The way to lift your ideas

ETS is a point of reference
within the medium to heavy lifting equipment industry.

TESTING
AND DOCUMENTATION

Welded joints and Materials testing

We conduct our own tests during production and the mandatory final inspections are always performed by an impartial testing institute.

Magnetic particle inspection

Magnetic particle inspection is the most commonly used method for detecting surface defects and near-surface defects such as hairline cracks in magnetisable iron and steel raw materials. The leakage flux that appears at surface cracks when the building component is magnetized means that the magnetisable particles in the testing material stick at the location. The effect is visible and results from the contrast between the background and the testing material.

Dye penetration

Dye penetration is one of the oldest non-destructive testing procedures for detecting surface defects and can be performed on almost any metallic and non-metallic material. During this process, the capillary action results in the test liquid penetrating any type of surface defect in the material. Following careful washing of the solution, a layer of developer is applied which creates a counter capillary action. This draws out the liquid which had penetrated into cavities and crack and makes the defects visible.

Ultrasound testing

Ultrasound testing is particularly useful for detecting internal and external defects in materials that conduct sound and is thereby able to find errors throughout the entire cross section of the component. The acoustic method for the non-destructive testing of the material is used for quality assurance in tubes, welded joints and cast parts as well as for determining wall thickness.

 

UPON REQUEST
Load testing

E.T.S. works closely and in partnership with major certification bodies. This means that new designs are often discussed in advance and the required safety features are jointly determined.

Testers are on our premises almost daily to monitor the construction of large lifting equipment as is necessary under the applicable standards or to oversee the obligatory load tests.

The requirements placed on lifting equipment for use offshore are enormous and, as a result, all lifting accessories and equipment used in this area have always been tested with loads exceeding their load-bearing capacities.

The intense and prolonged exposure to waves and wind and the overall difficult operating conditions place particular stress on the lifting equipment, meaning that tried-and-tested safety features are of the utmost importance.

Turbines, gas compressors and wind power plants are all extremely valuable. As such, damage during transportation must be avoided at all costs, as very long repair and replacement times would result in dramatic economic consequences.

Documentation and document management

The documentation is just as important as the manufactured product itself. In international steel construction and mechanical engineering, the materials used must be precisely documented. In fact, an undocumented component may lead to the entire piece of lifting equipment being rejected. Lifting equipment must therefore always be delivered with comprehensive documentation. The data and content must correspond to the current design of the lifting equipment and the documentation must include evidence of the quality of the components and materials used as well as details of the inspections carried out.

While templates can be used to create the documentation for simple standard constructions, complex customized solutions require their own amended set of operating instructions. To create these, documents from various sources must be compiled and the content is formatted by hand in the same way as documents for printing. The proofreading process takes place over multiple channels, such as email and telephone, making it hard to work and time-consuming.

However, we have made this process easier by generating, managing and archiving documentation semi-automatically and by organizing the workflow between the client and manufacturer. Content which is the part requiring editing, is prepared separately from the design of the document and is only laid out properly on the page once it has been exported to a PDF. The documents produced in this way are archived in the system and can be consulted and sent from the program.

SERVICE

Maintenance, repairs and operation

Our service team includes highly qualified experts in cranes and welding. These employees have the appropriate level of qualifications and are responsible for ensuring that legal provisions are complied with.

Repairs and maintenance

We perform regular on-site maintenance work. This work is conducted by service staff with multiple qualifications and faults are quickly detected and immediately resolved.

Risk analysis and assessment

Point 1 of Annex I of the 2006/42/EC Machinery Directive states. “ The manufacturer of machinery or his authorized representative must ensure that a risk assessment is carried out in order to determine the health and safety requirements which apply to the machinery. The machinery must then designed and constructed taking into account the results of the risk assessment.”

This applies to the manufacturers of machinery that fall under the scope of this Directive. Lifting equipment is included in this.

Manufacturers must perform a risk assessment that determined all risks that may arise when using the lifting equipment for its intended purpose and that takes into account any foreseeable misuse.

To avoid possible risks and lessen the risk of dangerous situation arising, manufacturers must define measures that can be ysed to avoid or minimize risks.

The lifting equipment must then be designed and constructed taking into account the results of the risk assessment and the measures defined. Operators of lifting equipment are obliged to carry out a risk assessment for this equipment.

The following points must be taken into account when performing this assessment:

  • interactions with other work equipment when the lifting device is in operation.
  • Risks that may arise when using the lifting itself.
  • Risks that may arise between the lifting equipment and the working environment.

Moreover, when testing work equipment, operators must above all determine the type and scope of the required tests, as well as when they must be carried out.

Employers also have to identify and lay down the requirements to be fulfilled by personnel appointed by them to test and trial the work equipment.

The mandatory process of analyzing the risks involved in using the lifting equipment is sometimes very challenging and time-comsuming.

STANDARDS, REGULATIONS
AND BODIES OF RULES

For the design, manufacture and execution of lifting equipment


Expert knowledge from our professional association

DIN EN13155 Cranes-Safety-Non-fixed load lifting attachments
DIN EN 1090-1 Steel structures, requirements for conformity assessment for structural components.
DIN EN 1090-2 Steel structures, technical requirements for the execution of steel structures;
required execution class: EXC 3
DIN EN ISO 5817 Reference standard for the assessment of welded joints and component-specific applications and test certificates; required evaluation class: B
EN ISO 12944-(x) Corrosion protection of steel structures by protective paint systems; required execution class: C3/P1 in the relevant parts (x) of the standard
Eurocode 3-(x) In the relevant parts of the section on the “Design and construction of steel structures”
DIN EN 1993 -(x) In the relevant parts (x) of the standard
EN13001-(X) Cranes-design (old national standard: DIN15018)
In the relevant parts(x) of the standard
DASt 014 Recommendation on avoiding lamellar tearing in welded steel constructions
DIN EN 10164 Steel products with improved deformation properties perpendicular to the surface of the product
UNI EN ISO 9606-1 Qualification testing of welders-Fusion welding
Machinery Directive EC Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC
ASME IX ASME Qualification Standard for Welding and Brazing Procedures, Welders, Brazers, and Welding and Brazing Operators
AWS D1.1 Structural Welding Code – Steel
EN15614-1 Specification and qualification of welding procedures for metallic materials – Welding procedure test – Part 1: Arc and gas welding of steels and arc welding of nickel and nickel alloys