Headquartered in Belgium, Gantry Group developed its crane rail fastening systems in response to the all too frequent problems associated with heavy duty crane rail installations. Such problems include the impact and vibration transmitted to the girder structure and foundations, which result in structural damage and possible girder failure due to fatigue. 

Gantry’s crane rail soft mounting systems – manufactured under the brand name Gantrex – result in reduced mechanical wear, lower impact forces from shock loading, less vibration and a quieter operation for an extensive variety of heavy industry applications, including a particularly strong market presence in port and container terminal sectors.

 

Developing excellence for 35 years 

 

“Gantry is a Belgian company which began operations back in 1971 at a small facility in Nivelles, 35 kilometres south west of Brussels,” Mr Melardy tells us. From the outset, the company focused its expertise on the manufacture of rail fastening systems for heavy industry applications. “To start off with, we were active in the Belgian market and then extended our activities further afield,” he continues. “Over the years, Gantry has created subsidiaries all over the world in order to extend its market share.

 

“In 1977, the group created its first subsidiary in Germany called GDS – Gantry Deutchland,” he informs. “In 1980, we created our subsidiary in Spain. Up until this point, we had manufactured all of our products in Belgium, but then we established a manufacturing facility at our Spanish subsidiary for part of our production, which was a really big investment for us.

 

“In 1986, we created the UK subsidiary, and then in 1987 we began to penetrate the Asian market – first with the subsidiary in Hong Kong and then in 1991 we opened another subsidiary in Singapore.” He continues: “In 1992, we made a huge leap with the establishment of our Middle East subsidiary – based in Dubai,” and the Middle East region has since become Gantry’s number one market, which has prompted the group to expand into turnkey operations in this region.

 

“Our last subsidiary was established in Shanghai, to service the Chinese market,” he explains. “So, as you can see, the establishment of these subsidiaries has been part of Gantry’s strategy to convert the entire worldwide market to our product.

 

“Today, the group’s Belgian production line manufactures elastic pads for the fastening system, whilst the clips are manufactured at our Spanish and Canadian subsidiaries,” Mr Melardy advises.  

 

Gantry also trades other equipment in order to be able to provide the complete heavy crane track product package for its customers. The company currently has 250 employees, 50 of whom work in Belgium, and has enjoyed a turnover of roughly e120 million for 2008.

 

Heavy duty applications 

 

 “Our core business is an elastic fastening system comprising clips and pads, marketed under the ‘Gantrex’ trademark,” Mr Melardy tells us. The steel reinforced, vulcanised, synthetic rubber pads and resilient clips are designed specifically for the mounting of cranes in a variety of heavy duty applications. “The clips are the fastening element for the rail, whilst the pads are fitted below the rail – between the rail and the supporting structure – which could be steel or sole plates on concrete, depending upon the type of mounting or the type of application the pad is destined for,” he adds. 

 

“These special fastening clips can either be welded onto the steel plate or just bolted,” he explains. “The system is basically used to fix the rail – to give it a fixed position and achieve the right alignment,” he adds. 

 

To this end, the group also offers clients enclosed arc or alumino-thermic welding services, depending upon the application. 

 

“Surrounding the core products that we manufacture, we also trade accessories such as rails, steel sole plates or chair plates, anchoring bolts, grout, resin, and other products, in order to offer the complete product package for the crane track,” informs Mr Melardy. Some of these products, he tells us, are sourced from various suppliers worldwide, while Gantry has developed distribution deals for other products which fall outside of the core product range. “This is the case with the hydraulic buffers, for example, where we have a partnership with UK-based manufacturers Oleo.

 

“The major application for our products is in ports or shipyards, but they are also used in all the heavy industries such as the steel, aluminium and cement business. They are used basically, wherever you have these big Gantry cranes or have large overhead cranes travelling on a track to transport heavy loads,” he informs. “The track could be anything from a few hundred metres in length up to a few kilometres in the larger ports.

 

“In terms of the port, container terminal and shipyard sector, Gantry has close to 90 percent of the market share,” Mr Melardy reveals. “It is perhaps a little less in the other industries that we are involved in, but we are nevertheless the number one company in this type of business.” 

 

Gantry’s major customers include port and container terminal operators worldwide. “These are very big companies such as Hutchinson, APM and DP World, though not always directly, although we would still work with them at the specification level,” he tells us. Gantry has recently carried out such projects as the Jebel Ali Container Terminal, supplying the entire track. “Two phases of the development are thus far complete and we are eagerly awaiting the next phases.” 

 

Gantry’s client base also includes large engineering contractors such as OEMs, plus most international steel and aluminium factories. “Recent projects that we have taken on include the huge new aluminium factories in the Middle East – Qatalum in Qatar and Emal in Abu Dhabi,” informs Mr Melardy. “These are perhaps the largest aluminium factories ever built and we supplied them with all of the crane track equipment, plus installation services.” 

Ensuring quality and performance 

 

“In heavy duty industry, reliability and durability of equipment really do vary depending upon the way in which a product is manufactured,” stresses Mr Melardy. “As such, we are insistent upon quality through-out the entire manufacturing processes in order to ensure the life-span of our products.” 

 

“At every stage of the manufacturing process, we carry out testing procedures to ensure durability. Because we are selling millions of these products, we have a statistical test to regularly check the quality. And guiding those standards is the strict maintenance of our manufacturing machines.”

 

Gantry’s ISO 9001 accreditation means that the group also enforces strict standards of quality on its suppliers, as Mr Melardy tells us: “We regularly send QC personnel to our suppliers’ sites to carry out the necessary tests and quality checks in accordance with our high standards.” 

 

The ever growing demands of heavy industry, along with the increasing rates of output, have resulted in R&D playing a pivotal role in Gantry’s operations, as Mr Melardy informs. “In addition to enabling our engineers to offer the best configurations for clients, our technical department here in Nivelles is also involved in developing new types of clip,” he reports. “Technology is constantly changing, as is crane capacity – it is getting bigger and bigger, which means that loads are increasing all the time. We are therefore constantly adapting our catalogue to new and heavier applications.” 

 

Gantry’s technical department has specific knowledge of computer-aided design, materials resistance, metallurgy of steel and cast iron, chemical properties of elastomers and civil engineering techniques, while the group’s ‘to-scale’ testing plays a vital role in product development, as Mr Melardy points out: “We have some real life installations comprising a track and we can simulate different sorts of applications.

 

“We are also collaborating with universities in Belgium, Germany and further afield,” he informs. This includes testing in the fields of steel fatigue, materials specifications, elastomer resistance and track technologies. 

Technical consultancy services

 

“We really engage and try to understand the needs of the customer and that of the application,” stresses Mr Melardy. “We believe this enables us to recommend the equipment that is most suitable in terms of its cost efficiency, ensuring that it is the correct size and fully adapted to the requirements of the application. As such, consultancy work is one of the services that we provide.”

 

Gantry’s consultancy services are informed by decades of global experience in the practical issues involved in different track applications. The company’s technical support enables the customer to establish the most economic and technically acceptable approach, for each of the interface components between track and wheel in order to achieve the most coherent package. Consultancy services include diagnosis, which involves site visits, track evaluation, preparation of method statements for installation and repair procedures and complete installation. 

 

The company also provides assistance with drawings, as Mr Melardy informs: “We can either approve designs made by the client himself or we can base these designs on some of the crane information or on information acquired from the specific application.” 

Engineering is another major part of Gantry’s consultancy services – the technical design department designs, tests and launches industrial production of new concepts, techniques and track components for specific customers, as well as for general applications. 

 

Indeed, a crucial factor of the group’s success has clearly been Gantry’s technical approach and specialist knowledge base – a quality shared by both commercial and technical personnel, as Mr Melardy explains: “Our commercial people all have engineering qualifications and are able to discuss the product with the customer to a very high technical level. If a matter needs to go higher, they then have the full support of our technical office and R&D department. But we really like to have a lot of communication with our customers and all of the big consultancy groups as well – those responsible for the huge international projects. It helps to be very specialised and considered by these clients as a real technical partner in the design of the tracks, so this is definitely a big advantage for us.”

Complete turnkey installation

 

Gantry also provides efficient on-site installation solutions for its products, as Mr Melardy explains: “About one and a half years ago, we created our own installation department because there was a big demand from our customers to supply complete turnkey installation services including rails welding in addition to the complete product package.” Today, Gantry supplies complete turnkey installation of the rail track system – from diagnosis and design to the final commissioning of the track. Its specialised personnel can carry out installation on concrete or metallic support, mounted on the ground or at height­.

 

For more complex or remote projects, Gantry also provides supervision services, including mounting recommendations and training for local installation teams, conducted by the group’s specialist engineers. 

 

“Our installation department is a subsidiary company called GCRI – Gantrex Crane Rail Installation – based in the Middle East and also active in Asia,” he informs. “The Gantry group subcontracts installation work to this subsidiary, which allows us to control not only product quality but also the way in which these products are installed on-site. It also means that we are able to give a full warranty and that there is only one contact name – which obviously simplifies the process for the customer.”

 

Developing full turnkey capabilities is Gantry’s aim for all of its subsidiaries, as Mr Melardy tells us: “The idea is for every individual subsidiary to develop its own local installation team,” Mr Melardy informs, “In Germany, we have had such a facility in place for some years now, so we are working towards this for all of our subsidiaries.” 

 

Moving forward

 

Mr Melardy expects a reduction in some of the very large new projects, as a result of the economic slowdown. Gantry’s response, Mr Melardy tells us, will be to alter the group’s focus to smaller customers and also to concentrate more on maintenance work and refitting, “at existing factories which require track redesigning to accommodate heavier cranes, for example,” he suggests. “It will mean carrying out more maintenance work, replacing defective parts and basically completely renewing existing installations,” he explains. “So, this makes for a really different approach and gives us a closer proximity to the smaller customers.” It will also mean smaller projects on the books – and more of them: “To accommodate this, we are hiring more sales people – this is our investment now so that we are prepared for growth when the market returns.” 

 

Running parallel to this policy will be an expansion of the group’s turnkey capabilities, which Mr Melardy believes will be a major asset to the company moving forward. “Providing complete projects – as opposed to simply winning contracts to supply equipment – really gives us the edge over the competition. So, we expect this part of our business to increase a lot and to represent a major portion of our turnover in the future years.” 

 

In addition, the group’s technical expertise will undoubtedly ensure that the company continues to be at the forefront of new technological innovation as the world of heavy duty industry continues to take on more demanding loads. “We have a full team of engineers here who are dedicated to creating new solutions for our customers and preparing the catalogue for tomorrow,” Mr Melardy tells us. “Our technical expertise is what really differentiates us from the competition – it has been the reason for our success over the past years and hopefully this will continue to be the case over the years to come.”

 

Indeed, the group’s sound strategies for the future, combined with its strong technical capabilities and reputation for excellence, are sure to set Gantry’s business prospects on a smooth course to success.