FEM tower foundation guidelines at ITC 2015

Guidelines from FEM on tower crane foundation loads is the topic of the latest presentation confirmed for the 2015 International Tower Cranes (ITC) conference in London, UK.

Making the presentation at ITC 2015 will be Arnaud Miton, chairman of the FEM (Fédération Européenne de la Manutention) committee that wrote new guidelines. Miton is also Manitowoc Cranes senior manager engineering, centre of excellence structures lattice cranes. FEM’s new position paper on tower crane loads on supporting structures was published earlier in 2014.

Arnaud Miton has worked for 25 years as a structural engineering designer since graduating with a Dipl Eng Mechanical Engineering (Arts & Métier, Paris) in 1989. The first ten years of his career were spent in power plant and aeronautical design. Miton joined Manitowoc’s engineering department in 2000, working on Potain tower cranes. By 2002 he was engineering manager and head of Potain’s structure analysis group. In 2009 he became senior engineering manager, centre of excellence lattice structures, and head of the tower crane structures design department.

Miton is heavily involved in the development of standards for tower cranes, being chairman of the calculation sub-group at FEM PG CLE THC; chairman of tower crane safety at CEN/TC147/WG12; and a member of other working groups within ISO, CEN and national committees.

Organised by International Cranes and Specialized Transport and its publisher KHL Group, International Tower Cranes 2015 will be held at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel in west London, UK, on 27 and 28 May. It will start with a networking reception on the evening of 27 May, followed by a full-day conference programme on the 28th. ITC 2015.

The International Tower Cranes (ITC) conference is aimed at tower crane owners, users, manufacturers and others responsible for the safe planning, implementation, operation and maintenance of tower cranes. It will include presentations on tower crane innovations, rental trends, project reports and safety issues. Likely topics also include higher capacity cranes, dealing with ever more confined space and congested work sites.

Keynote speaker at ITC 2015 will be Philippe Cohet, chairman at Arcomet, one of the world’s largest tower crane rental companies. Cohet will present a unique perspective on the tower crane value chain and the market worldwide.

Also speaking at ITC 2015 will be Dave Holder, director and general manager at tower crane specialist HTC Plant in the UK. Holder has been in the crane industry for all 33 years of his working life.

Heinz-Gert Kessel is the third speaker to be announced. Kessel, from Germany, is widely acknowledged as a leading global authority on tower cranes. He will compare the different design approaches of European and Japanese luffing jib tower crane designers with a view to incorporating some of the features into European and international market models.

An invitation to submit proposals for presentations has will remain open until the end of 2014. Suggestions for potential topics should be sent to Alex Dahm, International Cranes and Specialized Transport editor (alex.dahm@khl.com +44 1892 786206).