Lifting the A350 to the skies

Lifting specialists, RHC Lifting has completed the commissioning process of one of Europe's most technically advanced crane systems at GKN Aerospace's new wing composite manufacturing facility in Bristol.

To aid the semi-automated manufacturing operation, RHC Lifting designed, manufactured and installed two SWF Krantechnik branded multi-latching crane systems. Each system has a span of 32m across three bays, with cross travel speeds of 5m/min, long travel speeds of 40m/min and hoisting speeds of 0.83-5m/min.

System One, located in the clean room, has three 10t SWL top running single girder latching cranes and two tandem pairs of 5t SWF Nova low headroom hoists, each bay has a gantry length of 41m with one transfer point in each bay. System Two, located in the assembly area, has five 6.4t SWL top running single girder latching cranes and four pairs of tandem 3.2t SWF Nova low headroom hoists, each bay has a gantry length of 104m with five transfer points.

Philip Goodway, one of RHC Lifting's directors, said: “Winning the contract was a great honour as it is RHC Lifting's biggest order to date. The cranes offered a number of technical challenges which we had to overcome to deliver the perfect solution for GKN Aerospace's highly specialised requirements.”

The new GKN Aerospace manufacturing facility in Western Approach will be the focus of the company's A350 XWB participation, producing the A350 XWB rear wing spars and trailing edge assemblies, with production due to start at the end of this year.

www.rhclifting.com