Last year, Terex reintroduced the Demag brand for its all-terrain cranes and crawler cranes over 440 tons. In this Five Minute interview, Demag product directors talk about the innovations and upcoming additions to the product line.
What was Terex’s intent with bringing back the Demag brand?
The reasons are various, but the first and most important reason is because our customers wanted it! The brand Demag was always associated with high quality, best-in-class engineering and innovations, and this is what our AC and CC cranes manufactured in Zweibrücken stand for. Recent innovations like the IC-1 Plus control system for all-terrain cranes and the Boom Booster kit for crawler cranes tie in with a long history of industry firsts, like the Sideways Superlift.
Our goal is to regain industry leadership, and the Demag products are crucial to reaching this goal.
In addition, with the two brands Demag and Terex, we can now offer our customers lifting solutions targeted to their needs. While the Demag products provide all features for complex lifts, the Terex products are reliable workhorses. With both brands we still offer the full range of lifting solutions.
What has been the industry’s reception to this?
We’ve received a lot of positive feedback. While customers acknowledge that the name Demag stands for quality and innovation – and recognize these attributes in our latest products – there is also an emotional part to that. Many never stopped calling the Zweibrücken products “Demag” and are very proud to have the brand name back on their machines.
What are the newest technologies incorporated in Demag all-terrain cranes?
Demag AC 45 City Crane
Since the re-launch of the Demag brand at bauma 2016, we’ve added several new machines to our all-terrain range, starting with the five-axle family consisting of four models from 140- to 300-ton capacity class; two three-axle 60- and 65-ton models; and the brand new 350-ton AC 300-6. We’ve also updated our popular AC 100-4L and AC 500-8 cranes, making them fit for the future. The five-axle cranes and the AC 300-6 share many parts, making inventory and servicing easier for the customer.
All cranes come with the innovative IC-1 Plus control system, which is designed to provide the crane’s maximum allowable lifting capacity, based on the slewing angle, for every crane configuration. The new control system no longer limits the maximum lifting capacity to a pre-calculated 360-degree load chart, which was based on the most unstable position of the crane. Instantaneous capacity calculations allow customers to take full advantage of the maximum lifting capacity available at any given slewing position for any crane configuration. This advantage is particularly useful when working with reduced outrigger settings and reduced counterweight. In fact, it enables the Demag AC 500-8 to perform jobs where higher capacity cranes are typically needed. This comes with an added benefit: For many applications, the IC-1 Plus control system not only uses the full potential of the crane’s lifting capacity, but it also creates the opportunity to use less counterweight as compared to the 360-degree lifting capacities. This results in reduced transport costs.
What about the latest technology in the Demag crawler cranes?
Demag PC 3800-1
We recently introduced the PC 3800-1 pedestal crane, which provides access to jobsites previously not reachable with a standard crawler model. It boasts strong load charts, especially with main boom-only configurations, that helps reduce ground preparation and is easy to transport. Employing the PC 3800-1 can significantly reduce the amount of time needed to prepare a jobsite for crane operation. Typically crawler cranes require an adequately leveled supporting ground (slope of 0 to 0.3 degrees) over a large area to achieve the nominal lifting capacity leading to extensive ground preparation prior to the lift job. In contrast, the PC 3800-1 only needs four spots to be prepared for the outrigger supports, which do not need to be perfectly leveled as the outrigger cylinders can compensate some tolerance on the ground’s flatness — up to 2.1 degrees with a 39.4 foot x 39.4 foot outrigger base.
The PC 3800-1 features hydraulic extendable and foldable outriggers that can be positioned at 39.4 x 39.4 feet, 46 x 46 feet with all configurations including Superlift, and 62.5 x 62.5 feet without Superlift. It offers additional possibilities for long-reach lifts where the lifting capacity of a crawler crane would normally be limited. The PC 3800-1 also provides increased lifting performance in several configurations or requires less counterweight for the same or slightly higher lifting capacities. Less counterweight means fewer trucks, translating into significantly reduced transportation costs.
We’ve also upgraded the Boom Booster kit for our popular 715-ton CC 3800-1, extending the reach of the crawler crane to a maximum system length of 600 feet.
The Boom Booster kit can have up to nine structural 39-foot sections including two adapters. The kit’s new configurations and lengths are the results of removing lighter boom sections close to the head section and adding 11.5-foot wide Boom Booster sections right after the foot section. The Boom Booster kit now can have a total length of up to 354 feet. In order to get the long boom configurations off the ground, the Superlift mast length extends to 138 ft with an additional 8.2 ft section.
The Boom Booster kit increases the main boom stiffness of the CC 3800-1 resulting in higher lift capacities by up to 30 percent. The kit comes with the Demag fall protection system as standard. There is an optional Superlift Split Tray and an optional Flex Frame available. When both systems work together the amount of time required for re-arranging counterweights between erection of the crane and working with the crane drops substantially. That reduces working hours for personnel and eliminates the need for an assist crane for re-stacking. Furthermore, the optional Flex Frame solution allows flexible setting of the Superlift counterweight in a radius from 42 to 69 feet with full counterweight on the tray.
What new Demag-brand cranes and technologies can the industry expect to see in the upcoming months?
At the end of October, we will be announcing the biggest news in small cranes. Demag will revive one of the most popular cranes of the brand: the City crane. The new AC 45 City will tie on the benefits of the popular AC 40 City, namely compactness and versatility, but will also show new and innovative features. Stay tuned.
