Heavy Industry Reports, Barnhart Ranks in Top 10 North American Companies and Top 25 Internationally

In June 2010, American Cranes and Transport (ACT) published their annual top 100 Crane and Transport companies for the year. The criteria for this list include the number of company employees and branches, scope of operation, number of mobile and crawler cranes, and a company's largest crane and its capacity.

Although the list intends to survey the heavy industry as a whole, the rankings do provide some idea of the big players in the crane and transport markets. Barnhart Crane & Rigging Company maintained a top 10 position even after the rough economic downturn known as 2009. The 2010 top 10 included the same companies as 2009.

Another crane publication, International Cranes and Specialized Transport (IC), also conducted its own survey over the international market. Although their criteria are similar, they place a heavier emphasis on crane capacity in ranking the top 50 international companies. The IC ranks companies according to an index calculated as the total maximum load moment rating, in "tonne-metres," of all cranes in a companies' fleet.

In the IC report published in August 2010, Barnhart stood impressively at the 24-spot. Other than Barnhart, only seven other U.S. companies made the top 25.

The IC also named the top 12 companies with the largest single cranes, and Barnhart's Demag CC 4000 RL ranked seventh with a capacity of 1,800 tons. The next IC rankings will debut during this quarter of 2011.

The ACT and IC reports are only available through purchase at the KHL website.

For more about Barnhart Crane & Rigging Company, please visit its official website. You may also want to check out Barnhart's available equipment:

• Heavy Lift Cranes


• Modular Lift Tower


• Operated Cranes


• Rigging Systems


• Transportation Systems

Or you may want to check out Barnhart's available services:

• Crane Service


• Heavy Rigging


• Heavy Cargo Logistics


• Heavy Lift Cranes


• Machinery Moving


• Modular Lift Tower


• Transportation Solutions

Building Casks

Market: Power

Location: Washington

Problem

Special canister required for waste removal project was difficult to maneuver into place.

Solution

The added length of the tipstick hanging from the overhead crane allowed the waste container to be placed in the shipping container.

Description

A nuclear research facility is in the process of demolition and deactivation of buildings. The building was used as a spent-fuel metallurgical test facility. Some of the waste from that process were to be removed from the building to allow demolition and deactivation activities to continue. The high-level waste dose rates and concentrations required removal from the building in a special shipping canister. The truck that hauled this canister could not back into the building far enough for the overhead crane to reach the canister. Barnhart solved the problem by hanging the tipstick from the overhead crane. The added length of the tipstick provided enough distance to allow the waste container to be placed inside the shipping canister. The process involved disassembling the canister, installing the inner waste container, and reassembling the shipping canister. Two canisters were loaded. The waste was then shipped out to the repository onsite for long-term storage.

Major Equipment Used

Tipstick

Blow Down Drum Roll, Please…

TEXAS – Barnhart Crane & Rigging Company completed yet another heavy machinery relocation in March, 2010. A customer tasked Barnhart and its crews to transport a massive Blow Down Drum measuring a grand 62’6” in length, 23’2” in width, and 22’9” in height.

From Houston, the crew needed to move the drum to a Texas dock, from which the barge would meet another Barnhart team in Detroit. And like most Barnhart projects, time was of the essence for the team.

“The piece was due to meet a barge that was coming in from Mexico that had pieces already on it and all items were then headed to Detroit, Mich.,” said project manager James Weston. “Any delay in shipment could be very costly with the barge and tug waiting.”

To speed up project completion, Barnhart devoted special care to route planning and ensured the quickest possible route between transport sites. The due diligence in route planning reduced the mileage in addition to cutting costs in half. In fact, the route the crew used had never been utilized before, and the customer was surprised and impressed that the load quickly cleared all sharp turns, underpasses, railroads, and bridges.

On top of the time constraints, the customer awarded the project to Barnhart at the last minute. Weston and his team quickly made all the necessary arrangements with vendors to expedite the transport.

“We contacted our vendors in a timely manner,” Weston said. “And with the help of the utility companies and other outside agencies, we were able to mitigate obstacles prior to beginning the haul. That left us only having to deal with a minimum set of obstacles.”

Because of Barnhart’s longtime presence in Texas, they have developed strong relationships with the Department of Transportation and other partner companies. For moving the massive drum, those relationships came in rather handy.

“The majority of those companies take the time to meet with us, run the routes, and often suggest better ways to achieve the ultimate goal,” Weston said. “Having a team mentality betters the overall outcome of a project.”

The relationship with the DOT, in particular, allowed Barnhart to quickly obtain the necessary permit for transport, set up all vendor contracts, and meet the barge on time.

Weston likewise noted that having these strong local relationships really gives the customer great confidence in Barnhart’s work.

“It benefits the customer over time by knowing they have companies that work well together as a team and by understanding everyone is there to achieve the same goal,” Weston said.

Barnhart’s industrious planning, its prompt arrangements, and its commercial partnerships weren’t the only impressive aspects of the project, according to Weston. The project illustrated the efficiency and teamwork that Barnhart’s nationwide company has to offer.

“Barnhart has 23 branches across the county,” Weston said. “And every day we work together to ensure that we are doing what we can to help our brethren branches. This job speaks highly to that. Expediting this shipment enabled our Chicago branch to have a successful kick off to their project at Marathon in Detroit.”

James Weston is a project manager at Barnhart’s branch located in Houston, Texas. For contact information, please click here.

Or take a look at all the fantastic services Barnhart Crane & Rigging Company provide:

· Crane Service

· Heavy Rigging

· Heavy Cargo Logistics

· Heavy Lift Cranes

· Machinery Moving

· Modular Lift Tower

· Transportation Solutions

No Short Circuits for Barnhart in Transformer Replacement at Kansas Power Plant

Miserable weather and poor conditions did not thwart Barnhart Crane and Rigging's success when installing a massive 500-ton transformer at a Midwest power plant. Although taking the old transformer out posed no problems, installing the new transformer proved to be quite a challenge.



Fortunately for the power plant and customer, Barnhart loves to take on challenging jobs. Project Manager Bob Possel later explained why this project was so exceptional.

"We typically don't change out 500-ton transformers," Possel said. "I would say the typical transformers that we handle on average are approximately 200 tons."

To unload the Transformer from the Schnabel railroad car, Barnhart employed four 300-ton jacks, pull-up gantries, and a slide system. The staff slid the transformer to a ten line double-wide hydraulic platform trailer. At the request of the owner, the crew staged the component on slide beams so the transformer could be partially dressed out prior to the outage.

During the outage time was saved. A second Barnhart crew mobilized to site to slide the transformer across the road during the night for staging. However, the crew ran into a significant hurdle that tested the team.



"The new transformer was significantly heavier than the old one causing ground bearing issues," Possel said.

To overcome this issue, the team strategically placed additional matting to resolve the problem. Timbers, along with an extra truckload of steel crane mats, provided the timely solution.

Barnhart ultimately completed the project safety and in a reasonable amount of time, all to the satisfaction of the customer.

"The customer was pleased with our services," Possel said. "[He] wants us to replace a similar transformer at another plant."


For more information, please visit the official Barnhart Crane and Rigging website. Or you may be interested in their Crane Service, Machinery Moving, or Heavy Rigging pages.

A Christmas Message to You From Barnhart Crane & Rigging Co.

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Dirty Job, Barnhart has to do it.

I was flipping the channels the other night and ran across a rerun of my favorite TV episode: Barnhart on Dirty Jobs. If you haven't seen it, stayed glued to the Discovery Channel until it comes back again, because its a classic. On the show Mike Rowe and his crew head out to Blue Canyon Wind Farm to work with Barnhart and the crew from Horizon Wind Energy. Mike does his usual bang up job, but the real star of the show is the Barnhart crew. Chuck Madgett is his usual unflappable self as he works as a perfect straight man to Rowes antics. Incredible views of the Oklahoma landscape and tales of rattlesnakes in the sky make for a great television.

To buy a copy of that season go to: http://store.discovery.com/detail.php?p=95345&v=discovery_shows_dirty-jobs