Gantry Crane Provides Safe, Efficient Material Handling Solution

Apr 25, 2016

For more than a hundred years, a Reading, Pennsylvania Construction Services Company has provided everything from hauling services for rail yards to millwright, rigging and transporting heavy machinery up to 100 tons. Since 1912, they’ve certainly had to change with the times. The company now has a warehouse filled with heavy machinery, a full crew of workers, and the ability to rig and move heavy loads.

In addition to hauling merchandise and heavy equipment to stores in Reading, the company also offers residential services—moving large items like hot tubs and pianos. After moving to their warehouse in Reading, their focus changed to storing everything from forklifts to pretzel ovens in their massive 275 thousand square-foot facility.

The company’s warehouse manager, Kevin McDevitt, ensures that any tools and heavy machinery stored at their Pennsylvania warehouse are shipped out to their customers quickly and efficiently. When they moved into their new building several years ago, McDevitt was tasked with finding a productive, safe way to move machinery to and from storage, and onto a flatbed truck in the warehouse bay.

In their previous warehouse, they used a 15-ton overhead bridge crane to move machinery. Their new facility in Reading, however, had multiple limitations, making it impossible to use that same 15-ton overhead bridge crane to move heavy machinery and equipment. The warehouse’s decreased ceiling height and lack of floor space made it difficult to find the right material handling solution for their needs. If they decided to purchase another overhead crane with large support columns, for instance, McDevitt knew he would lose a substantial amount of storage space.

That’s when McDevitt reached out to a local Spanco dealer, who assisted him in finding the best crane to meet their daily material handling needs and specific building requirements. The dealer recommended a 10-ton PF Series Motorized Gantry Crane with a 40-foot span. After purchasing the PF Series Gantry Crane from Spanco, Kevin and his workers were able to easily install the crane themselves. In fact, they had it up in just one day, and running with ease in less than three days. Although Kevin and his employees decided to perform the installation themselves, they received a lot of assistance from their Spanco dealer, along with our team of inside technical sales specialists.

McDevitt was looking for a safe, reliable, overhead material handling solution that would allow him to keep up with a vigorous storage and shipping schedule, while still meeting specific building limitations. Since installing the 10-ton PF Series Gantry from Spanco, workers can now load and unload flatbeds with the same efficiency they had in their previous facility. What’s more, the 10-ton Gantry from Spanco can go with them if ever they decide to change locations again. Kevin and his team are very happy with the motorized system, which can be controlled from any location on the shop floor safely and easily.