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Oct. 11, 2023 – The winners of A1A Software’s Lift Plan of the Year contest include a structural steel erector from Illinois, a crane and rigging service company from Pennsylvania, and a contractor from Texas who both erects structural steel and provides crane services.
Steven Beemsterboer, a project manager for Metropolitan Steel, took first place with his lift plans of an ongoing project for the Chicago Department of Transportation.
Metropolitan is erecting the steel for Damen Greenline Station, a rapid transit station expected to open in 2024.
“For us, 3D Lift Plan has been a game-changing solution for three-dimensional crane modeling,” said Beemsterboer, a Level 3 Certified Expert user of the program. “It was invaluable for navigating this difficult project and transformed the way we approach crane operations, revolutionizing our workflow and driving unprecedented efficiency.”
Beemsterboer added that by leveraging 3D Lift Plan, Metropolitan Steel can now create meticulously detailed lift plans to scale, allowing it to make cost-effective decisions that save both time and money.
“With the ability to select the ideal crane model and determine the correct capacities for each specific job, we can confidently optimize our lifting operations,” he said. “On this specific project, we had many twists and turns requiring us to change crane models, location of the crane, rigging, and more.”
Second place went to Trapper Wyman, president of Mansfield Crane Service Corp., and the company’s primary Lift Planner.
Wyman has been a 3D Lift Plan Level 3 Certified Expert since 2015, and has been a finalist twice before.
For this project, Mansfield Crane needed to lift a flue gas cooler during a maintenance shutdown.
The project lifted the old cooler out of the building, swung it over de-energized electric lines, and laid over using a second crane, before installing a new cooler.
“We were able to explain the complexity and constraints of the job to the customer by using 3D Lift Plan by showing the order of steps to demonstrate the lift process,” said Wyman.
Finishing third was Anthony Ortiz, project manager for Alliance Riggers & Constructors.
Ortiz explained that his company used 3D Lift Plan at every stage of the project — from making sales presentations to potential customers, through bidding, pre-planning, and site logistics.
This project removed a digester lid for El Paso Water and involved complex rigging.
“3D Lift Plan’s collaborative features facilitate effective communication among team members, enabling seamless coordination and better project outcomes,” said Ortiz. “The software generates comprehensive reports and documentation, ensuring transparency and accountability in each phase of the project.”
Other finalists in the contest included:
• Jesse Bower, a sales specialist for Jcrane Inc., Covington, Ohio
• Christopher Erickson, VP of Operations for Midwest Crane Services, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Additional details about each of the projects and the lift plans submitted for the 2022 Lift Plan of the Year can be found at: https://www.3dliftplan.com/LPOTY22/.
