Crane and hoist manufacturer Condra has expanded its maintenance programme to include hands-on training for customers’ service personnel, with further plans to introduce remote diagnostics for on-screen assistance at isolated sites.

The company will deploy the diagnostics improvements at installations in Saudi Arabia, Mauritius, Bulgaria, Peru and Chile, as well as in all African countries where it has a presence.

Over time, the diagnostics will be complemented by remote specialist oversight to aid repairs by customers’ technicians.

While electricians at Condra’s factories already add diagnostic chips to frequency drives during crane manufacture, the company aims to extend this capability to other crane components, delivering on-screen assistance to any site with an Internet signal.

Condra’s maintenance programme previously incorporated only selected agents and technical teams from its own factories.

In future, customers with their own maintenance crews will be able to execute this type of work, helped either by visiting teams, or remotely by specialists at Condra’s technical centre in Johannesburg.

On-demand emergency repairs will continue to be managed by Condra technicians sent to site.

The company aims to ultimately lower customers’ service costs and to further improve machine uptime and productivity, says Condra MD Marc Kleiner.

“We want to expand the capabilities of our customers’ maintenance personnel, who sometimes have difficulty repairing to original equipment manufacturer standard. We will work with them to identify the wrinkles, then let them get on with fixing those while our own people identify potential wear and take steps to correct it.”

Support staff at Condra’s head office, after quoting and receiving client go-ahead, will then assemble spare parts, including those needed for the long term, based on predictions of likely wear, and arrange export documentation for shipping.

A Condra team will oversee the mine’s own service personnel wherever possible, helping them carry out the repair themselves, which enables hands-on training under specialist direction.

“What we are trying to overcome is the too common practice of working a machine until it fails, then buying a new one, something often seen in mining applications,” Kleiner comments.

The life expectancy of the machines will increase, along with financial return, if the correct machine is acquired from the start and scheduled maintenance is regularly carried out, instead of waiting until the machine breaks down, as production will have to stop while the operation awaits the arrival of spares.

“With a little bit of support from our side, your machine will run more reliably and for much longer, and production can continue uninterrupted.”

Outlining the improved schedule, Kleiner say that Condra will revisit Cote d’Ivoire and Angola during July and August, followed by Zambia and Namibia, as well as Sierra Leone.

Other countries scheduled include Liberia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritania, Ghana, Mali and Senegal.

Twelve service teams will carry out these visits – an increase from two teams five years ago – each one comprising an electrical specialist or mechanical assistant.

Expanding on Condra’s plans for remote diagnostics, Kleiner says that the company would work in conjunction with specialists in England and Australia to allow customers to receive prompt assistance in most of the world’s time zones, combining a phone call with on-screen visuals presented to the customer’s technicians at the installation site.

“We want to develop a library of repair videos to complement this diagnostic service. The idea is that, long term, Condra teams will be present for critical support only. We will achieve this through proactive maintenance schedules supported by remote fault diagnosis, and complemented by instructional repair videos,” Kleiner concludes.