CPA Bulletin

46 CPA Bulletin > November 2022 www.cpa.uk.net At a recent Crane Interest Group (CIG) meeting, a debate took place about whether crane owners should be authorised to diagnose or repair faults on their cranes when a simple fault occurs. Crane owners presented their views that some commonplace electronic faults can occur on cranes that, although minor, still require manufacturer intervention. From the crane owner’s perspective, diagnostic fault codes frequently occur which need a technician to resolve the issue using a laptop and the manufacturer’s own bespoke software to investigate the cause and clear error codes. This can involve a service technician coming to site, or increasingly by the diagnostic fault being resolved remotely by the crane manufacturer. In many cases, crane owners and operators have no way of interpreting the error codes that appear on the main display of the crane’s cab. Although diagnosing and clearing error codes on a crane often takes minutes rather than hours, it still results in high repair costs frommanufacturers. Many crane owners feel that the repair costs are unreasonable for minimal work being carried out, leading to owners becoming increasingly frustrated about their inability to resolve minor faults or glitches themselves. All of which can lead to significant downtime for cranes in company fleets. Crane owners at the CIG meeting suggested that they could possibly be given limited access to manufacturers’ software, to allow owners to carry out basic investigation themselves and to clear minor error codes, saving time and money by maximising productivity and minimising downtime. This clearly raises questions and concerns relating to crane safety and there was extensive debate in the meeting about whether crane owners could be given access to restricted software versions that do not affect or change any of the crane’s safety parameters, such as emission or crane operation parameters. Andy Honeywell, Managing Director of Marsh Plant Hire said: “Increasingly we find ourselves in the hands of the manufacturer as we are unable to rectify software derived issues - particularly fault codes - which often immobilise the crane. We have little choice but to arrange very expensive manufacturer service visits purely to plug in a laptop to clear error codes. “I do believe that limited access to software programs could alleviate the need for many of these expensive service visits, thus reducing our downtime and maintenance costs which are currently a disproportionately high percentage of the revenue achieved.” During the CIG meeting, manufacturers advised that customer level software is available in certain cases and the tools to do the job are available by third party providers. For instance, Manitowoc has introduced a smartphone app for Manitowoc crane users to help them understand the error codes shown in their machines and the actions to be taken to resolve the error. The goal is to help crane owners or operators to diagnose technical issues much faster without the help of third-party assistance. When a numeric diagnostic code appears on the crane’s cab display, operators can use the Manitowoc app to find what the code means and immediately begin working on a solution to the problem. It is believed that Manitowoc was the first manufacturer in the crane industry to release an app of this kind. However, what happens if a crane company or crane operator has equipment in their fleet from different crane manufacturers, all with different diagnostic codes? There are third party companies who offer software programmes covering hundreds of the most popular crane models across different manufacturers. Remote diagnostics can be carried out using laptops that are fully loaded with a single programme that is powerful enough to take care of the diagnostics of different cranes, covering thousands of diagnostic codes. Nevertheless, there are still questions and concerns relating to the level of competency of the individual using such diagnostic tools, which has led to manufacturers restricting access. John Miller, Customer Support Manager at Tadano said: “There are lots of systems offered, along with training by manufacturers. These are put into two classes - the first being telematics which allow remote collection of operational data from the crane normally via a GSM connection. The data available will give error codes and safety warnings, along with such other features such as rigging condition, engine data, etc. Telematics do now have the capability for the manufacturer to upload system resets and software updates on some crane models. “The second group is direct access so a connection or access point at the crane. This is either via the control system screen or laptop and normally some hierarchy is in place depending on risk and training as to what can be performed. In many cases, these higher access levels will allow movement of components with override to safety systems or creating digital identification on components - all of which if wrongly set could be disastrous. “Most manufacturers I believe will offer training but this often requires many weeks at specialist courses, along with certification - most taking place in training centres aligned to the European factories. The investment to get staff to the correct level and maintain it is higher than employing the manufacturers’ service technicians to complete the tasks. “There is a need for continuous learning and development as they are highly skilled jobs even after the initial investment, and then those staff have to be retained. Traceability of any changes made by any suitably trained person in these cases should always be recorded - ideally with the manufacturer. Maybe this helps to explain why these costs are placed at the levels they are and the investment carried by manufacturers and dealers of very complex products,” he added. This is a contentious issue and we at CPA would be interested in hearing our members and readers’ views. If you would like to contribute to the discussion, please email rob.squires@cpa.uk.net SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS: 2 Right to Repair? We investigate the issues surrounding whether crane owners should have the right to diagnose or repair faults on their cranes.