15 Ton, 6 Ton Ladle Overhead Cranes for Indian Steel Mills

The client for this project is from a steel mill in India who are currently in the expansion phase of their business. Mainly for parts manufacturers, construction companies and hardware processing companies. In the past few years, due to the rapid development of their infrastructure and manufacturing sector, their order requirements have increased and the original foundry and furnace section have not been able to meet their capacity needs. The customer therefore decided to build a new steelmaking and pouring plant on the vacant site of the plant for steel transfer, refining and pouring work.

First contact: a not-so-smooth inquiry

On September 16, 2024, the customer contacted us through the website RFQ, initially just want to purchase a set of crane electrical integration components (including frequency converter, PLC control cabinet, limit switches, etc.) for the renovation of an old crane in their old workshop. Unfortunately, after technical communication, we found that the motor specifications of the customer's existing crane were not compatible with the interface of the electrical components we provided. The customer was less willing to modify the electrical program at that time and ultimately decided not to move forward with the purchase for the time being. The communication didn't close, but our sales team didn't give up. We continue to share with our customers our latest case studies in the field of metallurgical cranes, patents on high temperature resistant designs and successful projects exported to India.

New workshop lifting requirements

Early in 2025, the customer reached out to us again to tell us that their new workshop project had been approved and that they needed two cranes perfectly adapted to the site conditions:

• ➢One 15-ton double girder overhead crane for steel ladle transfer and casting operations;

• ➢A 6-ton single girder overhead crane for the handling of molds, scrap and auxiliary tools in the workshop.

This time, the customer wanted us to provide a complete, whole-machine solution from design to manufacture, not just components.

Core Challenges in Lifting Requirements and Operating Environment

In order to accurately understand the customer's needs, our engineers conducted several rounds of online meetings with the customer's team and asked the customer to provide civil drawings, track elevations, column spacing, and casting station layouts for the new workshop. After analyzing the situation, we learned that the client had the following key needs and challenges.

Our customized solutions

To address these challenges, we customized our design with two custom designs.

a. 15 Ton Double Girder Ladle Bridge Crane

1. Compact and low headroom design
   We redesigned the main beam section and end beam connection to compress the height of the whole machine to 950mm, which successfully adapts to the customer's limited headroom, and at the same time ensures that the maximum lifting height of the hook meets the process requirements.

2. High-temperature resistant protection system

   • ➢Multi-layer heat insulation layer + stainless steel reflective plate is laid at the bottom of the main girder, which can reduce the temperature of the lower flange of the main girder by up to 100 degrees, and avoid the thermal deformation of the steel structure.

   • ➢The wire rope is of high-temperature resistant and anti-rotation type, coated with graphite grease.

   • ➢All electrical equipment (resistors, limit switches, junction boxes) is centrally mounted in a closed, insulated electrical compartment away from heat sources.

3. Safe Redundant Design

   • ➢Configure double brakes, one set working, one set standby.

   • ➢Adding ladle fall prevention automatic locking device, once the lifting mechanism is abnormal, the mechanical self-locking can prevent the ladle from falling.

   • ➢The driver's compartment is made of high-temperature-resistant tempered laminated glass, with heat-resistant steel plate at the bottom, and equipped with air-conditioning cooling system.

b. 6 Ton Single Girder Overhead Cranes

The customer initially wanted the 6-ton crane to be a perfect match for the compact headroom as well, but at the same time emphasized the tight budget. After evaluating the situation, we came up with an innovative cost reduction program:

1. Omit the main beam to match the end beams? No, a more accurate description would be: we have retained the core load carrying structure of the single girder crane, but simplified the non-essential attachments and adopted a split transportation and on-site assembly solution to significantly reduce manufacturing costs. At the same time, we do not provide non-standard accessories such as matching main beam rail presses, which are locally procured by customers, thus saving cross-border logistics and customization costs.

2. The crane still adopts European-style compact trolley, motor, reducer, winch drum coaxial arrangement, effectively reducing the height of the whole machine. The client is very satisfied with this solution and believes that "putting money to good use" is the most pragmatic way for SMEs to expand their business.

LD Single Girder Overhead Crane

1. Lifting Capacity: 1~32t
2. Span: 7.5-28.5m
3. Working Duty: A3, A4
4. Ambient Temperature: -20~40℃

QDX European Overhead Crane

1. Lifting Capacity: 1~100t
2. Span: 10.5-31.5 m
3. Working Duty: A5、A6
4. Ambient Temperature: -20~40℃

Program Validation and Production Delivery

From March to July 2025, the two technical teams confirmed the crane's rated lifting capacity, span, lifting height, operating level, control method, protection level and spare parts list item by item via email, WhatsApp and three video conferences. The following table shows the main technical parameters of the final confirmation:

In August 2025, the customer paid the advance payment and the order was formalized. We then started material procurement and production scheduling. During the manufacturing process, the customer appointed a third-party organization to conduct two process inspections at our factory, focusing on the quality of the welding of the main beams, the installation of insulation and the high-temperature resistance measures of the electrical wiring. All tests passed with flying colors.

Customer feedback

The crane was completed on-site in January 2023 and commissioned. So far, it has been running stably for more than a few months, and the feedback from customers is as follows:

Customer Technical Leader Comments:
"At first we were hesitant to work with a Chinese supplier, especially after our first experience with mismatched electrical components. However, your engineers redesigned the ladle crane for our low headroom shop and did so without a significant price increase for customization.