What You Should Know Before Buying An Overhead Crane System

Buying an overhead crane system is an investment into the future of your business. So let’s tackle some things that you should know before submitting a purchase order.

My name is Devon and welcome back to the Lifting Rigging channel. Today, we’re going to cover some things that you should know before buying an overhead crane system.

Overhead cranes can be designed specifically for your business

Your building, your production method, and your operating environment are going to be unique to you and your business and the great thing about overhead cranes is that system of yours will be designed specifically for it. A great starting point is understanding what service class that you’ll need going forward. And to figure out your CMAA service class, you’ll need to identify four points of information.

First, the rate of load, which is the estimation of loads your new crane system will lift at or nearest capacity. Two, the service needs how many hours per day or over a crane will run? Three, the number of lifts per hour, which is pretty straightforward. Finally, the distance, the average length of each movement throughout your facility.

Buy a used crane system to cut the cost of the purchase

Used jib cranes, used workstation cranes, portal gantry cranes can all be retrofitted in smaller shops to assist in light-duty manufacturing, assembly, or fabrication. Especially for smaller companies expanding their businesses and scaling up for the first time, buying a used system is a simple way to cut costs while scaling up. As a bonus, you can sometimes source a used crane faster than building a brand new one. New overhead crane systems can take anywhere from 90 days to twelve months to design, source, fabricate and install.

Getting a used system can help with some of those bottlenecks and speed up your process a little bit.

Finance your crane to conserve your cash flow

Financing your overhead crane gives you the ability to spread the payments out over a long period of time. This could be a great way to conserve your cash flow while making bigger adjustments to your facility. You can also shop multiple lenders to get competitive interest rates just like you should be doing with overhead crane manufacturers.

Compare overhead crane quotes before making your final decision

Getting multiple quotes on an overhead crane system will provide different opinions and options for your project. Each overhead crane builder may have a different idea or approach to solving your material handling needs, which will be invaluable when you and your team are discussing what you want to do going forward. In addition to perspective, it can also help clarify some differences when it comes to warranties and incidentals. And if you’re viewing your quote and something doesn’t look right to you, having a few other quotes to compare to can offer some insight as to why a price point might be higher or lower than you were expecting

There are a handful of hidden costs.

If you don’t do your research in advance, like any big purchase, there can be a series of hidden costs that surprise you if you don’t have a clear understanding of the overhead crane system that you’re buying, material costs, freight costs, inspection, load, testing, building access, the condition of your flooring, and a lot more can catch you off guard when you’re getting ready to swipe your card. This again, is why it’s so vital to compare your overhead crane quotes and work with your crane manufacturer to get a full understanding of the crane system that you’re getting.

Find help from specialists

The last thing that you should know is that you absolutely do not have to do this on your own. An overhead crane system is a massive purchase, and there is a tonne of lifting specialists working for all kinds of great companies throughout the country that can walk you through it. Additionally, there are several links in the description of this video and cards throughout to give you the tools that you can use to guide you. While this video is a brief overview, you’re welcome to take our free online overhead cranes course called Cranes 101, with seven lessons in close to 5 hours worth of video and written content, you’ll learn about the components, classifications, design styles, technologies, buying process, installation, and ownership of an overhead crane system.

We’ve also built this overhead crane configurator tool to assist you in designing your overhead crane system.

The Cranes 101 course will explain all of this to you, but if you already have a good working understanding of an overhead crane system, this tool will help you get straight to building your crane from the type of crane you want to, the hoist, runway size, electrification preferences, speed of travel, and more. This tool was designed for you to use when discussing your future overhead crane system with your team. Last, you’re welcome to grab the Overhead Crane quote comparison tool. That way you can compare your quotes apples to apples to see if anything, that you’re missing and get some good talking points when discussing your project with your team.

I hope this video is able to give you an idea of what to know before buying your next Overhead crane system.

If you need any help, don’t hesitate to reach out to one of Michelle’s lifting specialists. They’d be happy to help you however they can. If you like this video, please give the video a like and feel free to share it with any of your peers or coworkers that might be thinking about buying a new overhead crane system. Thank you for watching this episode of The Lifting and Rigging Channel. We’ll see you next time.