Customer Experiences
Our Mini Cranes, Crawlers and Battery Cranes are solving lifting problems in America and across the globe.
MAEDA was the best solution on a barge to work on TVA towers in the Tennessee River
- User : SBC Instrument & Control
- Base : The United States of America
SBC Instrument & Control located in the state of Mississippi in the USA was faced with performing lifting on communication towers in the middle of a river. SBC turned to MAEDA AMERICA in Houston, Texas for a lifting solution to complete the unique and challenging job.
SBC needed to upgrade the tower infrastructure and lighting systems on a series of communication towers spanning the Tennessee River. The job required working from a floating barge, since the towers are located in the river not on land. None of the lifting was heavy or high, perfect for a mini crane.
Due to the small size and light weight of the MAEDA MC305, it was able to be placed on a much smaller barge than normally used for lifting on the river.
This allowed SBC to position the smaller barge equipped with the MC305 mini crane very close to the tower support piers.
The close proximity of the barge to the tower reduced lifting radius, allowing for use of the much smaller MC305.
The elimination of a larger barge and crane helped greatly reduce the lifting budget for the project. The MC305 was easily able to lift and position the structural and electrical components for installation on the towers.
And because of the mini crane design, the MC305 could be folded up, taking up little space on the barge when not in use.
Maeda USA turned to customer Rental Works of Birmingham, Alabama to supply the MC305 to SBC for the job.
Rental Works has both the MC305 and two MC285’s in their rental fleet, providing rental Maeda units in the Southeastern USA region.
North America’s largest aquarium uses MAEDA Mini Crane
- User : Brasfield & Gorrie
- Interviewee : Mr. Todd Hamby
- Base : The United States of America
Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia is North America’s largest aquarium at over 600,000 square feet. Despite its massive size, a recent remodel of the facility benefited greatly from an MC405C MAEDA Mini Crane.
Limited access required general contractor Brasfield & Gorrie, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, to devise a way to remove large structural components in order to build out a new sea lion display. “We thought of using a carry deck crane first, but they are really meant to work on level ground which we do not have in this work area.” explains Todd Hamby, project superintendent.
Instead the company chose a MAEDA MC405CRME mini crane with its 67’10” maximum lift height and 8,480 pound maximum capacity rented from ML Cranes & Equipment of Charlotte, North Carolina, a MAEDA distributor for MAEDA USA in Houston, Texas. Most importantly, the track-mounted MC405C has a 54 inch width and an outrigger spread that fits in a 20 foot square area.
“Initially we thought of cutting a hole in a wall for crane access, but the MAEDA crawled right into the freight elevator and powered itself into position,” Hamby explains.
The MC405CRME with its dual power capability allowed for moving the crane into position with the diesel engine, but working and lifting while operating on electric power for the indoor work without exhaust issues.
“We are gutting an existing space which is below ground level,” according to Hamby, “This includes elevated concrete slabs and structural steel that was part of the original display.” The company used the full reach of the five-section telescoping boom and moved loads up to 5,400 pounds.
Once completed, they walked the MC405C out of the work area with inches to spare. “It would have been a lot harder without the MAEDA,” Hamby says, “The project schedule was very aggressive, but we were able to shorten the schedule and reduce costs with the help of the MAEDA.”
Brasfield & Gorrie were the original constructors of Georgia Aquarium in 2005. The company was recently named 2015 Contractor of the Year by the Associated Builders and Contractors.
ML Cranes & Equipment and MAEDA USA are proud to work with such quality customers on such interesting and challenging jobs like the Georgia Aquarium.
It saved us time and money after the MAEDA Mini Crane was introduced.
- User : Positive Engineering Pte Ltd.
- Interviewee : Mr. Tay Yeok Tze (Site Manager)
- Base : Singapore
Positive was founded in 1985, producing aluminum windows, grilles and doors for individual housing units. In 1991, the company was incorporated and renamed as Positive Engineering Pte Ltd.
We have a paid-up capital of S$1.5M, with an annual turnover of more than S$50M (as of 31 March 2013).
Positive Engineering has grown and stayed profitable all these years by focusing on a simple business strategy: To be a one-stop solution for the façade needs of our customers.
With all engineering, fabrication and installation works conducted in-house and completely based in Singapore, we can ensure the highest quality of work and most rapid turnaround time to meet the very demanding nature of the construction industry.
Our current Director (Operations), Mr. Lin Wei Yang saw a mini crane working at a project site during his study in UK.
Immediately he knew that this piece of equipment will benefit in their curtain wall and façade installation works.
Thus, once he graduated and join his dad in this company, he straight away look for the mini crane from the internet for the nearest dealer.
We were looking at the 2 different brands, MAEDA and another Japanese manufacture. We chose MAEDA mainly due to the Singapore distributor JP Nelson’s good service and sales attitude, providing answers to our doubts and also in choosing the most suitable model for our applications.
We had to design and fabricate “A” frame mechanical lifting gears for our façade installation. These takes time and different project requires different design. It saved us time and money after the MAEDA Mini Crane was introduced.
We bought the MC285CRME-2 from JP Nelson Equipment Pte Ltd, with addition of the Searcher hook and Auxiliary Winch (100m wire rope). Main application is the installation of window panels with the MC285 on roof tops, and other lifting within the building.
Good points of using the MAEDA Mini Crane is that first it is mobile, i.e. compared to our assembly and dismantling of metal “A” frames from point to point; saving us time and thus increase in productivity.
Second, it is easy to use. And third, Safety. Built-in safety features allow us to satisfy most of the safety requirement of different project sites. Also Local dealer provided fast and good support prior to sales and aftersales.
MAEDA Mini Cranes
Make Glazing Work Effortless
- User : Uplifter GmbH & Co KG
- Base : Germany
A MAEDA Mini Crane from German company Uplifter GmbH & Co KG has been used to carry out a glazing job that required a machine to work in a restricted access environment.
In order to gain access for the glass panels the mini crane had to first remove a 4.5 x 2m balcony railing before the panels could be installed.
A MAEDA MC815 was the machine chosen to lift the glass panels. With a lifting capacity of 8.09 ton it is the strongest lifter in the MAEDA range with a 19.6m lifting height. The mini crane was fitted with the optional 1,000kg searcher hook and a vacuum lifter UPG600-2 in order to allow the glass panels to be inserted through the glazing frame into the interior of the building first
The mini crane can be set up very quickly and operated remotely using the new joystick radio remote control which allows the operator more freedom and precision when working with the crane
“MAEDA Mini Cranes are perfect for use in glazing applications as they combine class-leading capacity with precision work. Glazing work is a rising market with the boom in construction and MAEDA Mini Cranes have excellent safety features which make them the first choice for this type of application.”
MAEDA Mini Cranes are designed to be easy to use, extremely versatile with great lifting duties and the ability to access areas out of bounds to larger machines.
The MAEDA MC 405
in shipbuilding
- User : Meyer Werft of Papenburg
- Base : Germany
The company Meyer Werft of Papenburg relies on the MAEDA Mini Cranes on Uplifter GmbH & Co. KG for many years. They are used to relieve the large gantry cranes, as well as in the assembly of elevator rails and glass assembly.
Until the introduction of mini cranes large cranes were completed the time-consuming, labor-intensive and expensive work. Other important crane work had to wait so.
Through the purchase of new cranes MAEDA cost capacity has been created. Due to the ease of use of external service employees could be trained quickly so that they own without shipbuilding staff could work on their own.
The engineers realized very soon the many possibilities of uses this type of cranes has to offer. This large number of applications the machines are often used and are always busy.
Nowadays these cranes are also used for the completion of conservatories and climbing park on the ships.
To order a mobile crane for the transport of goods outside the production hall belong to the past.
Because the mini cranes take care of everything. Another area with enormous potential for savings. All of these advantages made the decision easy for the acquisition of another mini crane.
We now have over 50 MAEDA Mini Crawler Cranes in our fleet
- User : Preston Hire Group
- Interviewee : Mr. Markus Preston (Group Managing Director)
- Base : Australia
Preston Hire’s first experience with MAEDA Mini Cranes came about when we required a small crane to shift structural steel on a very tight work site in Sydney early in 2006.
It was difficult to find one to suit until we spoke to Paul Heeks, the owner of Pace Cranes, MAEDA’s Australian distributor, and he supplied a MAEDA MC354 Mini Crawler Crane. We had it on site for some time and it was an excellent machine for the job.
Seeing an obvious need for mini crane hire in the market and liking the quality of the MAEDA product, we then spoke further with Pace Cranes and purchased our first MAEDA MC354 for NSW in mid-2006, followed in quick succession by an MC355 and two MC285Cs.
We now have over 50 MAEDA mini crawler cranes in our fleet, making Preston Hire the owners of the largest Maeda mini crawler crane fleet in Australia and the fifth largest owner of MAEDA mini cranes in the world.
MAEDA mini cranes are definitely our cranes of choice due to their excellent build quality and reliability and also the outstanding support we receive from Pace Cranes and MAEDA; our three companies all share a strong culture of service and support which has resulted in very productive business relationships.
Over the years we have purchased numerous cranes from other manufacturers but to this point we have always found MAEDA cranes to be the more reliable and best value for money.
Purchasing quality MAEDA mini cranes from Pace Cranes has definitely benefitted our business and our customers; it’s something we will continue to do as we grow our fleet.