All wired up to keep automotive plants running

The threat of accidents and unplanned downtime in automotive plants has been greatly reduced by new wire rope scanning technology.

Before now, there was no way to see inside a crane’s wire ropes, other than cutting through and therefore permanently destroying them – which clearly is not a viable option.

The new Wire Rope NDT (Non-Destructive Testing) device uses magnetic flux technology to enable a full cross-section inspection of the whole length of a crane’s wire ropes – thus identifying a problem in time to take preventative action.

Ray Fletcher, Director of Street CraneXpress (SCX) says: “We have already worked with several automotive manufacturers to prevent a potential problem after NDT scans revealed unexpected deterioration. With more than 40 years experience in operating Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) programmes for high duty cranes within the automotive industry, we know exactly what is required.”

The Wire Rope NDT device is part of SCX’s Advanced Crane Diagnostics – the new name for its condition monitoring services which analyse a crane’s critical components using non-destructive techniques, such as thermal imaging, vibration monitoring and laboratory oil analysis.

“Each Advanced Crane Diagnostics package can incorporate any or all of these techniques and, most importantly, it is tailor-made to individual crane criticality,” says Mr Fletcher. “Also, as well as helping reduce the risk of breakdowns and therefore preventing unplanned downtime, the use of Advanced Crane Diagnostics ensures that cranes are running in prime condition, leading to optimised production and greater efficiencies.”

He emphasizes that early diagnosis is especially important in the automotive industry as high duty cranes deteriorate much faster because of the crane’s continuous usage – and because unplanned downtime can be so expensive.

Despite recent statistics showing that the UK automotive industry is continuing its renaissance, there is evidence of a slowdown* and individual manufacturers are competing to ensure that their own sales increase.

“Investing in a sophisticated planned preventative maintenance project helps our customers improve health & safety and avoid unexpected faults and costly downtime which can disrupt production lines and result in critical deadlines being missed,” says Mr Fletcher.

More information on Advanced Crane Diagnostics from Street CraneXpress.

*The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) Chief Executive Mike Hawes says “July saw the new car market extend its record period of growth to a 29^th month, as confident consumers took advantage of an array of new products and attractive finance deals on the latest fuel-efficient new cars…….However, the more moderate growth of the last three months shows that overall demand is beginning to stabilise.”