Based in Maddington, WA, cranes have been central to Ronco’s DNA for over 27 years; commencing its major inspections services over 15 years ago, Operations Manager Mark Turner discusses how the company has expanded its crane workshop capabilities to accommodate the demands of almost any customer.
Both plant and equipment have played a central role in Mark Turner’s life for the past 20 years. Indeed, as we’re talking, the Operations Manager at Ronco needs to pause the conversation to answer a call from a terminal manager about a crane being shipped into Fremantle Ports Berth 11.
“It’s been a challenging industry to work my way into,” he says, speaking of the cranes and lifting sector. “There’s been a lot to learn, but it’s very rewarding once you break down the initial barriers.”
“Other industries can be very exclusive and individualistic, but the crane industry provides very fulfilling relationships and is brimmed with people who want to help out. You just have to ask, and not guess. September this year marked my tenth year at Ronco and there is still a huge amount to learn; it never stops.”
Highlighting “Major Inspections” as a large proportion of the work completed at Ronco, Mark says the range of work at the WA-based crane services company “keeps everyone quite busy”.
“We normally undertake anywhere between five-to-nine major inspections simultaneously,” he says, “and we’ll service any crane of any size – whether it be a spider crane or a crawler crane, we’ll take on the job.”
“All of our major inspections are supervised by a Chartered Professional Engineer per AS2550.5, and the engineer is involved the whole way through from our initial test lifts through to the CraneSafe inspection at the end,” he says.
Underlining his point are the eight cranes currently situated in Ronco’s 12,000 square-metre main yard, undergoing the Major Inspection process inside its 1400 square-metre workshop specifically designated for the repair and inspection services. With two crawler cranes, an articulated pick and carry crane, two truck cranes, an all-terrain crane, a self-propelled EWP, and two rough-terrain cranes undergoing the Major Inspection process, Mark emphasises the importance of a quick turnaround for customers.
Ronco’s servicing capacities, which include a 4,000 square metre storage yard on the same street, can provide exactly that: a quick, efficient turnaround with a focus on minimal downtime.
“Sometimes it can take three, four, even five weeks to receive spare parts shipped in from overseas – especially since COVID-19,” he says. “There are absolutely parts that are imperative to receive from the same OEM, particularly parts pertaining to structural loads.”
However, some parts that are necessary for the operation of the crane don’t necessarily need to come from the same OEM, he says.
Citing hydraulic cylinder seals as a “prime example”, Mark says Ronco saves its customers time and money by returning their cranes to action as soon as possible by using products that aren’t directly sourced from OEMs where applicable.
“For luffing, tele-boom, and outrigger jacking cylinders we prefer to use OEM seals. For all other cylinders we will use aftermarket seals where viable,” he says.
“If we can put the machine back in action in a more timely and equally as safe manner by using parts that we can source locally from aftermarket suppliers, we end up saving our customers time and money, and freeing up space in our workshop to help someone else. It’s a win-win.”
Helping the servicing and repair team at Ronco’s workshop are three overhead gantry cranes, a large wash pad with raised walkways and an area dedicated to the machining requirements of the team.
In light of the massive loads cranes are capable of lifting, an aspect of their maintenance that frequently gets overlooked is their bottom half; after all, a crane still needs an engine to run, as Mark notes.
“Historically, the split in our job scope of works has been 30 per cent mechanical maintenance, compared to 70 per cent inspections or hydraulics and boom repair,” he says. “At the moment, however, we’re operating at 15 per cent mechanical versus 85 per cent inspections or upper section repairs.”
“When taking into consideration the crane as a whole, it’s the equivalent to a truck being fully loaded 100 per cent of the time,” he adds.
“When we go over crane carriers and drivetrains as part of the major inspections or servicing, we often find maintenance items that should have been addressed.”
This said, it is undeniable that boom repairs are of the utmost importance to the general maintenance of a crane. At Ronco, no boom is spared; every single boom type comes through their front gates, according to Mark. Whether it be a repair needed for a hydraulic telescoping boom, or a lacing replacement for a lattice boom, Ronco has the capacity to service all.
At the forefront of its boom repair operations is Ronco’s hydraulic boom straightening capacities. Citing the commonality of a “hook-strike” to both lattice and telescopic booms, Mark stresses the importance of dealing with these straight away, due to the fault-line they create in the boom’s structure.
“It creates an overall weakness that may result in the crane’s boom collapsing on itself at that fault line,” he says. “We employ a technique here to repair those kinds of faults in house, all per an engineer’s repair plan. Even corrosion repairs to structural surfaces can be undertaken once the engineer has provided a repair plan.”
“99 per cent of our repairs are completed in-house; being able to repair in house results in a much quicker turnaround and much lower cost for the customer,” he continues. “There are times when we outsource our work a to specialist repairer because it’s just not feasible for us to complete some jobs. Ultimately, we want to make sure the right thing is being done by the customer, and sometimes that means sending the work to a specialist.”
That said, completing its repairs in house is a source of pride for the team at Ronco. After fulfilling any structural repairs, the team uses the ample space in its yard to complete load testing at 125 per cent capacity per the Australian Standards to ensure the structural integrity of the machine they’ve serviced is intact once again. What these operations all need, however, is competent staff to fulfil the services Ronco can offer.
Citing the pandemic as a turning point, Mark says all businesses faced the same problem: the available staff pool dramatically decreased, leaving them all chasing the same resources. Whether it was a repairer, a hirer, or a primary contractor there “just wasn’t enough” to go around for everyone and it had “an impact”, he says.
“During COVID-19, we were looking for the ‘right’ staff: people that were experienced and had been in the industry for five or ten years,” he says. “They just weren’t there. And so, we took a step back and acknowledged that, if we weren’t training younger people, how could we expect to be finding good quality workers?”
READ MORE:
- Boom Logistics acquires new XCMG XGC320 through WA dealer Ronco.
- XCMG crane capacity “incredible” according to to Ronco, D&D Diesel.
- Ronco continues the growth of the brand.
It’s a mindset that’s paid off for the WA-based crane services company. Now employing four apprentices and a team of 15 service department staff, Mark notes the importance of getting the right people on the right jobs at the right time when it comes to servicing and maintenance.
“We want our staff to be fully trained up and completely comfortable with the tasks being asked of them in the workshop,” he says. “There are services that we’ll outsource to certain trusted specialists, or repairs and tests where an engineer will come in and oversee what we’re doing to ensure the safety and compliance of the process.”
“Ultimately, it comes back to a customer centric focus; how can we, at Ronco, employ our resources in the most efficient and effective manner to ensure the people who engage us leave happy.”
