Sawmill, logistics company and more: Ziegler Group relies on flexible solutions

The Bavarian Ziegler Group is well known in the wood and sawmill industry – not only because it operates Europe’s largest sawmill, but also because the family business keeps making it known through innovative future developments. One of the new features is a modern log yard, which was opened last year. Not only for the timber handling on the log yard has been relying on the handling technology of SENNEBOGEN for many years – now 12 machines are reliably in use.

Founded in 1948 as a sawmill, the family-owned company Ziegler can look back on a moving 70-year history today. Meanwhile, around 1000 employees work for the international group of companies. Especially in recent years, the company has developed impressively. Alone in Europe’s largest sawmill, in the tranquil village of Betzenmühle in the northern Upper Palatinate, more than 500 employees are now employed.

This is exactly where our today’s visit takes us. After all, the company, which handles the impressive 1.8 million cubic meters of wood per year, has its roots here. In the meantime logistics is a big issue, as confirmed by Fabian Hummel on site. Since 2011, therefore, they have built their own state-of-the-art container and transhipment terminal at the station in nearby Wiesau. Ziegler Logistik GmbH transports wood and other goods worldwide via its 120 own trucks and 70 other subcontractors. Efficient handling solutions are crucial, which is why SENNEBOGEN’s material handling machines have been using the SENNEBOGEN material handling equipment for around 15 years.

Logistics terminal in Wiesau: 2x SENNEBOGEN 818 E for log loading

How much wood is moving every day at Ziegler can best be seen in the location in Wiesau. Ziegler Logistik handles around 25,000 containers every year via the modern terminal – and the number is rising. Every day, a freight train between Wiesau and Hamburg / Bremerhaven travels with containers for the export of sawn timber, and vice versa, the logs for the sawmill from the region and beyond are transported by rail.

By means of two new SENNEBOGEN 818 E material handlers, the sales and service partner IBS Industrie- u. Baumaschinen Service GmbH delivered in 2017, the arriving stakes wagons are unloaded and the logs are transported by lorry to the sawmill, some 20 km away. The two 818 E with mobile undercarriage are each equipped with a 1.25 m² wooden grab and a 9 m long equipment. The engine is a 97kW, 4 stage diesel engine, and the machine is designed to be a heavy duty backhoe for demanding continuous service.
A special criterion was the low demanded noise emission values, as Florian Fischer (IBS GmbH) explains:

“Due to the inner-city location of the station, machines were required that work very quietly and in an environmentally friendly manner despite the continuous use and heavy load. With the SENNEBOGEN 818, which, thanks to state-of-the-art engine technology, is even well below the legal limits of the 2000/14 / EC directive on noise emission, we were able to design the right machine for the customer. “

For the driver, the Maxcab cab, which can be raised to a height of 5.80 m, is an indispensable added value. This means that the entire work and loading area can always be kept safely in view.

The green log yard: Nine 735 material handlers are working on the sorting line

Back in the Betzenmühle, the outriggers of the green Pick & Carry machines on the log yard can not be overlooked. Klaus Mayerhöfer has a total of nine machines of the type 735 there for the pit removal, the process and for the sorting in the various rumble along the three sorting block trains in use. From time to time the driving machines also assist in the unloading of the 350 trucks that deliver daily at the sawmill.

The reliable 735 material handlers operate in two shifts and have already performed up to 40,000 operating hours in some cases. Last but not least, this is also due to the good service provided by IBS GmbH, which is responsible for the regular maintenance and spare parts supply, according to Klaus Mayerhöfer.

Here, too, two new 735 of the current E series were added to the machine park in 2017. These are equipped with a 224 kW diesel engine, the continuously variable four-wheel drive and an 11 m long handling equipment with attached 2.0 m² or 2.5 m² SENNEBOGEN log grapple.

“The long-term cooperation with SENNEBOGEN and the dealer IBS is no coincidence. Not only the tailor-made products for our requirements in the timber handling, but above all the high reliability and ease of maintenance of the machines, are immensely important for our processes. Only with perfectly coordinated processes, we will be able to continuously develop ourselves and expand our services as a globally operating family business. Every day, the SENNEBOGEN machines help us to optimally implement our logistics “. Fabian Hummel, Ziegler Group

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