Trends in the Lifting Market from Emile Berning

Trends in the Lifting Market from Emil Berning, Managing Director of Konecranes and Demag (Pty) Ltd

1. Tell us a little about yourself and your professional background

After qualifying with a BSc Mech Eng degree, I started my career as a Design Engineer in the Automotive sector specialising in heavy vehicle transmissions and drive trains.

This experience led to a Development Manager role leading a project team in off road specialised military vehicle platforms. Prior to joining Konecranes and Demag in 2018, I spent 17 years in senior roles in varied hydraulic and automation businesses involved in virtually all industries and geographical areas throughout Africa. I am currently Managing Director of Konecranes and Demag (Pty) Ltd, the South African legal entity and Business Area head for New Equipment and Service

2. How has your business been impacted by the current crisis and how are you navigating it to remain competitive in the market?

Fortunately we have loyal clients and a strong order book in our Equipment business that once lockdown was lifted we were able to ramp up to fairly quickly. In our Service business, while we did see a dip during the level 5 and 4 lockdown period due to lower customer activity this has bounced back quickly as they ramp up again. Konecranes, being a Finnish company combined with the Demag acquisition in 2017 has been the forefront of technology in particular with our digitalisation approach which allows the management of customer assets; connecting data, machines and people to deliver a digitally-enabled customer experience in real time. We further offer remote monitoring solutions that continuously gather condition, usage and operating data and issues safety alerts. This allows customers especially during the Covid-19 pandemic to limit the number of people required on site while ensure their lifting equipment is running safely and optimally.

3. What are the biggest challenges facing the lifting sector today?

In South Africa, the current pandemic will continue to cause disruptions for many business for months to come.

The economic outlook and recovery over the next few years is going to challenge many companies in our sector to maintain a high level of service and value add to the end customers. Those companies with strong international backing, high code of ethics support by cashflow and ability to scale their technology for customer benefits should survive and come out stronger from this crisis.

On the product side and in a particular quality we see over recent years, an increase in the amount of lifting equipment being manufactured in far Eastern countries and imported into South Africa.

Many of these products claim to have mechanism groupings based on the EN (European Norm) standard which all European sourced lifting equipment has to conform by. Buyers of this equipment should challenge their suppliers and ask to see the EN certification which the equipment claims has met the standard. Buyers can then make an informed decision on the quality of lifting equipment they are investing in.

4. What are the trends in the sector that you are seeing? What do you attribute it to?

We have seen an increased focus on safety and productivity over the past few years and this should continue to the remain the highest priority for all users of lifting

Emil Berning, Managing Director of Konecranes and Demag (Pty) Ltd

equipment. Coupled with this, customers are expecting transparency, speed and real-time feedback in the service with a higher emphasis on planned maintenance and oversight inspections to improve up time versus a reactive breakdown approach. A consultative approach together with their lifting suppliers can help guide customers in their decision making and we encourage users to take a holistic view of asset management and predictive maintenance especially the advance in digital tools and consider a real time feedback cycle of “data, insights, actions”. As this cycle repeats over time, maintenance predictions be-come faster and more precise. Price sensitivity during pre and post Covid-19 lockdown with the local economic situation has been extremely challenging. Pricing becomes a key factor in these trying times however buyers need to consider that the short term gain on the lowest price may be greatly negated by the impact on the reliability of the lifting equipment purchased and the potential consequential loss of production over the lifespan of equipment. With the financial constraints many

companies are facing we are seeing an increase in requests to evaluate extending the life of aged cranes to preserve their cash flow. The common themes are increasing speed and lifting capacity, applying new safety features and positioning capabilities, or simply replacing high-maintenance, obsolete components with newer technology.

5. What is your outlook for lifting in South Africa? What is the role of your company in this out-look?

We are cautiously optimistic and in the short term expect to face continued volatility challenges as many of the projects planned in South and sub-Saharan Africa may be delayed or placed on hold. The drive for localisation in line with governments intent on revitalising the manufacturing sector as well the expectations of the mining charter place an emphasis on companies to embrace getting on board with these programs. Konecranes and Demag (Pty) Ltd is well placed to support localisation and job creation through exploring partnering initiatives with SMME’s. While we do see investment in automotive, manufacturing, mining and ports sectors picking up in the medium term, new technologies in lifting equipment and the approach to service activities has the potential to play a significant role in these investment decisions. Konecranes and Demag (Pty) Ltd as one of the world leaders introducing new technologies into the lifting equipment and service space is expected to continue setting the benchmark in the overhead industrial crane arena.

Just two examples; the recent launch of our S-Series hoist using synthetic rope provided improved strength and durability over a traditional wire rope; and digitalisation of our service business with the yourKonecranes web portal providing customers real time view of their asset’s status.

6. Do you have any key lessons learned during these trying times that you can share with our readers?

Number one is do all that you can to keep your people and their families safe and minimise the spread of the infection to mitigate business disruption. Ensure you have robust processes in place to support this and everyone in the organisation understands and knows their role. A personal lesson learned and applied during these period is continuous and relevant communication both to internal and external stakeholders, especially with the level of uncertainty that exists. Other important attributes during these trying time is be adaptable and build flexibility into your organisation to help survive and cope with the constantly changing situation.

Konecranes and Demag (Pty) Ltd,

+27 (0) 11 898 3500, richard.roughly@konecranes. com, www.demagcranes.com, www.konecranes.com