Leading international tower crane manufacturer Comansa has recently announced the establishment of its local rental, sales and service support subsidiary “Comansa Australia”.
The head office is established in North Sydney and operations will be based in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, headed by a highly experienced tower crane team. Dane Hunt, Comansa Australia’s General Manager, explains more.
“Initially, we will be operating with a small but experienced team. We have key personal Trent Ellis, a qualified technical draftsman, who is our Technical Coordinator. Trent manages our spare parts, client requests for technical data, and serves as our direct interface with both head office in Spain and the factory in Hangzhou, China.
“All technical data is generated directly from the Spanish head office, while the Hangzhou factory focuses on manufacturing. Joey Attard is our Factory Field Operations Technician. I have known Joey for over 20 years, and we have worked together at several tower crane rental companies,” said Dane.
He explained why Comansa has decided to focus on the Australian market.
“From Comansa’s perspective, the Australian market is very attractive compared to others around the world. We have a strong economy and a politically stable country. Although the factory recognises it has been slow to provide the Australian market with a full service, we are here now, and we believe the timing is ideal,” he said.
The team at Comansa Australia has already established key cliental across the country, including WA Universal in Western Australia, Queensland Tower Crane Hire (QTCH), Skylift Tower Crane Services in Victoria, RAR in the ACT, and Smith Cranes in New Zealand.
“Some of these companies have been operating Comansa products for many years, and now they know we can support them locally with OEM (original equipment manufacturer )services. As we continue to gain momentum, we will be encouraging other businesses to discuss their requirements with us, whether that’s hiring or purchasing cranes,” said Dane.
Comansa’s manufacturing capabilities
Comansa operates two factories: one in Hangzhou, China, and the other in Pamplona, Spain. Each factory produces about 250 tower cranes per year. Cranes for the Australian market will primarily be manufactured in the Hangzhou facility.
“Understanding the demands of the local market, which include ‘price and speed of delivery’, we will be sourcing cranes from the Hangzhou factory. Short lead times don’t leave much room. For example, we had an enquiry for a 21CM750-37.5t – a huge crane capable of lifting 12.5 tonne at 65 metres. The client provided the parameters, and we had to deliver the crane on site and fully erected within 12 weeks of receiving the order.
“That 12-week period included design and engineering of the concept through to manufacturing, shipping, and installation. Managing to deliver in that timeframe is unheard of. We are not sure what is driving these clients’ requirements, but lead times are significantly tighter. Tier One builders used to provide six months, but now it’s two to three months.”
Comansa Australia will focus on several models suited to the local market. These include the CML800, a 64 tonne luffing crane capable of lifting 8.5 tonnes at 65 metres.
“Following the CML800 is the CML560, and we already have five in the country,” Dane said. “One is erected on a Lendlease project on the west coast and the rest scheduled for erection across the East Coast including Byron Bay, Brisbane and Newcastle. I see this as the flagship luffer, and we are specifically targeting the construction industry with this crane. There are other luffing cranes in this size range, but we’ve been able to surpass their performance on every parameter.”
Comansa’s research and development
All research and development is managed by head office in Spain. The R&D team of over 30 includes highly experienced engineers with decades of expertise. Linden Comansa invented the flat-top system, which has since been copied by other manufacturers. The company recently launched the 21CM1400, a 66 tonne machine lifting 13.4 tonne at 80 metres, which has proved to be popular. Exciting developments are also underway with the class-leading LCL1800 luffing crane.
“These are big and exciting cranes for us. We are quoting these models for several data centres across the country, and they are perfectly suited to that type of application,” said Dane.
Working with battery technology
Comansa Australia is working closely with New Zealand’s battery technology provider, Cranepower. Dane elaborates: “We have a great relationship with the team at Cranepower. They recently completed 120,000 hours of research and development with their product running Comansa Tower cranes, and it has proved to be an easy fit. We can now run 64 tonne luffing units on just 32 amps of power, which is unheard of. I come from an internal combustion engine background, so this technology is new to me, but it ticks all the boxes in terms of cost efficiencies, reliability, and environmental benefits.”
Comansa’s Crane Mate
Crane Mate is Comansa’s fleet management and crane monitoring system. Thanks to this cutting-edge communications technology, Comansa can access real-time technical information about a crane, understand alerts, and interpret data related to productivity and maintenance. This digital solution connects people, machinery, and technology, saving time and costs while improving efficiency and performance across construction sites.
“Crane Mate is a complete fleet management system designed by Comansa. Joey can log into any crane in Australia. If there’s an alert, he is the first to know about it,” said Dane. “Crane Mate provides a massive advantage for us. A tower crane breakdown is a big deal for the client because he’s got 50 workers on site and trucks delivering materials, and every minute the crane isn’t operating costs the client a fortune. Cranes do break down, and Crane Mate is designed to prevent this by identifying and fixing issues before they become major problems.
“There are multiple sensors across the crane monitoring weather, duty cycles and fault codes that we can review over time. This allows us to identify patterns and advise clients on how to better manage crane performance. It’s new and exciting technology that we can use to pre-empt issues before they happen.”