Plants for generations
Customers from all over Europe order their high-quality reinforcing steel, structural steel and rebars from the German Badische Stahlwerke GmbH (BSW). When it comes to loading a wide variety of steel forms onto barges and rail cars at their headquarters in Kehl, the electric steel plant has been relying on TRUNINGER solutions for more than three decades.
Lifting magnet systems as a long-term investment
BSW has been using a high-end solution "Made in Switzerland" for more than 30 years. Thousands of tons of steel are stored in the huge open-air warehouse in the town of Kehl in Baden, Germany, which is connected to the company’s high-tech steel plant: half of the rebars of various lengths, billets and slabs in store are drawn into reinforcing steel on site while the other half is sold on to other processors.
"These plants are capital goods," emphasizes Felix Truninger, one of the two Managing Directors of Swiss-based TRUNINGER AG. "In principle, the plants don't wear out," adds Co-Managing Director Rolf Truninger, " if anything, they become technologically outdated."
Mobile, flexible and reliable
Two mobile excavators do their work in the so-called “Flexilager". They move billets of 2.5 tons each, a bundle of reinforcing steel 12 to 20 meters long is manufactured out of them in the steelworks. These excavators are used to load railroad wagons.
The high volume champion at BSW is a telescopic magnet system on a high span gantry crane: When loading ships, the crane can move up to four bundles of reinforcing steel per lift into the belly of the barges at anchor. In addition to the remarkably high hosting power, weight of around 10 tons and bundles of material requires a deep magnetic field and the use of a telescopic spreader beam: Long bundles with a length of 20 meters are lifted with the telescopic arms extended. Shorter bundles of 12 meters in length are lifted accordingly with the arms retracted. This brings the bending of the lifted material to low values and makes handling safe. In addition, the footprint of the magnetic system is always within the material dimensions.
Not only bundles but also billets and slabs are handled with the same crane. "Reliability and flexibility are the pivotal criteria for our lifting solution," explains Andreas Volkert, Managing Director of Badische Stahlwerke. "We are able to handle coils, billets and slabs – with just one system!" To do this, operators can change the magnet without having to leave the crane cabin. Exchange between the telescopic spreader beam and the lifting device for billets and slabs is radio-controlled and automatic. For maximum safety, the automatic coupling is secured both electronically and mechanically. This way, BSW can use TRUNINGER’s lifting magnet system to handle all their steel products.
