On 70,000 square meters - an extension is already in the construction phase - 55 employees produce 1,000 tons of regrind every day and prepare it for further processing, i.e. grinding, sieving, drying and dedusting. These are mostly extremely heat-resistant minerals for the steel industry, foundries and furnace manufacturers. The Datteln-Hamm canal runs parallel to the Lippe in Hamm. This is the connection to the raw material sources of this earth, which MMW and HAG (Handels- und Aufbereitungsgesellschaft für Mineralien mbH) need for their production. The unloading point for container ships from all over the world is located directly opposite on the other side of the road from the MMW site.

70,000 tons of chrome ore sand
HAG was founded in 2012 as an independent company that deals exclusively with chrome ore sand. HAG has 30,000 square meters of operating space and an annual production capacity of 100,000 tons. "Due to increasing demand, we have separated the chrome ore sand division from the rest of our production and founded HAG for this purpose," explains HAG Managing Director Christian Frevel. "Our approximately 70,000 tons of chrome ore sand per year are mainly used as a moulding material for core production and as pattern sand or moulding sand in foundries and as slide sand in the steel industry. To ensure that production at MMW and HAG never comes to a standstill, four large wheel loaders are on the site around the clock to supply the relevant plants with raw materials. "We also used to have 16 forklift trucks; we had more bagged goods then - today our products are increasingly stored in silos and loaded into tanks. That's why we now only have ten forklift trucks. But we have to be able to rely on them absolutely. After all, we work in multiple shifts, so we can't afford any downtime due to machine breakdowns," says Operations Manager Frank Husse. "And the Mitsubishi forklift trucks and Degener have never let us down so far."

Reliable workhorses
"Reliability is the second surname of our forklift trucks," explains Ludger Balster from Degener Staplertechnik with a smile. Balster has been looking after the Hammer mineral experts for over 20 years and knows what is important. "The Mitsubishi diesel and gas-powered forklifts have always been indestructible workhorses. Today's machines in the GRENDiA series are still just as indestructible. Over the years, a number of updates have been made in terms of ergonomics, economy and environmental protection, which no forklift truck can do without today." Today, the site on Hafenstraße in Hamm has three 4-ton GRENDiA EX FD40N trucks with full cab, extended forks, including automatic fork adjustment and sideshift. The green diesel trucks with the red diamonds are mainly used for one-sided side loading of trucks with pallets full of bagged goods. On average, 25 to 30 trucks arrive at and leave the Hammer mineral grinding plant every day.

Same equipment for better operability
The storage capacity on the 14 soccer pitches of the site is 200,000 tons in the open air and 150,000 tons under cover. The mineral sands are produced and filled in halls with processing and mixing plants. Six Grendia ES FD35Ns work there in three shifts and supply the plants with material. "All 43 of our industrial employees have a forklift driver's license. This means that everyone can operate the forklifts and there are practically no driver bottlenecks. This ensures that our operations never come to a standstill," explains Frank Husse. "What's more, all the machines are equipped in the same way, which makes things much easier for all operators." Forklift number 10 is an EDiA EX 80 volt four-wheel electric forklift with an operating weight of 3 tons, which transports the chrome ore sand in big bags and on pallets in two-shift operation in the HAG filling department. The electric forklift truck with the designation FB30N is the flagship of the Japanese forklift truck manufacturer and, according to the company, the best electric forklift truck in the world. Ludger Balster says: "I could go on and on, but you just have to drive the truck and see it in action. That's convincing!" The management of MMW and HAG are convinced by their Mitsubishi forklift trucks, as are the operators. "The machines work flawlessly, even under external conditions that are not always easy, and the service and advice provided by Degener cannot be beaten," sums up Christian Frevel.