Quality assurance of stacker crane designs at ECT ASC

ECT has ordered new stacking cranes to replace the current stacking cranes that have reached the end of their service life. These Automatic Stacking Cranes (ASCs) are designed to efficiently move containers from loading and unloading positions in the ‘stack’ (storage area at the terminal). For this project, ECT ordered cranes from Huisman and from ZPMC.

Iv performs in this project design reviews. Our task is to review the designs of both Huisman and ZPMC to ensure they meet the specified requirements and have a sufficiently long lifespan. This includes performing independent shadow calculations and thorough checks of the designs. During these verification processes, we regularly identify areas for improvement, which contributes to the overall reliability and quality of the cranes.

The cranes are used in an intensive 24-hour service environment, where they must meet very strict requirements for positioning accuracy, where finding the optimal design is crucial to provide an effective and reliable solution.

Calculations and checks confirm that the main steel structure of the cranes has the demanded lifespan. This long service life and high utilisation capacity allow ECT to operate more efficiently and safely, which has a significant impact on its logistics processes.