While there are several companies in South Africa’s overhead crane and hoist sector claiming to be the largest in Africa, crane manufacturer Condra MD Marc Kleiner says the “true definers of market leadership are engineering capability, local manufacture and service support”.

“In all three, Condra is leagues ahead of everybody else, even though we don’t state this on our website, or advertise it, or put it out on social media.”

Condra’s Germiston factory, covering 22 000 m² with 8 000 m² under roof, was established specifically for crane manufacturing. The company also operates facilities in Cape Town and Gabrovo, in Bulgaria.

At the Germiston plant, overhead cranes are designed to specification and assembled using about 250 modular subassemblies, including hoists, drives, end-carriages, brakes and gearboxes.

While most components are produced in-house, motors, hooks, and rope are sourced externally. Condra’s full hoist range, with capacities from 1 t to 500 t, is manufactured locally.

According to Kleiner, Condra remains the leader in local crane manufacturing, while many competitors rely on imported components. He notes that China is the most active exporter of cranes and components to South Africa.

He adds that while high-quality Chinese cranes exist, the equipment entering the local market is usually the cheapest, making it more prone to breakdowns. This strategy helps South African importers remain competitive.

For example, Kleiner points to a specific hoist imported from various Chinese manufacturers, explaining that these manufacturers have very similar designs owing to their having reverse- engineered their product from the same, original European hoist model.

“These imported hoists are not interchangeable, and neither are their parts, because the Chinese manufacturers had to make slight changes to the original design to avoid accusations of patent infringement,” he explains, adding that the risk for the end-user lies in securing spare parts needed for maintenance, because the client does not realise that the spares are not interchangeable between suppliers.

If the customer does not have the necessary spare part in stock, the supplier will try to source it elsewhere, Kleiner notes, though he warns that these parts, despite looking exactly the same, have key differences.

“What then happens is that the South African crane company is forced to modify the part so that it can do the job. But by doing this, they risk voiding any warranty that came with the imported hoist. Not only is it risky, the part likely won’t perform to expectations.”

Kleiner explains that, by contrast, all Condra’s parts are either manufactured in-house, or are locally sourced from South African suppliers.

“We do have suppliers in Europe, but only for rope (Germany), hooks (Spain) and motors (Germany). These components are all made to International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) stipulations, which means that the end-user or their supplier can source a suitable equivalent from any other country he likes – France for example, or Italy, or even China,” he explains.

However, he adds that the ISO-specified equivalent from China is priced similarly to its European counterpart because it is manufactured to the same strict standards, which costs money. Consequently, the Chinese ISO-spec equivalent is not the product that is typically imported into South Africa, because its price offers no competitive advantage.

“It’s a real problem,” Kleiner stresses, adding that South African companies importing cheap hoists, crabs, end carriages or other components from China are not delivering high quality, interchangeable units to the end-user and the units are not manufactured to any kind of exacting standard.

Kleiner says that Condra designs and manufactures specifically to the intended application. The company does not adapt or “shoehorn” any standard import.

Regarding what crane users should be looking for – in terms of design, manufacturing, and support to ensure they get the best return on investment – Kleiner suggests customers look “very carefully” at the overall lifetime cost of the crane rather than just its initial purchase price.

Considering the cost of replacing a faulty machine, and the cost of downtime during the wait for spares, the cheaper crane almost always works out more expensive over its lifetime, he warns.

Meanwhile, Condra faces challenges in acquiring its own equipment on the second-hand market, as used Condra cranes tend to sell quickly once listed, Kleiner says.

He explains that this strong demand is driven by the availability of spare parts, which makes repairs straightforward, as well as the ease of refurbishment.

Kleiner also notes that Condra is paying particular attention to automation to stay ahead of the pack in crane technology and design.

“The social difficulty here is that automation tends to put people out of work. But the market is going that way and Condra must keep up. Condra offers full automation across the product range,” he concludes.