Whether in the plastics, food, pharmaceutical or automotive industries - hardly any branch of industry can do without the raw materials produced by the chemical industry. The production of various gases and elements takes place in huge refineries, cracking furnaces or air separation plants. 20,000 to 25,000 tons - that's how much steel is used in the constructions of the industrial plants that the employees of Stahlbau Schauenberg produce at six locations worldwide every year. In some cases, up to 7,500 tons of metal are handled for the production of individual process or refinery furnaces: a lot of material that has to be delivered, stored, moved and fed into production.

Long-standing collaboration with Stahl Cranesystems
The head office, engineering, production and assembly facilities of the family-run company are located in Kirchzarten in southern Baden, around ten kilometers east of Freiburg. Various sheets and pipes are stored here outside for assembly and processing in the factory. New material is delivered almost every hour. The employee responsible for handling the steel sheets has his hands full. Crane systems with hoists from Stahl CraneSystems have been used to handle the steel in Kirchzarten since 2009. Even then, Innokran, a long-standing and certified partner of Stahl Cranesystems, installed systems at the plant and equipped them with Stahl CraneSystems technology. Because the customer is satisfied with the systems and hoists, Innokran was also commissioned to modernize the crane system in the outdoor area in 2018.

Modernization for more material
The previous crane system in the storage area dated back to the 1970s and, with a lifting capacity of six tons, was no longer able to cope with the increase in the number and weight of materials handled. In addition, the hook height of the crane systems was no longer sufficient, so it was necessary to increase the lifting capacity and replace the hoists. The modernization of the entire system was carried out in close cooperation between Innokran and Stahlbau Schauenberg. As a specialist in steel construction, Schauenberg carried out the necessary conversion of the crane runways to the required higher load capacity itself. Innokran installed the cranes, hoists and technology.

Equipped for continuous outdoor use
The new system consists of two double-girder gantry cranes with a span of 20 meters and a load capacity of ten tonnes each. The crane bridge girders were jacked up by 500 millimetres to achieve a hook height of 7.5 meters. On the cranes, two SH 50 wire rope hoists from Stahl Cranesystems with their standard compact design enable optimum space utilization thanks to low approach and headroom dimensions. The system is conveniently operated via a radio remote control. The hoists from Künzelsau are optimally equipped for continuous outdoor use: Standstill heaters for the motors and controls ensure smooth operation at temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius. The rain covers installed over all electrical components provide additional weather protection.

In future, valuable handling time is to be saved by replacing the manual slinging of sheets using chains with slinging using magnetic lifting beams. Innokran has therefore prepared the system with spring cable reels and lockable load hooks for the installation of a magnet system. With a lifting speed of up to eight meters per minute, a trolley travel speed of 20 meters per minute and a crane travel speed of 40 meters per minute, it is already possible to move the material quickly. In order to reduce the lateral forces on a crane runway axis, the endcarriages of the cranes are equipped with horizontal guide rollers and flangeless track rollers; this minimizes travel resistance and wear.