AUSTRALIA main hook to do the installation . This is both cumbersome and costly . ACM platforms are completely mobile and the engineer has the controls at his fingertips so he or she can position everything direct from the basket .
The energy sector is providing limitless opportunities as Australia addresses its lack of power lines . Rigging the lines takes an industrial truck : once the lines are in use , the companies need insulated EWPs to maintain them . That ’ s for baseload energy ; however , in all global markets the emphasis is shifting to renewables , and wind energy forms a huge part of that . It ’ s a priority for ACM to meet the future needs of this industry – at the moment the largest unit it makes is 40m but that will soon change , promises Kobilke . “ We are currently developing a 52m industrial unit mounted on a 6x6 truck . We are also developing a 46m electric or insulated unit , with an insulated jib to give us the safety we require . Our next step , in 2018 , will be a 73m unit which we plan to operate on an all-terrain crane chassis .” The 52m and 73m versions , he adds , will be modifiable as rescue machines for fire departments , with water pumped up to the basket . It ’ s a policy of ACM to plan adaptability into its new designs .
By 2020 , Kobilke would like to have designed a 140m unit for the wind energy market . “ These days wind turbines have hub heights up to 135-145m , so when the cranes are hoisting up the turbine someone has to unhook the chain . Then there is maintenance on the blades , the hubs and the gearboxes : you need to get people up there to do these jobs ,” he says . The biggest units currently on the market are 116m , but most of these can ’ t be transported legally on Australian roads . Recognising this gap , ACM wants to push into that market . It also plans a strategic alliance with a manufacturer of heavy cranes to use its all-terrain chassis : “ These have the stability and structure to reach the heights we require as well as the transport loading and site loading needed ,” Kobilke adds .
All this expansion is planned on machines designed and built by ACM . Since 2007 , it has had a manufacturing plant at Melbourne from which it has
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