IN FOCUS / CRANE CONNECTION AND TIDD
CHOOSING A TIDD FOR MINING APPLICATIONS Lawrence Engineering recently chose a TIDD PC28 for working on mining shutdowns and its fabrication business in Broken Hill. Cranes and Lifting explains.
Lawrence Engineering saw the TIDD PC 28 at the Ben Davis Crane Connection yard and decided to purchase it right there and then.
LAWRENCE ENGINEERING is an engineering company located in Broken Hill serving the mining industry, water infrastructure, wind energy and the rural sector with a range of services and a strong focus on quality workmanship and customer satisfaction. The company recently took delivery of a new TIDD PC28 to support its work in the local mines. Nigel Lawrence, owner and managing director of Lawrence Engineering confirms the business is predominantly a steel fabrication business with the added ability of machining, fitting, mechanical services, surface protection including blasting and painting. “A big part of the business is maintenance including mine shutdowns and almost anything across the engineering sector. Our customers are mainly in the mining sector and recently we’ve been involved in some water infrastructure projects and we’re looking to ramp up that area with water being such a critical commodity these days. “We run three cranes with the TIDD 62 / CAL March 2020
PC28 being the latest addition, we’ve also got a Franna AT 18, an 18t machine and a Tadano GT600 truck crane. The cranes are really there to support our engineering sector, we’re not really a general crane hire business although we do offer that service on occasions and there is quite a bit of that work, but first and foremost our cranes are there to support our engineering capabilities,” Lawrence said. “Our business is a combination of projects commissioned by our customers and also maintenance which covers all aspects of steel fabrication including hoppers, conveyors also a lot of guards and handrailing and also repair and maintenance because some of these areas in mining are high corrosive areas and we conduct structural steel replacement and repairs. We also service the underground sector of mining as well,” he said. Lawrence explains the background that led to the addition of the TIDD PC 28. “Mine shutdowns like changing out liners, wear liners are a fairly big part of
what we do and around all this work we conduct there’s a lot of crane work. We recognised the business was in a position where we could justify two pick and carry cranes and we’d decided we needed something bigger than the existing crane. “We were looking at the 25t Franna as well as the 35t Humma and at the time we were also looking at the 25t TIDD and also mini cranes as an option. Working through this assessment process, we’d received some quotes and decided a trip to examine these cranes, in both Melbourne and Sydney, would be beneficial. During the planning we were advised the TIDD PC 28 was going to be released and for us, this raised the stakes even higher. I was leaning towards the TIDD anyway because I was especially impressed with all aspects of its design and capabilities and when they announced the release of a 28t machine it closed that gap further,” he said. “We still went on the road and we test drove the Humma, we’d already had a look at the 25t Franna beforehand, and then we went to the launch of the TIDD PC 28 at the Baden Davis Crane Connection yard in Sydney in May last year. We saw that machine unveiled and went back the next day to look at it up close and personal and actually operated it, it was a no brainer, we decided right there and then that we’d purchase it,” Lawrence said. The TIDD PC28 features improved operational function designed to help operators work more efficiently and comfortably on construction sites and also on the road. Increased lift capacity and greater manoeuvrability, in smaller work areas, are key benefits of the new www.cranesandlifting.com.au
