HEC Crane Assembly Class Learns From Newly Arrived MLC100-1

June 8, 2021 - Students in an assembly safety class at Heavy Equipment Colleges of America (HEC) in Stonecrest, Georgia, recently put together a new Manitowoc MLC100-1 lattice-boom crawler crane that had just arrived at the school.

Students spent the day watching the unit being assembled and tested at the school’s field-testing site shortly after HEC took delivery of the new 110-USt crane.

Sixteen HEC instructors and staff conducted the assembly, which focused on measures to ensure the safe and proper assembly of the lattice-boom crawler crane.

According to HEC President and CEO Bob Albano, students from the Lattice, Swing Cab, Fixed Cab, and Signal & Rigging courses participated, as well as students taking classes focused on heavy equipment.

“We had a great day outside at our field site demonstrating assembly procedures and safety protocols to students,” Albano said. “The comments we heard on the MLC100-1 were along the lines of ‘awesome machine,’ and that it has ‘unbelievable control systems.’ We’re certainly pleased to be able to have students train on such an innovative crane with some of the latest technology in the industry.”

Instructors were also pleased with the Manitowoc crawler crane. They described the machine as “easy to operate and teach on,” according to Albano.

The MLC100-1 assembled in Georgia was one of two bought by HEC. The other one went to HEC’s Oklahoma City location. The two-crane acquisition is part of the school’s strategy to have students practice on modern cranes currently being used by contractors nationwide, giving them real-world experience.

“These two new Manitowoc MLC100-1 cranes will reinforce to prospective students that crane operator jobs nowadays are highly specialized and often quite different from outdated perceptions of the industry,” Albano added.

HEC is the only Department-of-Education-accredited school for crane operation. The school purchased the two MLC100-1 cranes from longtime Manitowoc dealer H&E Equipment Services, headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.