Initial situation
The customer operates over 800 crane systems of various types - bridge, gantry and overhead traveling cranes in steel and further processing production - at several production sites. The statutory periodic inspections in accordance with DGUV regulation 52 and TRBS 1201 were previously carried out entirely on paper: printed checklists, handwritten logs, manual transfer to the ERP system.
This led to considerable administrative effort, sources of error in documentation and - more critically - to a real compliance risk: inspection deadlines were managed decentrally in Excel spreadsheets, expert inspections were at risk of expiring, and inspection certificates for individual systems could not be submitted ad hoc as part of an official audit.
Solution
prodot developed and implemented customized software for crane inspections: fully mobile, directly on the crane, with automatic DGUV-compliant report generation, central inspection deadline management for all sites and bidirectional integration into the existing SAP PM (Plant Maintenance). Within eight weeks of the go-live, all 800 cranes had been digitally recorded and the first fully digital inspection cycle had been completed.
Our approach
Step by step to digital inspection
The project started with a structured inventory: recording all crane systems with type, year of manufacture, inspection history and responsible inspection personnel. On this basis, the digital inspection checklists were configured in accordance with DGUV regulation 52 and the customer's internal inspection standards - differentiated by crane type, inspection type (operator inspection, periodic inspection, expert inspection) and production area.
The inspection technicians received robust industrial tablets with the mobile inspection app. They record findings directly on the crane, photograph defects, assess their safety relevance and complete the inspection with a digital signature - the complete inspection report is available as a PDF seconds later. Critical defects automatically trigger a maintenance order in SAP PM, without manual transmission.
A central inspection deadline dashboard gives the plant manager and safety officer a real-time overview of the inspection status of all systems at all times - prioritized by color according to urgency. Automatic reminders 30 and 14 days before the deadline prevent an inspection from being overlooked.
Results
Measurable success after the first inspection cycle
The introduction of the digital crane inspection software brought the customer immediately demonstrable improvements in three dimensions:
45% less inspection effort. The elimination of manual logging, transmission and post-processing significantly reduced the inspection time per system. The inspection personnel can process significantly more systems in the same working time.
100% DGUV-compliant documentation. All inspection logs are complete, time-stamped and digitally signed and can be retrieved at any time. A subsequent official audit could be presented with all inspection certificates within minutes.
Zero overdue inspection deadlines since go-live. The automatic deadline management with escalation levels ensures that no system falls out of the inspection cycle - neither for recurring inspections nor for the legally required expert inspections.
In addition, the evaluation function provides cross-site findings for the first time: Which crane types show frequent defects? Which components repeatedly require maintenance? This database flows directly into strategic maintenance planning.
