ASSOCIATE MEMBER PROFILE
Tadano Mantis Corporation
Cranes for pile drivers
By Lisa Kopochinski
Since its formation more than 40
years ago in Franklin, Tenn., PDCA
member and crane manufacturer
Tadano Mantis Corporation has continued
its development and production of
Mantis hydraulic telescopic-boom crawler
cranes, originally introduced by SpanDeck,
Inc. in 1979.
While these earliest models were
designed primarily for use in tank building,
industries such as power transmission
line erection and bridge construction soon
discovered the Mantis, which spurred the
development of higher-capacity cranes.
In 2014, the GTC Series cranes were
introduced and there are now six models
ranging from 35 to 160 U.S. ton capacity.
These models are being used across
the globe in deep foundation projects by
general construction companies, foundation
contractors, tunneling and highway
constructors, crane rental companies, railroads,
research agencies, as well as pipeline,
oil field and power line contractors.
“Our largest market is North America,
but we have Tadano Mantis cranes working
on every continent, including Antarctica,”
said Julie Fuller, vice president of engineering
and marketing at Tadano Mantis.
Cranes specific to pile driving
With approximately 160 employees,
the company’s headquarters remain in
Franklin, Tenn., but there are two manufacturing
operation facilities in Virginia in
Richlands and Claypool Hill.
Fuller says the most popular pile driving
crane models are the GTC-1300 (130 U.S.
Four 130-ton capacity Tadano Mantis GTC-1200
cranes have been a part of SGL Constructors’
crawler crane fleet utilized for pile driving
and lifting work on the I-4 Ultimate project
in Orlando since 2016. The 21-mile portion
of I-4 Interstate – through Orlando and
Central Florida – is being transformed into a
modern thoroughfare. The project involves
the makeover of 15 major interchanges and
140 bridges.
Photos: Tadano Mantis
tons), GTC-900 (90 U.S. tons) and GTC-700
(70 U.S. tons):
“These models have strong load charts
that are comparable to similar-sized lattice
boom crawlers,” she said. “And, with over 25
years of field proven performance in foundation
applications, the GTC models can
outperform traditional lattice-boom crawlers
in many ways.”
Some of these include the following:
www.piledrivers.org PILEDRIVER | 53
/www.piledrivers.org
