From Intern to Engineer!

Mike van Gijsel was an Engineering intern who recently joined our Engineering team. He has the drive and motivation to make an impact, and an impact he certainly made! Toward the end of his internship with Conbit, Mike was offered a job to officially join the team.

Here’s what Mike worked on during his internship with us, and this set in motion his journey of joining the Conbit family.

During his internship at Conbit, Mike was tasked with designing a lift beam for a tandem configuration SL900 lift system. This system required two SL900 cranes to lift a unit that was smaller than the distance between the cranes, which resulted in an offset between the hook-on points. His goal was to design a lifting beam that could handle a weight of 250tons, equivalent to the combined capacity of the two cranes while accommodating the offset.

At the start of his internship, there was no clear concept for the lift beam; this gave him the opportunity to go through the entire design process from start to finish. He began by thoroughly understanding the project's requirements, including the weight distribution, dimensions, and lifting capabilities that the lift beam must have. Mike also considered potential variations in crane positions and unit dimensions since the beam must be set up modular so it could also be used in future projects.

Based on his analysis, he generated multiple concepts for the lift beam, exploring different structural arrangements, materials, and attachment mechanisms. Each concept was evaluated based on factors, such as strength, stability, adaptability, and ease of assembly.

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