Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

Zelus Material Handling (Zelus) is the largest overhead crane service company in Ontario. They design, manufacture, install, repair, maintain, modernize, and inspect crane systems of all sizes. Companies in many industries require cranes, and timely maintenance and repairs are critical. Maintenance is currently scheduled based on general best practices, rather than objective data from the crane. Further, Zelus regularly receives urgent service call requests with little to no detail or data about the crane issue. Zelus would like to plan a reliable sensor and software system to collect and analyze long-term crane use data using the cloud. With data from crane operations, Zelus technicians could be better prepared to fix and service cranes, including emergency needs, and tailoring crane maintenance and repair timing for each crane accurately. Mohawk College has faculty and student team members with relevant software, electronics and data experiences to support Zelus with the investigation and application of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) into overhead cranes. According to Accenture, predictive maintenance can save up to 12% over scheduled repairs, reducing overall maintenance costs up to 30% and eliminating breakdowns by up to 70%. Crane data will help reduce manufacturer downtime during unplanned crane repair and increase profitability through effective crane maintenance. Further, Deloitte found that poor maintenance strategies could reduce a plant's capacity by 5-20% (2017). Zelus and Mohawk College will aim to develop a system that can be scaled to predict maintenance, reduce breakdowns, and improve maintenance strategies.