Demag technicians will provide first-level support.

Konecranes has signed a contract with Daimler AG for the maintenance of four automotive plants in Germany. The contract includes more than 10,000 cranes and hoists, and over 23,000 load-handling attachments.

The service agreement covers regular inspections and maintenance in the car plants in Sindelfingen and Bremen, and the power train assembly plants in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim and Hamburg. In these plants, more than 10,000 cranes and hoists with load capacities from 80 kg to 63 T are used for important lifting applications along production lines and in final assembly. The safety inspections will also cover the inspection of more than 23,000 load-handling attachments and lifting accessories.

The contract also includes the maintenance of car-lifting platforms on the production lines in Sindelfingen and Bremen. In addition, Konecranes' Demag Service division will provide first-level support for passenger and load lifts as an option at the four plants when the lift service provider or staff are not available.

Before the contract was awarded, Demag Service presented a maintenance concept of end-to-end support and availability of the equipment in shift operation.

"This service contract is extremely important for Konecranes, which Demag now is part of," says Panu Routila, president and CEO of Konecranes. "The service business makes almost 40% of our net sales and we aim to increase this part even further. With a joint Konecranes and Demag service organisation, we will have even stronger teams that can take care of the service of our customers' equipment in the future."

Harald Valler, head of Demag Service Germany, is gratified by the confidence of a major customer. "A service package of this size can only be delivered by a strong and experienced organisation as part of a global service network," he notes.