Industry Focus: The evolution of lift planning software

In the fast-paced world of heavy lifting and rigging, the tools and technologies used for lift planning have undergone a remarkable transformation over the past quarter-century. From rudimentary hand-drawn sketches to immersive virtual reality simulations, the industry has embraced digital advancements to enhance safety, efficiency and profitability. This article explores how lift planning has evolved, the key features to look for in modern tools and the importance of staying ahead of technological curves.

In the early days, lift plans were often rudimentary, relying on manual calculations and basic visuals. Today, lift plans serve multiple roles – as operational guides, communication aids, sales tools and risk management instruments.

Advent of 3D Lift Plan

In 2007, my husband Brad Weiss and I met with the sales and marketing team at Link-Belt Cranes. This meeting led us to embark on a revolutionary journey, founding A1A Software and creating our flagship product, 3D Lift Plan. Link-Belt had come to lift planning late in the game but had an industry-leading customer and dealer web portal known as Link-Belt Preferred. Link-Belt partnered with A1A to add a lift planning program that was web-based, easy to use and highly graphical. In less than 12 months, 3D Lift Plan was introduced at ConExpo 2007 at the Link-Belt stand.

Our goal was to reach 100 users and increase our crane database beyond the initial 20 Link-Belt models. Today, A1A has the largest crane database of lift charts in the world with well over 2,500 from every manufacturer in the lifting industry. We have more than 20,000 users from all over the world. Some 94 of companies on the ACT100 are everyday users of A1A Software products.

After almost 20 years, our A1A team continues to develop cutting-edge tools that help crane companies win jobs and maximize profits. While our deep-rooted experience in the lifting technology realm compliments the practical shifts in lift planning practices, the fundamentals of a good lift planning program remain at the core of our software development strategy.

Defining a lift plan

A lift plan is a comprehensive blueprint that outlines the crane setup and the execution of the lift itself. It incorporates critical elements like load charts and range diagrams, which provide essential data on crane capacities, reach and stability under various conditions. A well-crafted lift plan isn’t just about compliance, it’s a roadmap for minimizing risks, optimizing resources and ensuring successful outcomes.

In the early days, lift plans were often rudimentary, relying on manual calculations and basic visuals. Today, lift plans serve multiple roles – as operational guides, communication aids for teams and clients, sales tools to demonstrate project feasibility and risk management instruments to foresee and mitigate potential hazards.

Titan Crane, an A1A Software customer, put it this way.

“Titan Crane uses 3D Lift Plan every single day,” the company said. “It is not just a tool here, it is a necessity and like having a personal engineer in our office and on the go. I resolved many questions and concerns from general contractors, safety officers and engineers. 3D Lift Plan was the right and only program to determine and illustrate that our selected crane was able to operate safely and precisely without delays or mishaps.”

Lift planning’s evolution mirrors broader technological progress, with the original tools being simple yet labor-intensive, including hand-drawn sketches that were prone to human error and lacking precision; slide rulers and range diagrams and mechanical aids for quick calculations but that were limited in scope and unable to handle complex scenarios.

A lift plan is a comprehensive blueprint that outlines the crane setup and the execution of the lift itself. I

Early software solutions like Compu-Crane, Liebherr’s Liccon, Lift Planner, Cranimax and even AutoCAD, introduced digital elements allowing for 2D and eventually 3D modeling. These tools marked the shift from analog to digital, but they were often clunky, requiring specialized skills and hardware.

With a variety of lift planning software now available, choosing the right one requires careful consideration. I recommend focusing on five essential features to ensure the tool aligns with your operational needs:

• Ease of use: The software should be intuitive, minimizing the learning curve so teams can focus on planning rather than troubleshooting.
• Crane database: A comprehensive, up-to-date database of crane models and specifications is crucial for accurate simulations and compliance.
• Detail and accuracy of the lift plan: High-fidelity outputs, including precise 3D models and load calculations, help prevent costly mistakes.
• Sales and communication capabilities: The tool should generate professional visuals and reports that can be shared with clients, turning technical data into persuasive presentations.
• Training support: Perhaps the most critical aspect is this: Does the developer provide robust training? Effective user education ensures maximum ROI and safe usage.

These features transform a basic planning tool into a multifaceted asset that boosts competitiveness in the industry. As technology has advanced, some platforms evolved to the new tools of the trade at the time. A1A Software has been at the forefront of this development to ensure its customer base has the platform to move forward. This progression enabled more interactive and realistic simulations.

What about AI?

Artificial Intelligence (AI), the current buzz technology, has found its way into the lifting planning community. A1A Software engineers are constantly challenged to create tools to improve their programs. Integration of new crane lift charts from customer requests has remained the company’s biggest hurdle. After many attempts to utilize AI to assist in adding new charts to its programs, the A1A team turned away from AI and instead leaned on over 150 years combined programming experience and intelligence to create Super Chart Convertor for this labor-intensive task. This has resulted in 300 percent improvement to new charts in the program, and it’s only been in place for the last six months. A1A does utilize AI for coding sequences, in marketing and visual content creation and other analytical reporting of large amounts of data.

Web-based programs, like 3D Lift Plan, will always have their place in the lift planning space, but movement to app-based programs open new avenues of advancement and capabilities. Doing the heavy lifting on the customer’s device, other than dependance on the website, provide the user with more integrated features with other app-based programs and new hardware peripherals normally reserved for gaming.

In 2022, A1A launched the Product Suite app, making it available on any platform and smart devices. Along with other technical advances, this move to app-based programs ensured that 3D Lift Plan remained relevant, offering users a seamless blend of web convenience and app-like power.

A significant leap forward is the integration of Virtual Reality (VR), which allows crane operators to practice in hyper-realistic environments, reducing on-site errors and training costs, while for sales teams, it offers an immersive way to pitch projects, letting clients “walk through” a lift plan virtually. 3D Lift Vision is unlike previous crane-based simulators in that users can simulate any lift plan that they create and virtually be in the created 3D jobsite and in the specific crane they have selected.

Even after 25 years in the industry, our A1A Software team is constantly moving forward to guard against the sad tale of Kodak. Look at its downfall in the 1970s. Once a giant in film photography, Kodak focused narrowly on preserving memories through physical prints and kiosks. They invented the digital camera, but clung to their core business, missing the shift to digital content and smartphones. The result? A plummeting demand for film and a company left behind in a consumer-driven digital world.

The integration of Virtual Reality allows crane operators to practice in hyper-realistic environments, reducing on-site errors and training costs. For sales teams, VR offers an immersive way to pitch projects, allowing clients to walk through a lift plan virtually.

The crane industry faces similar risks. Companies that ignore advancements in lift planning – and sticking to outdated tools – may lose out to competitors who leverage 3D, VR and cloud-based solutions for faster, safer and more profitable operations.

Over 25 years, lift planning has transformed from static, paper-based processes to dynamic, digital ecosystems that integrate VR, comprehensive databases and cross-platform accessibility. By prioritizing ease of use, accuracy and training, crane operators can select tools that not only plan lifts but also drive business growth.

Staying innovative isn’t optional, it’s essential for thriving in an ever-changing industry. The key is adaptation, ensuring your operations are as forward-thinking as the technology itself.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tawnia Weiss is president of A1A Software, which provides lift planning, telematics, virtual reality training and related solutions. With over 25 years of expertise in the crane and technology industries, Weiss served as sales manager of Compu-Crane, vice president of North Cascade Industrial and president of NCI Software (a division focused on Compu-Crane software).