Techstreet Increases Outreach of CMAA Specs

Crane Manufacturers Association of America (CMAA) specifications have proved a popular addition to Techstreet, part of the Intellectual Property & Science business of Thomson Reuters and one of the world’s leading providers of industry codes.

The technical information superstore is harvested for standards and information by industry, including existing and prospective users of overhead lifting equipment in addition to those consuming and operating other technologies relating to manufacturing, distribution and supply chain activity.

CMAA, the leading authority on overhead traveling and gantry cranes and an independent incorporated trade association affiliated with the Material Handling Industry (MHI), is a pioneer as the first of the trade association’s product groups to provide content for Techstreet in the form of its Specification Nos. 70, 74, 78 and 79, the first of which were uploaded in February.

Pete Kerrick, CMAA Engineering Committee vice president, said: “Technical employees and other professionals need access to the latest revisions of hundreds of industry specifications relevant to their work and the equipment they use. It is opportune to make CMAA content available at Techstreet, a one-stop resource for that documentation. We are hopeful that the initiative will lead to increased revenue and broader exposure to markets outside North America, while serving as a test bed for MHI which could make available additional content from other product groups.”

Equipment end users are among those who subscribe to receive Techstreet content, while the website—Techstreet.com—can also be searched by keyword. When a visitor clicks to learn more about an industry code or to initiate a purchase, Techstreet introduces them to other content deemed of interest and relevance based on certain criteria. Customers can purchase a secure PDF of a document; receive a printed edition; or both.

Publisher of the Month

Paul Owen, business development consultant, Thomson Reuters-Techstreet, announced that such is the level of interest in CMAA’s participation, it will be Publisher of the Month in April, putting its specifications at the forefront of outreach campaigns to Techstreet’s opt-in database of over 600,000 industry professionals.

He said: “We anticipate significant interest in CMAA specifications as our community becomes increasingly aware of their availability. It is reality that these CMAA specs will be new to much of our community so the potential is huge. The content is being introduced to users of the system as we speak who are currently purchasing other information but to whom CMAA specs are relevant. It might be that a manufacturing or construction sector end user has searched an alternative code that has been housed within our system for some time and is presented by new content from CMAA. Existing subscribers are also being approached about adding CMAA content to their packages. We are working with CMAA and MHI executives to add further value to their participation.”

Matthew Smurr, senior director, solution and product groups, and managing executive of CMAA, said: “We welcome the endeavors of Paul and his team to help CMAA gain market penetration and achieve additional outreach to Techstreet’s community of industry code consumers. This new direction for CMAA is developing apace and we are optimistic about future outcomes.”

Patrick Davison, director of standards at MHI, has applauded CMAA’s leadership and anticipates that as its members and other product groups monitor the success of the initiative, the breadth of material handling-related information made available to Techstreet’s community will grow.

Davison, who joined MHI last October from the robotics sector, said: “Techstreet is a proven success at driving standards and other literature into industry in other sectors and I anticipate consumption of CMAA content will be the catalyst to other MHI product groups making their industry-leading expertise available through their own codes and standards.”

CMAA Specification No. 70: Multiple Girder Cranes; Specification No. 74: Single Girder Cranes; Specification No. 78: Service on Cranes and Hoists; and Specification No. 79: Crane Operator’s Manual, are now available from Techstreet.