36
ACT
NOVEMBER 2013
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
CRANE CAMERAS
cranes, including Potain tower cranes,
Grove mobile cranes, National Crane
boom trucks and Manitowoc crawler
cranes.
At the time of the announcement back
in the spring, (at Bauma 2013 in Munich)
Bob Hund was executive vice president of
Manitowoc Crane Care. He said the after-
market supply of crane cameras held great
potential for growth.
After-market demand
“Many crane cameras are fitted at the
point of manufacture, but there is also
demand for after-market cameras to be
fitted later on to meet specific customer
needs,” Hund said, on the announcement
of the partnership. “Traditionally, cameras
are only used on tower cranes, but that is
changing. Cameras can help any type of
crane operator to perform more efficiently
and we expect their use to increase long
into the future.”
Orlaco, based in the Netherlands,
has been Manitowoc’s primary supplier
of camera technology since 2004, the
company says.
“Through our partnership with
Manitowoc, we want to make life easier
for the operator,” says Jan van der Beek,
managing director of Orlaco. “Our skills
as a leading innovator in camera systems
and Manitowoc’s vast experience in crane
manufacturing will help us develop the
world’s leading crane cameras.”
According to Manitowoc, as cameras
become more commonplace, the number
of Manitowoc’s cranes fitted with cameras
at the factory is growing.
At the top end of the scale, Manitowoc’s
largest crane, the Model 31000 crawler
crane, has 12 cameras fitted to the base
machine.
“We believe that soon every crane will
be fitted with a camera, speeding up
operations and improving efficiency on
job sites,” says Twan Pelders, business
development manager at Orlaco.
Crane cameras give operators a
perspective that allows them to perform
their jobs better and more safely, which
can reduce stress and increase job
satisfaction.
“Operators love that [crane cameras] give
them the view they need to verify details
and do their job safely and efficiently,” says
Catanzaro. “It’s really good in that it sheds
four eyes on picks instead of two.”
■
At Bauma 2013, Orlaco’s Twan Pelders and
Jan van Beek shake hands with former Crane
Care executive Bob Hund on the agreement
that Orlaco would provide after-market
camera systems for Manitowoc.
