When E-Crane Texas is Talking Maintenance They Really go ‘ALL-IN’

Contrary to what the title suggests, having a service contract like the one E-Crane Texas has with Sherwin Alumina certainly isn’t like playing poker as no chances have to be taken.

It all depends on the flexibility of the organization, careful planning and coordination with the client as well as having a good inventory of spare parts and tools to allow for all eventualities.

In a mission critical application like the one at Sherwin Alumina, keeping downtime to a minimum is an absolute must. Handymax and Panamax vessels are unloaded on a regular basis at the port belonging to the aluminum oxide production facility in Gregory, Texas.

As an example: in 2015 alone, a total of 58 large ocean going ships with bauxite were received at the port, all unloaded using E-Cranes. One can imagine the cost associated with vessels which are stuck at the port because they cannot be unloaded due to the unloading cranes being down, also keeping in mind that the next vessel is only days away from arriving…

After operating the two 2000 Series E-Cranes for some years, it became clearer that the internal service organization at Sherwin wasn’t quite suitable to do maintenance on the port equipment, as they are more focused on the actual production process. Therefore about 18 months ago, a maintenance contract was signed with E-Crane to perform all maintenance related work on the dock. This also includes daily maintenance. This means that for instance even the manual lubrication of the buckets during every shift is carried out by E-Crane. Next to providing manpower, E-Crane is also responsible for providing all wear and spare parts required related to the E-Cranes.

The Texas Service Center performs extremely well in this challenging working environment. Bauxite is considered one of the most difficult bulk materials to handle as it can be very dusty but at the same time also very clay like, depending on the water content.

Notwithstanding the demanding conditions, E-Crane Texas has been able to achieve net machine availability numbers between 98 & 99% during the first 18 months of the contract.

Keep in mind that the machines already had clocked around 25.000 hours when the contract was started! What better way to prove the reliability of E-Cranes…

The team is on call 24/7 and can respond to any call from the client around the clock, even during nights, weekends and holidays. That’s what we call flexibility at E-Crane Texas. The team in Texas with Jason, Neil, Joe, Hayden, Jeremy, Chris, Steve and last but not least Dixie really does an impressive job. Another good example of E-Crane and client partnership.