Structural Engineer

OPEN FOR SPONSORSHIP FOR THE RIGHT CANDIDATE! CALLING STRUCTURAL ENGINEERINGS WITH EXPERIENCE IN CRANES!!!!

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Eilbeck Cranes is a crane manufacturing & servicing company which provides overhead crane and hoisting products and services throughout Australia. We have been running for 118 years now, with 19 offices / facilities across Australia.

• Australian owned family business and Australia's leading overhead crane and hoist manufacturing company

• Growing & Fast Paced Organization

• Challenging and Rewarding Role

ABOUT THE ROLE

Eilbeck Cranes is seeking a fulltime Structural Engineer to lead our design operations in Moorlands, Ingleburn. You will own the end-to-end engineering process—from initial quotes to final compliance.

Duties but not limited to -

·         Design Leadership: Execute structural calculations for cranes, portals, and heavy structures (quotation through post-award).

·         Operational Excellence: Replace external contractors by building in-house design capacity and improving manufacturing cost-efficiency.

·         Compliance & QA: Ensure 100% adherence to Eilbeck Quality Systems, IMS documentation, and WorkSafe/DMP requirements.

·         Verification: Validate third-party calculations and maintain rigorous change management

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR - Minimum of 5 years experience on the below :

1. Technical Competency in Relevant Standards

Must know and actively work with the standards that govern crane and runway design in Australia and internationally:

Crane-Specific Standards

• AS 1418 series — Cranes, Hoists & Winches
• EN 13001 — General crane structural design
• FEM 1.001 — Crane structural classification
• CMAA 70/74 (USA) — Bridge cranes and gantry cranes
• AS 2550 series — Safe use & operation (for integration)

Structural Standards (Australia)

• AS 4100 — Steel structures

• AS/NZS 1170 — Structural actions

  • Part 1: Dead/live
  • Part 2: Wind
  • Part 3: Crane loads / dynamic effects

• AS/NZS 4600 — Cold-formed steel

• AS 3990 — Mechanical equipment steels

• AS/NZS 5100 — If runway integrated into a building/bridge structure

• Welding standards:

  • AS/NZS 1554.1 — Structural welding
  • AS 1554.5 — Welding of cranes & lifting equipment components

2. Ability to Model Crane-Specific Loads

Must fully understand non-building load cases, which are unique to crane structures:

Dynamic & Fatigue Actions

• Impact factors

• Hoisting load amplification

• Long travel/ cross travel acceleration loads

• Skewing forces

• Buffer impact loads

• Fatigue regions in welded joints

• Wheel loads under–

  • Maximum SWL
  • Unbalanced loading
  • Trolley eccentric loading
  • Side thrust (CT braking, skewing)

Runway Beam Loads

• Vertical wheel loads (static + dynamic)
• Horizontal loads (transverse & longitudinal)
• Crane surge and braking forces
• Lateral wheel loads per FEM or AS 1418
• Fatigue from repetitive cycles
• Rail bending + local bearing/stress checks
• Connection design for runway brackets or cap channels

3. Competency Using the Right Software Tools

For crane structures, should be proficient in:

Structural Analysis

• SpaceGass
• Strand7
• Robot Structural Analysis
• RISA
• SAP2000
• ANSYS (if doing high-fidelity fatigue studies)

Design/Detailing

• Tekla Structures
• Advance Steel
• SolidWorks (for trolley/hoist frames)
• AutoCAD

Specialised Crane Tools (optional but valuable)

• FEA for girder stability (lateral torsional buckling, distortional buckling)
• Wheel load calculators (custom or FEM-based)

4. Crane Girders: Specific Competencies

Girder Design Requirements

• Welded box girders, RHS, plate girders, or hot-rolled profiles

• Lateral torsional buckling calculations

• Distortion under trolley eccentric loading

• Fatigue life calculation for welded joints

• Bearing plate & end carriage connection design

• Deflection control

  • Vertical (usually L/1000 to L/750 depending on standard)
  • Lateral (strict to prevent skewing)

Local Checks

• Local web bending under wheel loads
• Web crippling
• Web buckling
• Flange local bending
• Stiffener design to address all above

5. Runway Beam & Support Structure Design

Runway Beam Requirements

• Correct rail placement & clip design
• Rail bending stresses
• Clip weld design and fatigue
• Beam bending + torsion
• Lateral loads from crane skewing
• Fatigue class assignment (FEM group 1–5)

Supporting Structure

• Portal frames
• Columns & brackets
• Bracing systems
• Vibrations & resonance checks
• Anchor bolts & base plates
• Runway-to-building interaction

6. Understanding of Fabrication & Inspection

Must know how their design will be built:

Welding

• Selecting correct weld sizes, types & fatigue classes
• Controlling distortion in welded plate girders
• Heat input considerations
• NDT requirements (UT, MT)

Fabrication Tolerances

• Girder camber
• Rail alignment tolerances
• Wheel-to-rail geometry
• End carriage alignment

Inspection & QA

• WPS/PQR compliance
• Visual inspection rules
• Test certificates
• Material traceability (plate, bolts, weld consumables)

7. Certification & Professional Requirements (Australia)

·         CPEng or RPEQ highly preferred, often required for signing off

·         Registration with Engineers Australia

·         Ability to issue:

o    Structural design reports

o    FEA verification

o    Form 15 / Form 16 (QLD)

o    Compliance statements to AS 1418 & AS 4100

8. Industry Experience

Must have practical familiarity with:

• How cranes actually operate in the field
• Common failure modes (rail wear, flange cracking, misalignment, skewing)
• Fatigue failures in crane girders
• Realistic dynamic factors beyond textbook assumptions
• Erection/installation practices
• Maintenance issues (cracks, wheel wear, runway alignment)

***An engineer without industrial crane experience will miss many of the load cases and fatigue issues that are essential.

9. Documentation Requirements

·         Complete structural calculations

·         Clear sketches for fabrication

·         FEA model output (if used)

·         Load diagrams (wheel loads, reactions, lateral loads)

·         Crane data sheet (speeds, masses, classes)

·         Deflection analysis

·         Fatigue justification

·         Welding details and notes

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

·         Fulltime permanent position

·         Based in Moorlands, Ingleburn but potential to change contingent to business need

·         Start time 8am

·         Immediate start

#PH220526