Potain Igo MA13 Makes Big Impressions on New England Road Show
June 15, 2005 — Last week, Potain dealer Shawmut Equipment kicked off the summer with an open house at both its Norfolk, Mass., and Manchester, Conn., locations and took the new Potain Igo MA13 self-erecting crane on a Road Show, stopping at several rental yards and contractor home offices in New England. Shawmut Equipment will incorporate the MA13 in its inventory in early July.
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Last week, Shawmut Equipment toured New England with the new Potain Igo MA13.
This particular machine is the first MA13 delivered on the East Coast, garnering much attention from potential end-users and existing self-erecting crane owners on the 650 mile trek. “We took the Igo MA13 on a tour of the New England states, starting in Connecticut and ending in Maine,” said Kevin O'Connell, Shawmut Equipment's sales representative for self-erecting cranes. “In customer's yards and at the Shawmut Equipment events, we erected the crane, lifted materials, and demonstrated the crane's safety features, such as limit switches and cut-out devices. We also had factory representatives in attendance and product information on the full line of Potain self-erecting cranes.”
At one of Shawmut's open house events, Mike Invernizzi, equipment manager for Consigli Construction, Milford, Mass., viewed the MA13 for the second time — the first time was at the 2004 Bauma Trade Show in Munich, Germany. “They were very popular at the Manitowoc booth,” he said. “I had to wait in line to get a close-up.” Consigli started using self-erecting cranes a little more than three years ago and currently owns a Potain HDT80. Invernizzi said the MA13 is similar to this model. “It holds a lot of the same advantages like a small footprint to set it up, no damage to the surrounding grounds due to tire ruts from competing machines, including rough-terrain forklifts,” he said. “It is very quiet and environmentally clean.”
Mazzotta Rental, a family owned equipment rental company in Middletown, Conn., was one of the Shawmut's MA13 Road Show stops. Mazzotta Rental currently only rents mobile aerial work platforms, telescopic handlers, and earthmoving equipment, but Al Pugliares of Mazzotta Rental said his customers, particularly in the carpentry and steel-erecting industries, were demanding machines with more outward reach to place materials. Pugliares said his company is still becoming familiar with this line of equipment, and although this was the first time he had seen a demonstration of a self-erecting crane, he said he was very pleased with the machine. “We didn't know it had such a small footprint,” he said. “It was very light, and the amount of outward reach it gave despite its small footprint was very impressive.”
Watching his first self-erecting crane demo last week, Darren Clough, vice president of sales for commercial mason contractor Maine Masonry, Scarborough, Maine, learned about self erectors by researching them on the internet. “We had two buildings we were doing at Bowdoin College, and we thought at that time we could look at using one crane in-between both buildings,” Clough said. “That's how we first contacted Shawmut.” Overall, he said he was impressed with the MA13 but also said “we would probably look at something a little bigger for the applications we would need it for.” Of the specific features, Clough said the small footprint, easy usage, and safety features were what he liked best about the machine.
Specific features
According to Craig Minnich, eastern regional business manager for the Potain GMA self-erecting crane line, the Igo MA13 and MA21, the larger sister machine, offer the latest technologies from Potain. Motors are mounted down at ground level on the frame, making them easily accessible for repairs and maintenance. Minnich said one of the main differences between the older HD series and the Igo series is that all electric motors are variable frequency drive, which means the motors run cooler, more efficiently and smoother, and they are more tolerant of voltage variances, which allows them to last longer.
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Potential self-erecting crane users explore the features of the Igo MA13.
Unique features of the MA13 include its transportability, which can be pulled behind a truck that has air brakes, a pintle hook, and can tow 24,000 pounds. “A Ford F-650 truck will work,” Minnich said. On Shawmut's Road Show, a wrecker service pulled the crane to one site, while on another day, a tandem-axle tractor was used. This crane also can be completely setup and erected in about 30 minutes by one person and is operated by a wireless radio remote control anywhere within a 300-foot radius of the machine. This permits the operator to be where the work is taking place and greatly reduces the need for a signal person on the jobsite. The machine features full load moment protection and incorporates load display along with other important operating information on the remote control box.
The MA13 and MA21 are dual voltage and can run on single-phase 220 VAC (20 or 32 amp) or three-phase 480 VAC. Some of the key capabilities of the MA13 are its 72-foot jib and 68'3” maximum hook height that is attained with the jib manually offset at 20 degrees. Maximum capacity is 3,968 pounds. The larger MA21 has an 85-foot jib and features a 3,968-pound capacity at a 40-foot radius and a 1,543-pound capacity at the tip.
Unlike other cantilevered boom cranes, like mobile hydraulic or lattice-boom cranes, which appeal to big construction companies and crane rental houses, Minnich said this product is more orientated at replacing smaller lifting equipment, such as telescopic handlers and conveyor systems on jobsites that can only deliver the materials to the roof's edge and not where the work is taking place. “It's a more efficient and environmentally friendly construction tool than a telescopic forklift,” he said. “It doesn't tear up the terrain like a telescopic forklift does, it does not billow smoke and noise, and it allows you to put the material where the work is.” Unlike most cantilevered boom cranes, they can be set up close to the building, providing more effective radius outreach and occupying very little ground space.
As a current owner of a self-erecting crane, Invernizzi thought the MA13 used a lot of the same characteristics of the larger self erectors. “The quality of workmanship that went into this unit was well-defined as in its larger cranes like the HDT80,” he said. “I am confident this unit will stand up to the dependability already proven by the HD40A and HDT80, which we are very comfortable using now.”
For more information about the Potain Igo MA13, visit www.manitowoccranegroup.com or www.shawmutequipment.com.
