Imagine inserting a 20-foot-tall, two-foot-wide slice of bread in a gigantic toaster, while it’s hanging from a crane and winds are blowing anywhere from 10 to 15 mph, making it sway.
This was PCL Construction’s problem.
“That big piece of form work, that 25-foot square, essentially turns into a sail as the wind catches it — it starts to spin,” said Jared Rasula, a PCL project manager on the $250 million McCarrons Water Treatment Plant improvements in St. Paul, Minnesota. “It gains momentum, and at 10,000 pounds, that momentum is tough to stop, especially if your only means are grabbing onto a rope dangling 30 feet below it and trying to stop it.”
The project broke ground in 2022 as part of a progressive design-build effort between PCL, which has its U.S. headquarters in Denver, and Chanhassen, Minnesota-based Magney Construction. It involves building foundations, erecting exterior walls and laying down roofing.
‘This gizmo is George Jetson stuff’
The problem with forms swaying in the wind on the job led PCL to Vita Industrial’s Load Navigator, a semi-autonomous, propulsion-driven device that hangs below the hook of the crane.
Broomfield, Colorado-based Vita says the equipment uses sensors to measure 1,000 data points per second to detect load shifts in real time, such as those caused by wind. It then uses high-powered fans to eliminate spinning, swings and rotations. Clayton Schneider, another project manager for PCL, described it as a “spreader bar with jet engines.”
Using the device, which has an adjustable spreader bar that expands in two-and-a-half foot increments, the team was able to position and control loads as they descended.
“On windy days, it allows us to maintain the position and it doesn't start spinning in the air,” Schneider said. “That allows us to pre-program it, and then drop it exactly where it's supposed to go, not worrying about this thing getting out of control and hitting somebody or banging into other equipment or material.”
The remote control interface features different buttons — swing left, swing right, clockwise, counter-clockwise, hold position and the ability to set presets for certain repetitive lifts. The device also allows for an auto-hold, which keeps loads positioned even in difficult conditions; dynamic speed control, which affects how fast the load rotates; and a standby mode.
“This gizmo is George Jetson stuff,” said Mike Weber, PCL’s superintendent at the project.
Getting up and running
After seeing the device at a trade show, PCL began to leverage Vita Load Navigator in the summer of 2023.Vita trained PCL’s workers on how to use the technology over the course of one day.
PCL purchased the technology for around $150,000, and said that factors such as delivery and a trial period play a part in the cost, the company confirmed. Schneider estimated that the tech could potentially save anywhere from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars.
Rasula said that after using the equipment, PCL’s team saw a 30% increase in efficiency, which it tracked via the productivity of crews.
Eliminating lost time was also a crucial factor. Schneider said that during the course of the initial trial period, the company faced three days where high winds would’ve stopped work, if not for the device.
For his part, Superintendent Weber thinks it’s a tool that will see quick adoption in the industry.
“It's pretty cool technology,” Weber said. “Everybody's going to have to have it eventually. We have it, and the next guy doesn't. We're doing it for cheaper. Pretty soon everybody's got it, right? You want to stay current.”
