Elebia’s 10 Years of Automatic Hook Innovation at CeMAT/Industry News

At CeMAT Automatic hook manufacturer, Elebia is celebrating 10 years since the development of its first working automatic hook – it believes the first ever developed.

The Spain-based manufacturer’s exhibit at CeMAT –  held 31 May – 3 June at Deutsche Messe, Hannover, Germany – will show the progress of the hook range, equipped with a magnet that both attracts and positions slings and other rigging gear.

The centrepiece will be the new evo2, which offers a compact shape and design, which suits the product to any lifting environment where operators and riggers will be safer at distance from the application.

Elebia’s chief executive officer and founder Oscar Fillol Vidal said, “The concept is constantly growing and advancing. We’re aiming to complete the range of products and implement even more features that we’re working on, although they remain a close-guarded secret.”

New features include a new remote control system, called the eMax, and a load cell. The eMax has a full colour liquid-crystal display (LCD) screen and offers the user a variety of information about the lifting application, including weight, hook status and alarms that alert the operator to overload or unbalance situations.

Vidal said, “We were overwhelmed by industry’s response to the eMax, in particular. The extent of the uptake is best demonstrated by the high profile companies that have embraced the enhancement to the range: SpaceX, Rolls-Royce and Enercon, for example. We are also in consultation with many additional, equally exciting, end users.”

Vidal, who will present the eMax system to CeMAT visitors as a “black box” of crane operations, added, “The system is integral to our growth potential, providing valuable information about lifting activity that can be used to further enhance productivity. eMax constantly creates a log file that can be explored for information as the user desires.”

The concept has come a long way since the first sketches, four rounds of prototypes and the eventual launch.

“Prior to that, I had a requirement to buy cranes and felt that the lifting solution was somewhat incomplete,” Vidal recalled. “Everything was electronic, remote controlled and very automated but there was a lack of innovation around the hook. You could buy the most innovative crane in the market but in the end an operator had to climb up to connect the hook to the load. That was when I really saw there was a lot of work to do in terms of safety and productivity related specifically to hooks.”

Other Elebia products on show include the evo5, evo10, evo20, big bags, slings, and the flip-up belt.