime warranty, quick install, etc...

see more at www.snaptrac.com

Crane Terminology

Overhead Workstation Crane Terminology

Runway - The crane runway (in a way) is like talking about the length of a system. If someone asks "What size runway?" they are asking "What is the overall length of your system?" The crane runway provides a runway for the wheels on the bridge... but we'll get to that.

Bridge - The bridge is like the width of a system. When someone asks for a bridge length, they are asking "What is the width of your system?" Attached to the top bridge are wheels that run inside the runway sections.

Hoist - The hoist (has wheels) runs inside the bridge. In the most simplest terms, the hoist acts as your "picker uper" and picks things up (or hoists things up).

[Quick recap, the hoist runs inside the bridge and travels the width of the system, the bridge is attached to the runway and travels the lenght of the system]

Trolley/Endtrucks - The top of a trolley includes wheels that ride inside a bridge section. The bottom of a trolley hooks to the hoist. The top of an entruck includes wheels that ride inside a runway section. The bottom of an endtruck attaches the the bridge. Just remember: runways are to endtrucks as bridges are to trolleys.

P.S. Thought that it would be essential that we first establish some crane terminology - Geeze! It wasn't like there was a bibles length worth of terms.

Hello People

Just wanted to start a blog for Kundel Industries. More specifically our crane (overhead workstation) side of the company. I have a few plans for this blog, and after that, we'll see where it takes us. First, I would like to describe our products. Second, I want to address some issues/solutions with current problems in the material handling industry. Finally, I want to answer any questions you (the reader) have about material movement, cranes, jibs, or just life in general.

The next post will be a quick overview of our product offerings... But first, here is an even quicker overview:

Overhead Workstation Cranes: Snaptrac (1/2ton), KTrac (3ton), TTrac (10ton).

Kundel Industries Goes To Hollywood

Copyright 2009 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
By Dan O'Brien
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio

Robert Kundel Jr. understands that playing phone tag is a fact of everyday business. It’s just not every day that phone tag is played with comedian Jay Leno.

“He told me, ‘You’re a hard guy to get a hold of. It’s a good thing you don’t owe me money,’ ” Kundel laughs, recalling his recent conversation with the former host of The Tonight Show and star of NBC’s new program this fall, “The Jay Leno Show.”

Kundel, operations manager for Kundel Industries Inc.’s custom crane division, says he and Leno traded phone calls for days until they finally made contact several weeks ago. Leno, known almost as much for his collection of classic cars as his comedy, was on the line because he had recently installed a small custom overhead crane in his garage in California where he restores classic cars. And he wanted Kundel, who made the crane in Austintown, to know how much he liked it.

“I thought it was pretty funny that he was trying to track me down,” Kundel says. Leno gave Kundel the OK to use his image and promotional testimonies on the company’s Web site for advertising and at trade shows. “He seemed like a real down-to-earth guy,” Kundel says.

Leno is just one of many Kundel Industries customers who owns a SnapTrac crane, a product designed, manufactured and sold by the enterprise in Austintown. Other customers include the U.S. military, NASA and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” The cranes were donated to Leno and Extreme Makeover, Kundel says, but such freebies are well worth their return in marketing benefits. “We’ve recently picked up new dealers such as Summit Racing, Fastenal and Granger,” he reports.

Kundel Industries designs and fabricates three different overhead cranes capable of lifting as much as a half-ton, three tons and 10 tons, Kundel says. The SnapTrac – the smaller, half-ton crane -- is a product designed for workstations at any company or industry that requires heavy lifting. “There’s a very wide variety of uses,” he says. Although the product is often associated with auto enthusiasts such as Leno, the vast majority of customers are in other types of small businesses.

“There’s a big market for this,” Kundel says. “One was recently shipped to Afghanistan” for use at a military base. General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. are also customers that have purchased a SnapTrac.

“There are a lot of places where it can be used,” says Shawn Malinky, an account representative for Knight Industries, Auburn Hills, Mich., which distributes the SnapTrac and other cranes made at Kundel. “It’s very simple. It’s inexpensive and doesn’t require a team to put it together.”

The small crane is becoming more popular within a variety of businesses such as transmission shops, boating companies, small manufacturers and average homeowners. “Our relationship with the company is less than a year old,” Malinky says, “and we’ve had great success in selling their products.”

Other opportunities that look promising are with businesses tied to the agriculture. “The food and grocery industry is doing well because people are staying home,” Kundel says. “We’re trying to figure out how we can relate them to our industry.”

The company started to market its SnapTrac product about four years ago, and business at Kundel’s crane division soared 80% between 2007 and 2008, Kundel relates. Today the manufacturing market is flat and business was slow in June. “Since then, we’ve started to pick up,” he reports.

The crane business is especially important in this market because its other division -- manufacturing large shoring and shields used in heavy construction projects -- is suffering. Kundel employs 35 in Austintown, but before the recession had as many as 60 working.

Kundel is one of only four companies in the country that manufactures this type of workstation crane and the only one that uses a sophisticated steel-cast trolley and internal electric harness system. The trolley and electric system was developed and engineered at Kundel. The steel-molded trolley body is unique.

A schematic was designed in-house through software, and the specifications were sent to the Trumbull County Career and Technical Center. There, the specs were fed into a three-dimensional imaging machine that produced a 3-D model of the component. The company refined some of the initial flaws in the part and then had it manufactured at an Ohio foundry. “These new trolleys are four times stronger and lighter” than the traditional types, he reports.

The company fabricates and paints all the support beams for its cranes within its plant on Henricks Road. Other components are machined and assembled off-site and shipped to Kundel, where they are tested, packaged and sent to customers in a complete kit. In the case of the SnapTrac, the crane is shipped in parts to the customer who is expected to assemble it on-site.

Kundel says the SnapTrac can be bolted to the shop floor and put together within a day. The SnapTrac retails at roughly $2,800, but the company’s larger cranes can run as much as $150,000. “A lot of companies want to buy, but they’re still waiting,” he says. “Once things start to break loose, I think we’ll be really busy.”

The Secret Lies With Kundel

In total, there are three options to supporting a Kundel Crane. Our cranes can be ceiling supported, floor supported, or beam supported. A few days ago I posted how Kundel Industries attacks ceiling supported crane applications. I would estimate that 80-90% of our crane systems on the market are floor mounted. However, before I get into floor mounted systems, I would like to discuss a feature that comes included with every Kundel Crane.

A nice feature about a Kundel Crane is that it does not need to be tied to structural supports. See, most cranes are rigid and need to have a form of anchor to keep them from "swaying." If a crane starts swaying there is a major problem. Cranes sway because of their poor rigid design. When you tie back a crane system, it not only costs more, it looks unprofessional.

Kundel Cranes are built to pendulate and articulate. Meaning they are designed to absorb movement and use the energy to work for you, not against you. Our secret lies within the structure of the Kundel system. One can easily tell from the images below that the sheer strength and durability lies with the Kundel System.

Rigid System














Kundel System

Ceiling Supported or Floor Mounted?

Knowing how the crane system will be supported is another important question to ask yourself. Here at Kundel we have different approches toward floor mounted systems and ceiling supported systems. Let's tackle each one individually.

Ceiling Supported
Ceiling supported systems are nice if you lack room on the floor and have the capablility to hang from the ceiling. Three questions that arise while quoting a ceiling hung system are:

1) What are you hanging from?
2) How high is the ceiling?
3) Is there anything in the way of crane travel?

We carry ceiling hangers for just about any application on the market. The first question is important because we have to know which hanger to supply (By the way, if you need a speacial hanger, we will make it). The second question is important because we need to know how far down to drop the crane from the ceiling. Finally, air conditioers, piping, tools, garage doors, etc, are all things that end up getting in the way of crane travel. If there is something that is going to be in the way, we need to know. In most cases, simply highering or lowering the hanging rod will get us around the obstruction. Below you will see a picture of one of our Hybrids. This gives you a good sense of both the ceiling supported system and the floor mounted system. Yes, Kundel manufactures hybrids as well.

The Importance of Capacity

Our next few posts will revolve around quoting a Kundel Crane. We will start the series with the importance of knowing what is being lifted, the Capacity.

The first, and foremost important thing to understand before quoting a Kundel crane system is what is being lifted (The size and weight of the object). Knowing this piece of information tells us a lot.

Kundel has three different crane series, The SnapTrac, K-Trac, and T-Trac. Each of these series is rated for different capacities. SnapTrac is rated for anything less than 1/2ton. K-Trac is rated for anything less than 3ton. T-Trac is rated for anything less than 10ton. Knowing the capacity allows us to pinpoint which series we need to focus on. Let us say for instance, we get a customer that needs a crane rated for 2ton. Knowing the 2ton capacity tells us that this eliminates the possibility of using the SnapTrac(1/2ton) for the application.

The capacity also helps us design the layout of the crane system. Knowing the capacity also tells us how far we can span with our runways and bridge. In other words it tells us how many posts will be needed, and how far apart they need to be. The further the span the less posts needed. Less posts not only means less expensive, it means more room to work. More room means you can now install that much needed CNC machine or pull in one more car into your garage... the list goes on.

These are just two small examples of the "behind the scenes" information we get from knowing the capacity. We will touch more on capacity later as we go through the various topics. Thanks for reading, and remember… Always ask yourself “What is being lifted?”

Kundel Crane Qualification Sheet

Here are some basic questions/qualifications to ask yourself or the customer before quoting a overhead workstation crane. My next few posts will outline the importance of each qualification, and give examples of how we can attack different applications. Check back!

Crane Qualifications (Click on a qualification to see a preview)

CAPACITY ______
CEILING OR FLOOR _______
CEILING HEIGHT OR MAX HEIGHT _______
ANY OBSTRUCTIONS _______
BRIDGE LENGHT_______
NUMBER OF BRIDGES _______
RUNWAY LENGTH _______

OPTIONS: (check if applicable)
INTERNAL ELECTRIC _______
LOW HEADROOM RAISED BRIDGE _______
MOTORIZATION _______

Kundel Debuts on Trucks TV!

Here is a video that was donated to us by Trucks TV!

July 23, 2009 News Updates

July 16, 2009
Despite Recession, Manufacturers Try to Keep Turnover Down
KVK Precision, a machining and fabrication shop located in Shenandoah, Va., is by comparison located in a more rural setting. Though it has 260000 square ...

July 11, 2009
Renewed Alliance Focuses on Roadway Safety, Materials Handling
Additionally, DSC said it will work together with OSHA to provide expertise to develop workplace safety and health curricula on safe operation of material ...

July 9, 2009
Heavy burden for light cranes
Housing and construction downturns do not much affect the jib and workstation cranes, says Peter Blanchet of the JOMA Machine Company, Mohnton, Pennsylvania ...

April 16, 2009
Manufacturing improvement forecast for 2010
There is a light at the end of this tunnel "beginning later this year in some industry segments and most by 2010 to early 2011", according to the MHIA.

10 Advantages of Articulating Cranes

Yesterday, I came across a blog that stated articulating cranes are far superior then rigid cranes. After reading the blog I decided it would be best to give examples to enforce this statement. Here is my list of 10 advantages you get with articulating cranes. Click on each link to view a picture of the advantage:

10 Advantages of Articulating Cranes
1. True Free Standing - NO tie backs
2. NO Headers - Allows for maximum crane height
3. Spans up to 45’ - longer
4. Capacities up to 3 TON - heavier
5. Internal Electric Bar - clean & maintenance free
6. Harness Electrical Connections - Quick hoist removal
7. Posts - cantilever; built in leveling adjustments
8. Coverage - Maximum due to short endtrucks
9. Joints - bolted SOLID
10. Sizes - Custom Built to job requirements

NOTE: Installation 1/2 the time due to free standing
cantilever post design

Experience the Difference

I came across a blog that understands the concepts and advantages of articulating bridge cranes. Here is an excerpt that reinforces the fact that rigid cranes are a thing of the past.

"Articulating cranes are found anywhere there is something heavy to lift and be placed at a distance. The market for articulating cranes is growing all the time, especially in North America. Articulating cranes are found all over Europe doing all sorts of jobs."

The entire rest of the World seems to understand the advantages of articulating cranes. Thankfully, America is catching up.

SnapTrac Overview

Kundel Industries SnapTrac

A Brief Overview

SnapTrac is the first ever cost effective solution to moving material. It is a series of modular components that once assembled can be a transforming tool used in an endless variety of applications with it’s ever expandable design allows you to bolt sections together turning the base model into a system ready for full production. The rails come powder coated orange and the components come zinc plated for a durable finish. A 12ft. x 12ft. system with 12’ free-standing upright posts retails in under $3,000 requiring no headers, cross bracing or tie backs.

West Coast Customs and SnapTrac

Jay Leno & SnapTrac

Copyright 2009 Kundel Industries. All rights reserved. - Ph. 330.259.9009 - Fax 330.259.9001

Our Kundel History

Growing and innovating every day, Kundel Industries is a family owned and operated company. When the construction industry demanded an inexpensive solution to facilitate digging and laying pipe, Kundel Industries heard the call and responded in kind by developing the Trench Box. A best seller, the Kundel Trench Box was and continues to be a tremendously effective and indispensable tool.

That was in 1987. Since then and to date Kundel has well over twenty products and systems on the market selling to both consumer and commercial industries.

Inspired by technological breakthroughs such as articulating bridges and pendulating runways dating back to the turn of the century, Kundel Industries continues to develop and manufacture products that build on principles developed during the Industrial Revolution.

Kundel crane systems utilize high yield steel, modular designs and multiple articulating bridges to effortlessly and inexpensively move your product. The end result is a remarkable increase in production and safety.