WORKING AT HEIGHTS
ENSURING SAFETY AND
REDUCING THE CARBON FOOTPRINT Manitou Asia showcased a range of Aerial Work Platforms (AWPs) at the Manitou Center Singapore in December 2019. ‘The Singapore Engineer’ learns more about the company’s initiatives and its products, from Mr Bernd Freudenmann, Vice President of Manitou APAC and Managing Director of Manitou Asia. The Singapore Engineer: What are some of the unique features of Manitou AWPs, that leverage on the company’s experience with and expertise in telehandlers? Mr Bernd Freudenmann: All our rough terrain telehandler machines have axles. Like these telehandlers, our rough Mr Bernd Freudenmann terrain AWPs typically have two axles, including an oscillating front axle. This axle is an absolute necessity for stability, eliminating the risk of toppling and enhancing safety on uneven ground. The standard for Manitou AWPs is to have oscillating axles as a core safety feature. Heavy duty axles are much more lasting, hence making the machines very robust. TSE: How is Manitou looking to support the construction and industrial sectors in Asia through the AWPs? BF: At Manitou Group, we tap on the latest technological advancements to design and build innovative machines that are tailored to our users’ requirements and hence to better serve the construction and industrial sectors. Every machine produced by Manitou is now a ‘connected machine’ which is commonly referred to as a ‘smart machine’. We adopt it as a standard, to allow users to fully harness the benefits offered by the Internet of Things. A connected machine can provide real-time access to machine data, remote access, remote diagnosis, and even remote troubleshooting, to realise better service levels and improved utilisation. With connectivity, users can plan their maintenance well in advance, to optimise uptime of machines. End-users, rental companies, and manufacturers can track the machine status, running hours, and the machines’ operating parameters like potential errors codes. Envisaging connectivity as a very big benefit for end-users, rental companies and dealers, we have incorporated it as a standard in our machines to support our customers’ requirements. Connectivity also enables the prompting of maintenance scheduling via the app, MyManitou. Users can send photos on site through MyManitou, or go to their Manitou dealer directly, depending on their preference. 20
THE SINGAPORE ENGINEER May 2020
TSE: How do you see connected machines or smart machines changing the AWP business? BF: With connected machines, we can optimise the total cost of ownership of the machines by detecting any potential issues remotely and solving them quickly. It is a more proactive approach because a user will know the running hours in terms of both pricing and maintenance. For example, if a customer rents the AWP for eight hours and the machine runs overtime, the overtime fees will be charged accordingly. This would allow for a more dynamic pricing depending on the usage of the machine. By carrying out the right maintenance, the customer could also optimise the machine’s resale value. Every machine has an optimum selling point after which the costs for maintenance will increase and compromise profitability. The connectivity feature also helps in the tracking. TSE: How is Manitou contributing to the worldwide push towards sustainable development? BF: As part of a committed CSR policy, Manitou Group launched a dedicated programme called ‘REDUCE’. We were the first manufacturer in our sector to inform users about the energy consumption of our machines, using a special calculator. Further, there is a growing trend in electrification, worldwide. The European and Japanese markets are ahead in the electrification of construction machinery. China will also play a major role in influencing the trends in electrification, in the region. In order to move away from fossil-fuel (diesel)-powered machines, we have been manufacturing electrical machines such as forklift trucks and warehousing equipment for many years. It was a natural progression for us to extend low-emission solutions to our other ranges such as AWPs. Manitou created the Oxygen label for low-emission solutions. The first fully electrical rough terrain AWP is the 200 ATJ E, a 20-metre articulated AWP which will start serial production in 2020. TSE: What are the differences between the electrical Oxygen 200 ATJ E and the non-electrical version of it? BF: The Oxygen label is created for every low-emission solution. We recently launched our full range of electrical machines, with plans to launch hybrid machines in the next phase.
