SPECIAL VEHICLE FROM DIMOS

LSV TRANSPORTS BRIGHT STEEL WITH ELECTRICALLY DRIVEN LORRY

Lech-Stahl Veredelung (LSV) is one of the specialists for the production and finishing of bright steel. In this context, efficient transport of workpieces in different processing stages is particularly important. At its Meitingen site, LSV uses platform trucks from the mechanical engineering company DIMOS for this purpose. With the individually developed and purely electrically operated vehicle, the user was able to increase the payload per transport unit from 30 to 40 tons - one of many examples of how the platform truck contributes to a more efficient material flow at LSV.

Lech-Stahl Veredelung GmbH was established in 2012 as a merger of the long-established bright steel companies Lech-Stahl Veredelung in Oberndorf and Stahlveredelung Landsberg. Both companies had decades of experience in the production and refinement of bright steel. In addition to the production sites in Landsberg and Oberndorf, LSV opened a third production site in Meitingen in 2019. Here, steel is manufactured in various finishing and processing stages on a production area of around 10,000 square meters.

This vehicle must not grow with its tasks
Intra-plant load transport is particularly important for LSV: the provision of blanks and parts to be machined in production as well as the storage of finished parts. In Meitingen, undercarriage frames transported by platform trucks serve as the logistics interface to production and vice versa. Originally, the payload of these racks was 30 tons. To make the material flow even more efficient, LSV wanted to increase the load to 40 tons while keeping the dimensions of the racks the same . This increased the demands on the platform trucks. A vehicle was needed that could lift the racks including payload by 100 millimeters at a low underride height of only 560 millimeters in order to be able to move them.

LSV Stahl setzt für den Röhrentransport auf DIMOS

Developed in collaboration with the user
In DIMOS, LSV found the suitable technology partner for the development of a platform truck that enables an increase in loads while maintaining the same dimensions of the undercarriages. The Hessian mechanical engineering company has been designing industrial trucks according to individual customer requirements for around 30 years and manufactures exclusively in small series . The aim is to develop vehicles that prove themselves in every area of application at the customer's, offer advantages to every player and are easy to handle. To this end, all the relevant people on the customer side are involved in the conception and design of a vehicle, from logistics management and procurement to the subsequent operators. This was also the case with the platform truck for LSV, as plant manager Robert Sandner emphasizes: "DIMOS worked very closely with us throughout the entire project and examined every detail in detail ."

Robust and easy to service
In addition to the close coordination with the later user and the detailed requirements analysis, the technical know-how of DIMOS, which has grown over decades, contributes in particular to an optimal vehicle development. The mechanical engineering company cushions high loads caused by the handling of heavy goods with well-engineered components and a well-coordinated design: The platform truck is robust, insensitive to wear and tear and scores with a low service effort and low maintenance costs . If service or a battery change is nevertheless required, these can be carried out quickly and easily thanks to the vehicle's modular design. "As with all our vehicles, the design of the platform truck is based on a modular system. This allows us to offer LSV the greatest possible flexibility and ease of servicing," explains Pascal Schütz, responsible for sales and development at DIMOS.

Energy-efficient thanks to purely electric drive
In addition to robustness and good maintenance accessibility, a contemporary solution is characterized in particular by optimum energy management. Therefore, LSV aimed for an energy-efficient solution. DIMOS was able to fulfill this wish with its powerful, purely electric drive concept: Thanks to its low battery and energy consumption, the maintenance effort for the platform truck is very low, whereas the operating times are particularly long. Hydrostatic drives, on the other hand, which are still the norm in commercially available systems, have a much weaker energy yield due to their low efficiency.
energy yield due to their low efficiency. Another advantage of the all-electric solution is that it is emission-free. This makes the platform truck more environmentally friendly compared with diesel-powered vehicles, as well as more cost-effective in the long term and contributing to a more pleasant working environment.

Lifting system above market standard
Further advantages result from the innovative design of the undercarriage and the lifting system. Unlike conventional solutions, the lifting system is located in the frame and not on the trolley. The reason: If the lift is implemented via the trolley, both the lifting system and the trolley are subjected to very high stresses, which leads to leaks and failures in the medium term. As DIMOS has implemented both systems separately, wear on the trolley is significantly lower. "One of the strengths of our platform truck is its robustness. This can be attributed not least to our innovative lifting system. We thus offer LSV a vehicle that reliably contributes to optimizing the material flow in the long term," says Schütz.

Conclusion: together to the optimal solution
Transporting significantly higher loads, saving energy and maximizing service life - LSV achieves each of these goals with its new platform trucks. This success is due in particular to DIMOS' vast experience in designing customized industrial trucks. Equally important, however, was the close requirements-oriented cooperation between the machine builder and the user, as Sandner makes clear: "Together, we developed the best possible solution for our special requirements. The result is more efficient logistics processes."