Tower cranes are essential to constructing tall buildings
The recent real estate boom and urbanisation witnessed by metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi and smaller cities like Ahmedabad and Pune have contributed to the trend of vertical construction. India is now touted to be the next hub for tall buildings and high-rise structures due to high density and smaller building footprints offered by Indian cities. India is on a vertical quest- this is a quote from an article by a leading national newspaper, which highlights the major developers efforts to make skyscrapers a reality in India. Tower cranes are essential to constructing tall buildings or skyscrapers.
Tower cranes are commonly used facilities for the construction of high-rise structures. They are now essential for constructing high rise buildings because it provides economical solution of lifting heavy loads. In high rise construction steel is extensively used in all forms of construction and is present in nearly in every form of reinforced concrete and by using tower cranes we can easily lift these loads, which increase the speed of construction and savings because of man-power reduction, savings because of reduced concrete wastage and advantage of timely completion of projects.
What types of tower cranes do you manufacture, and what is the range of products you offer?
We offer higher capacity tower cranes ranging from 10t to 25t capacities, which play an integral role in the precast construction industry. These machines are used to lift, shift and lower the precast structures. For the precast industry tower cranes have become the most essential and valuable assets because they make the work easier and faster at project sites. For higher capacity tower cranes special grade of steel is used for mast and other fabrication jobs and all the BOPs are first tested by a third party and then in house testing is done for safety of these tower cranes.
How do you ensure that your tower cranes meet the safety standards set by the Indian government and international organisations?
In our tower cranes hoisting as well as slewing mechanism is equipped with VFD (variable frequency drives) for smooth and jerk free operations.
We offer these tower cranes with (SLI) safe load indicators, which provide additional safety apart from other regular safety systems. This indicates the weight of the material lifted along with safe load at that radius. The SLI acts as third level of safety apart from moment limiter and ergo meter. These tower cranes are provided with anemometers to check the wind speed. In high wind speed conditions, tower cranes are not supposed to work and jib is left free to align itself towards the winds direction, thereby reducing the wind pressure on the tower crane. We also offer anti-collision device for buildings where two or more tower cranes are working in proximity of each other.
We have the advantage of manufacturing these tower cranes locally, ACE as a company has been aggressive not only in the market but also in adopting new technologies for manufacturing. We offer the largest range of indigenously manufactured tower cranes in the country.
With precast construction catching up with real estate developers, how do you foresee the demand of higher capacity tower cranes? How are you looking towards product positioning of the same based on the catching demand trend?
While a majority of Indian structures both residential, commercial and infrastructure are being built the cast in place or in-situ mode, there is a growing popularity for precast technology within the Indian construction community. Precast construction technology is not new in India. It has been adopted in India from past many years, but was mostly limited to civil structures such as tunnels, bridges and flyovers and underpasses. However, until a decade back adoption of modern and innovative construction technology and practices by the Indian realty sector was slow and therefore precast , though widely used across the globe for its inherent advantages, did not catch the fancy of the industry.
According to industry experts, apart from certain countries in Asia-Pacific, the rest of the world is increasingly using precast as their mode of construction in a majority of projects. The construction industry in India is around $500 million and precast has only 2 per cent share vis- -vis the traditional method of construction. However, a gradual shift is occurring and precast building technology is rapidly gaining a foothold in the Indian market and primary among them is the need for affordable housing.