Alright, marines. You know the saying!

“Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.”

My late grandfather was a marine. This phrase also makes an appearance in the movie “Shooter” as scout sniper Bob Lee Swagger trains an FBI agent to function in a sniper role.

But… what does this phrase have to do with cranes…?

Honestly it has a lot to do with many areas of life!

Did you know that cranes are bouncy?

Sure, the boom of a crane is a giant and rigid steel beam.

Insanely strong. Insanely tough. Can lift obscene amounts of weight…

But imagine holding a small weight at the end of a fishing pole.

When you swing around, the fishing pole will flex and bounce! The small weight might move in unexpected ways.

A boom under load is FAR less bouncy than a fishing rod. But the bounce can still show up in the heavy objects that we are lifting.

So what do we do as operators?

We move slowly to start, so that we can move the weight smoothly.

As we finish a swing, we slow the boom down again, so that we can “catch” the weight smoothly.

And why do we do that? Because “smooth is fast!”

This phrase also shows up in other areas of crane operations too.

We take time to maintain our equipment.

To set things up carefully and properly.

These preparations may look “slow,” but the setup makes the rest of the job go smoothly.

And that smoothness is much faster than having to set up or do the job twice!!

Moving “slowly.” Moving smoothly. Moving safely.

This is the fastest and best way to get your lift done!