Manitowoc Crane Care EnCORE and Trixsa, its service center for Peru, completely refurbished a Grove RT630 rough-terrain crane used as support equipment in a Peruvian copper mine.
The crane was purchased new in 1992 and since then has worked in the mine for Compania Minera Southern Peru Copper Corp. While there was no major structural damage to the crane, it had over 11,500 hours of use in an extreme environment and was in need of either being replaced or refurbished.
After looking at replacement costs and delivery times, Southern Peru Copper decided rebuilding the crane was the most cost-effective choice rather than replacing it.
For this rebuild, Trixsa rented workshop space near the Toquepala Copper Mine in Port of Ilo, Peru. Trixsa's technicians did most of the work with input from Manitowoc's EnCORE team.
The first step in the refurbishment was to completely disassemble the crane, replace the damaged parts and send some parts for repair to local fabrication shops. All of the systems on the crane were inspected for damage and repaired or replaced where necessary. This included the telescopic boom, winches and balances, swing system, hydraulics, mechanical and pneumatic systems as well as the electrical components. Following the repairs, the crane was reassembled and repainted, and the proper decals were applied.
Jose Figueroa, general manager of Trixsa, said that turnaround time was a major selling point on the refurbishment of this crane.
"When we were in talks with Southern Peru Copper, they made it very clear that we needed to complete this refurbishment within 90 days," he said. "With the direction and support of Manitowoc Crane Care, we were able to complete the project on time. We were so successful with this crane, we're now in discussions about the refurbishment of an additional seven cranes for this customer."
Figueroa also said that because there were no major structural repairs needed on the superstructure, this rebuild was extremely cost-effective for the customer.
"Typically, when we look at rebuilding cranes the customer can expect to have a completely refurbished crane for 60 percent of the cost of a new replacement crane," he said. "In this case, the refurbishment was completed for 20 percent of the cost of a new one."
Manitowoc Crane Care offers crane remanufacturing through its EnCORE Partner program. Trixsa is still undergoing audits to be named an official EnCORE Parter, which will allow the dealer to make structural repairs on cranes.
Gilberto Ferreira, global general manager for Manitowoc's EnCORE program, said the EnCORE Partner program offers Manitowoc and Grove crane owners extremely competitive remanufacture and repair options from a network of qualified Manitowoc dealers. Work is managed by highly-qualified, factory-trained technicians using repair procedures developed in collaboration with factory engineers.
"When using one of our EnCORE Partners, the customer can rest assured that all work is performed to exact factory specifications, and the original load chart remains valid."