Last outing for a 590 mm crane: Maeda trains operators on the MC174C in Gujarat
Maeda held operator training on the MC174C mini crane at Suzuki Motor’s Gujarat plant in India in July, shortly before production of the model came to an end.
Training inside a car plant
The session took place on 16 July at the Suzuki Motor Gujarat facility. Suzuki, the Japanese car and motorcycle manufacturer, operates production sites in several countries, and its Indian operations are among the largest.
Automotive plants are a natural home for the smallest class of mini crane. Maintenance work on press lines, robots, conveyors and tooling has to be done between production shifts, inside a building, on a finished floor and often in aisles measured in centimetres. A crane that can be tracked into the aisle, set up on outriggers and rigged without a permit for a mobile crane is the practical answer.
A 590 mm machine
Maeda pointed to the MC174C’s 590 mm body width as the reason it still performs where access is severely limited. That figure puts the crane through single-leaf doorways and standard plant walkways, which is the threshold that decides whether the job is done by crane or by chain block and manpower.
Production of the MC174C ended in August 2025, a month after the Gujarat training, and Maeda has separately confirmed the discontinuation of the MC174CRM variant on parts availability grounds. Machines already in service will continue to be supported through Maeda’s dealer network.
Maeda framed the exercise as part of its wider support for Japanese manufacturers operating abroad and for the local economies around their plants.
Source: Maeda — Photos: Maeda