CRANES
Considerations When Making a Purchase Overhead travelling cranes are big machines with price tags to match. A purchase dents even the most generous capital expenditure budget. For this reason, price often heads the list of factors holding sway over the buying decision.
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ut is price the right focus? Could a pricebased decision be flawed not only because it ignores maintenance costs, but also because it overlooks production losses should the crane be forced to stop work for any reason?
Condra believes that the buying focus should be different. First, it should be on the total cost South to company over the life of Africa’s big the crane instead of on initial capital cost alone, four crane companies and second, it should have strong reputations examine the projected for technical capability productive uptime of the and long product life if crane based on back-up their cranes are operated service and the lead time under the right on spare parts manufacconditions tured abroad.
Strong reputations
Marc Kleiner, Condra’s managing director, is the first to point out that South Africa’s Big Four crane companies have strong reputations for technical capabilities and
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BULK HANDLING TODAY
August 2019
Condra’s managing director, Marc Kleiner
long product lives if their cranes are operated under the right conditions. But he points out that African operating environments are often less forgiving than those in Europe.
