MLC300 FITS INTO CHICAGO JOB SITE OTHER CRAWLERS COULD NOT ACCESS RELEASED BY MANITOWOC

A Manitowoc MLC300 is at the center of a mixed-use development construction project in Chicago, Illinois, lifting precast concrete panels to build an eight-story structure that will consist of retail stores, condominiums and a parking garage. The job’s biggest challenge is its tight working quarters, and the MLC300 is providing a solution where previous generations of cranes would not have fit the bill. 

Paul Urbanski, sales manager for Central Contractors Service, Inc., a division of the ALL Family of Companies, which provided the 330 USt MLC300 to the project, said that the crane’s compact footprint and high capacity made it an ideal lifting solution for constructing the building. 

 “This machine is perfect for this job,” he explained. “The precast segments we’re lifting often weigh more than 30 USt. In the past, we would have used a larger crawler, but the counterweight for that crane wouldn’t have fit on the job site.” 

The site’s quarters only allow for 40 ft of space between the perimeter of the structure and the MLC300 as it lifts precast segments that weigh between 15 USt and 32 USt. Thanks to its Variable Positioning Counterweight (VPC) technology, the crane is able to lift the loads from a more compact footprint than previous generations of crawler cranes. 

Urbanski said that the advances made possible by VPC technology are helping to foster a new era in precast construction. 

“Precast construction has been around for a while, but manufacturers are starting to push its boundaries,” he said. “Bigger and heavier precast segments need bigger cranes to lift them and Manitowoc is always leading the market in that regard. The company is always coming out with cranes that can handle new challenges and keep up with the times in a rapidly changing market." 

Waubonsee Development/ATMI Precast is the main contractor on the project and is working towards finishing construction by July of 2017. The Aurora, Illinois-based company specializes in the fabrication and installation of concrete precast products, including parking garages, warehouses, retail and multi-story residential buildings, among other services, and has been working in the region for more than 35 years.  

“The MLC300 was the right fit for this project because of its large capacity on a small footprint,” said Chris Barone, operations manager for Waubonsee. “This allowed us flexibility in optimizing the size of the precast segments to meet the architectural intent of the building while also keeping the number of pieces to a minimum.” 

ALL is one of the largest crane rental and sales companies in North America, boasting 38 locations across the U.S. and Canada. The Independence, Ohio-based company added Central Contractors Service to its roster in 1977 to provide the greater Chicagoland area with the largest, most modern fleet of cranes in the country.

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