ABUS’ suspended rail systems for an Austrian manufacturer of aluminium profiles and composites
Light – lighter – aluminium
What do an electronic component, a sun protection system, and a sports car have in common? All three contain one or more components made of aluminium or, as is the case of the sun protection system, are made of this material in their entirety. Aluminium has not been known for a very long time compared with other metals, however, it is highly esteemed due to its diverse properties: electronic components use aluminium because of its good electrical conductivity, the sun protection system made of aluminium is highly resistant to corrosion, and aluminium is used as construction material in the automobile industry in order to reduce weight and thus fuel consumption.
AMARI – the specialist for aluminium and composites
In Austria, about 60 km south of the Mozart city of Salzburg, you will find one of the great specialists in this sector: the company AMARI AUSTRIA GmbH (www.amari.at). Together with their customers AMARI AUSTRIA is developing prototypes, components, and system components at its headquarters in Sankt Johann im Pongau. A major strength of the company is the customised processing of plates and profiles made from aluminium and from composites. AMARI is present in two other places in Austria and has also subsidiaries in Slovenia, in Hungary, and in Romania.
Planning a new AMARI production unit together with ABUS
For many years, ABUS Kransysteme and the Austrian ABUS agent, the company Klaus Schneider GmbH (www.abuskrane.at), have provided support for the production processes of the different AMARI products. AMARI uses mainly suspended rail systems for the area-wide transport of loads between 250 and 1,600 kg. When a new production was planned the company Schneider and its service partner Krantechnik became involved right from the start. Together with those of AMARI responsible for the planning and the production they visited several other companies with similar requirements as to material handling which already had the necessary material handling systems in place. After this initial phase the new building was completely planned around a steal grid optimised for HB systems in order to ensure maximum flexibility in case production processes were going to change at a future date requiring crane systems to be reconfigured.
The ABUS light weight crane solution for AMARI
Area-wide transport in connection with high flexibility for future adaptations and modifications were two requirements that could be perfectly met by the ABUS HB systems thanks to the modular design principle based on different profiles, suspensions, and ceiling connections. So AMARI had 8 single girder cranes of the EHB type installed. These cover load capacities up to 1,000 kg. The lightweight design of this crane type facilitates huge spans and thus a maximum of area coverage. 14 double girder cranes of the ZHB type and 4 of the ZHB-3 type were installed in total for the required higher lifting capacities of 1,600 kg. These two types of cranes come with electrical operation for all movements. Some of these cranes have also been prepared for vacuum systems on site. Mounting and installation were particularly challenging due to a mixture of inclined ceiling constructions and different connections required by steel beams and TT ceiling slabs. However, the challenge could be met efficiently and cost-effectively by the great variety of connection solutions and flexible height adaptation thanks to threaded rods. In addition to the HB systems, two workstation wall jib cranes were installed. The jib crane type LW with a load capacity of up to 1,000 kg is characterised by its lightweight design. The jib cranes as well as all HB systems feature ABUS chain hoists. All light weight crane systems are checked and maintained by the service team of the Krantechnik company as part of a maintenance and service contract.
