Modernisation of an overhead travelling crane at Vallourec Deutschland in Düsseldorf

The Vallourec Group produces hot-rolled seamless steel tubes particularly for power markets and other industrial applications. As world market leader for tube-based premium solutions, in the year 2014 the Vallourec Group generated a turnover of approximately 5,7  billion euros. With more than 24.000 employees, integrated production facilities, five advanced research centres and a global presence in more than 20 countries Vallourec offers innovative solutions to its customers in order to face the challenges of the energy sector of the 21st century in the best possible way. Vallourec Deutschland GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vallourec, has about 2.400 employees and operates four production lines, three of them in Düsseldorf and one in Mülheim an der Ruhr. Numerous cranes are doing their work in the production hall of 600 m length at the location Düsseldorf-Rath. It was planned to modernize one of the cranes. Due to the special technical equipment the delivery time of a new crane was expected to be longer than 6 months.

TEICHMANN & BRUNNHUBER: bundled competence for used cranes and brand new cranes

Thanks to smooth cooperation TEICHMANN CRANES and BRUNNHUBER CRANES, both belonging to the TeichmannGroup, were able to provide rapid assistance to Vallourec Deutschland. A special-purpose crane that fitted perfectly was found in the huge inventory of TEICHMANN CRANES, Europe’s largest supplier of used cranes. They have a permanent stock of approximately 200 cranes and in addition to that TEICHMANN CRANES has access to 200 other cranes that are available on request.

Even though the special crane was just being reconstructed for another customer and the works had only been completed to 80% TEICHMANN CRANES could offer an equivalent alternative to this other customer thanks to the huge inventory. This allowed offering the crane as interim solution on a rental basis to Vallourec Deutschland GmbH.

The special crane was delivered as quickly as possible from Essen to Düsseldorf. Afterwards BRUNNHUBER CRANES was charged with manufacturing of a new crane bridge and with complete modernization of the crane.

Precision Landing: on-schedule completion

On 03 October 2014 the new crane was assembled in the Vallourec Deutschland GmbH plant in Düsseldorf-Rath. The trolley and the electrical control system were made available by the customer and installed by TEICHMANN. The date of assembly had already been fixed during the contract negotiations. On 10 October the acceptance test by an expert was carried out successfully and on 13 October the crane could be put into test operation as planned.

Technical realisation: new crane bridge and modernization of the trolley

The bride of the special crane was newly manufactured according to state-of-the-art technology standards at BRUNNHUBER in Berlin. The bridge construction incorporates among other features an optimized distribution of force. After its completion the crane bridge was delivered to TEICHMANN Cranes in Essen where the electrical system was installed. The trolley, that had been made available by Vallourec Deutschland, was transported from Düsseldorf to Essen and it was also mounted in Essen. To assure smooth operation the crane had to undergo a test run before being disassembled again and delivered to the customer.

During the construction of the crane bridge at BRUNNHUBER the trolley was overhauled. First of all the drives for trolley travelling and the hoisting gear and rotating gear drives were inspected. The running wheels for trolley travelling were replaced by new ones and the positions of the running wheels were checked with optoelectronic measuring equipment. Finally the trolley was repainted. The new top coating ensured a consistent appearance. To update the crane documentation a new operating manual was prepared.

Cooperation project at the highest stage

On one hand the construction of the new crane was performed in close cooperation with the Vallourec crane technicians in compliance with the required plant regulations. On the other hand the TeichmannGroup with Ralf Teichmann GmbH and Brunnhuber Krane GmbH could once again demonstrate its bundled competence to the satisfaction of the customer.

The TeichmannGroup in the service of the customer

The combination of deep know-how in the field of new and used cranes, an exhaustive stock of cranes, high liability, quick project processing and smooth logistics is the most important pillar in the Group’s success – in the service of the customer. TEICHMANN has already reconstructed other cranes for Vallourec Deutschland in the past. Furthermore an overhead travelling crane has already been sold to world market leader for tube-based premium solutions.


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