Steffisburg, Switzerland
armasuisse
The Federal Office for Armaments armasuisse is a federal authority of the Swiss Confederation. It is affiliated to the Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport DDPS. As the procurement, technology and real estate center of the DDPS, armasuisse is responsible for the development, evaluation, procurement and disposal of systems, material of the armed forces and other customers as well as for the planning and procurement of real estate of the DDPS. armasuisse is one of the four procurement competence centers of the Confederation and has almost 950 employees.
The Federal Armaments Office armasuisse is one of the largest logistics companies in Switzerland. The troops of the Swiss Armed Forces need a huge amount of material for every deployment. But owing to the lack of a solution, the material used to be stored outdoors at various locations throughout Switzerland, which meant it was at the mercy of the elements. This was an issue when storing technically sophisticated systems in particular. Collecting the required materials was extremely difficult from a logistical perspective, but there were also other factors that played a significant role – such as carrying out maintenance on the containers and ensuring sensitive substances were protected against.
A new solution was needed, as traditional block storage involves moving containers around until the desired container is reached. In addition, access to the individual containers had to be made easier - they have to be serviced regularly, which can sometimes be uncomfortable in icy temperatures or rain. However, it is not so easy to find a company that can design a stacker crane for these dimensions. Together with our long-standing partner, Jungheinrich AG, we were able to realize the project. With a payload of 18,000 kg, this is the largest heavy-duty giant we have ever realized.
The solution that addresses all these challenges is a high-bay warehouse for containers. But because the Swiss Armed Forces needs to store swap bodies and swap roller containers in addition to containers, a heavy load carrier designed just for this purpose was developed to keep everything running smoothly inside the high-bay warehouse. Besides giving stability a special priority, the platforms also act as a preliminary collecting basin that can hold up to 200 liters of liquid if need be. Given that this warehouse also houses hazardous substances, equipment of this type is especially advantageous. In addition to a large-scale extinguishing system, another focus when fitting the stacker cranes was placing the control cabinet and conductor line in an elevated position where they would be protected against the risk of explosions.
Heavy-duty system
Dual drive system
