Burly giant undergoes rejuvenation cure

Retrofit of a 30-year veteran Schiess portal milling and drilling machine assures sustainable future.

«Our largest excavator boasts a bucket volume of 42 m3», thus Ralf Petzold, Works Manager of the Komatsu Mining Company GmbH. This corresponds to a handling capacity of approximately 75 tonnes of bulk material, a volume that becomes all the more impressive when one thinks of two lorries capable of being loaded almost completely by a single bucket. In the colossal factory building one is flabbergasted at the huge components manufactured at the Düsseldorf-based plant and assembled to form enormous hydraulic excavators. A Schiess portal milling and drilling machine type 40 FZT has been responsible for machining these outsized components, among others, for the past thirty years. Other imposing features of this gigantic facility include its overall height totalling 7.80 metres and a traverse range extending to 14 metres. The machine has aged over the years so that the management of Komatsu Mining joined forces with Starrag Group Service department located in Mönchengladbach to seek means and ways of rendering it fit for future service.