INTERNATIONAL EQUIPMENT

Manitowoc Builds Digital Design
3-D modeling cuts lead times
By Tudor Hampton in Paris
Global manufacturer Manitowoc Co. Inc. has pushed its computer-aided designs higher with the Model 18000, a new 660-ton crawler crane. Designers believe it is the first of its size to be built and tested entirely on computer in what engineers are calling "virtual prototyping."

The machine costs up to $6.5 million, but the manufacturer believes it will have lucrative payoffs in the petrochemical and power-generation sectors. "These days, lifts are getting heavier, and users are working in more confined spaces," says Steven Lohr, project manager and director of sustaining engineering for the Manitowoc, Wis.-based company. It displayed the 18000 for the first time May 13-17 at international equipment show Intermat 2003, in Paris. Customers like specialty contractor and rental firm All Erection & Crane Rental Corp., Cleveland, which received the first of its two units in December 2002, hope to put the machines to work for retrofitting industrial plants and erecting wind power farms, two demanding markets for heavy-lift cranes domestically and abroad.

With standard equipment, Lohr says the boom spans 400 ft, and a three-person crew can assemble the machine in a day. Parts break down into 30 to 40 tractor-trailer loads. List price ranges from $5 million to $6.5 million, depending on options.

Backhoe Joins Volvo Lineup
R&D attempts to add global equity
Volvo Construction Equipment, based in Brussels, diverts from a recent company strategy of acquiring existing technology from other equipment manufacturers by spending the past four years researching and developing its own new loader backhoe.

Although the unit has been highly praised for terrain visibility from the operator’s cab, some critics have questioned Volvo’s logic in designing the new product in an already mature and dense marketplace of at least two-dozen competitors.

Nonetheless, the research and development effort for the 4.0-liter, 90-horsepower BL71 began in 1998. According to Emmanuel Perrin, Volvo product manager, assembly-line production started in September 2002 in Wroclaw, Poland, where the company also manufactures over-the-road buses. The loader backhoe unit is expected to grow into several models as Volvo continues an aggressive campaign to round out its compact and heavy machines and push them beyond Europe, particularly into North America and Asia. Equipped as standard, BL71 base list price starts at $59,500.