1.   Philosophy
   The on going trend in industry for the past few years is the wide spread of using electromechanical systems.  Adopting this trend as the project’s theme is not just to cope with the real world, but is also a reflection of the project’s group awareness of the vital importance of such systems.

2.   Real Need
   Therefore, our objective was to implement some electromechanical system that fulfill a real need to be really beneficial and of use.  An excellent need was found in NATCO® (Mercedes automotive service center).  There, the handling of the engines, gearboxes, and differentials is done manually with the help of simple tools.  This current system is not the best regarding its safety, manpower needed, number of workers, and reliability of getting a high quality maintenance without harming some other part or component during the handling process.

3.   Features
   This electromechanical system has a good control features besides the usual and important benefits of any pure mechanical system -nothing moves without mechanical engineering.  Accordingly, using a electrical semi-automatic mobile crane would be a good and suitable idea for this job.  It must be an electrical one to match our theme and to get rid of the exhaust -if it were a diesel crane- from the closed working environment of the service center.  It is semi-automatic since it needs a driver to drive it and to fix the engine to the lifting arm and the hook.  Also, it is a mobile crane moving on the ground (not an overhead crane) to can access all the working area in the service center.  What is really good about this mobile crane, besides the benefits of being electromechanical, is that it does the job of two equipments: one for lifting the engines, and the second for handling the gearboxes & the differentials.

4.   Design Tools
   In this project, reviewing and completing the designs to be ready for manufacturing were not our only concern.  However, making our knowledge more profound concerning the design tools we already know and even learning new design tools (if needed) was a must to can a technically acceptable design.  This is why graduation project are always during the last year of school to allow the student to have enough information and skills in various fields that can be integrated and even enriched through further learning and using whatever we learn. 

   The mechanical structure was revised based on new, more mature ideas.  This was done by the help of some tools like: AutoCAD® for drafting, MATLAB® for force analysis and settling dimension through many iterations and COSMOS®, for finite elements analysis

   The electrical network was revised and new modules were added with the help of a simulating package called MicroSim®.  The ceiling goal was to achieve a sound design and implement it according to the analysis shown in the mechanical & electrical work sections.

   The effect of the handling equipment on NATCO® service center was studied through several experimentations using a simulation package called Slam®.