August 11 - A Manitowoc MLC300 crane, able to lift at or near the capacity of cranes with much larger footprints, is proving its worth to contractors building a retail and residential development in Chicago.
Changing trends in construction mean larger and heavier precast segments than those previously manufactured now need to be lifted, but smaller sites with tight working areas do not allow traditional cranes to be used.
Paul Urbanski, sales manager for Central Contractors Service, a division of the ALL Family of Companies, which provided the 330-ton capacity MLC300 to the project, said that the crane's compact footprint and high capacity due to its Variable Positioning Counterweight (VPC) technology made it an ideal lifting solution for constructing the building.
"This machine is perfect for this job," he explained. "The precast segments we're lifting often weigh more than 30 tons. In the past, we would have used a larger crawler, but the counterweight for that crane wouldn't have fit on the job site."
