Compact pick & carry material handler showcases its skills in Germany's Westerwald forest

Compact pick & carry material handler showcases its skills in Germany's Westerwald forest

“A key piece of equipment in our sawmill and in the log yard,” is the glowing review given by Managing Director Bernd Koch in relation to the green Sennebogen 723 material handler. This machine with a reach of 11 m and a 1.25 m² log grapple has been put to use with great success at Sägewerk Koch GmbH in Germany's Westerwald region.

With a history stretching back to 1910, the Koch sawmill has developed into a state-of-the-art sawmill operation in recent decades. Construction timber and a wide range of products for the packaging industry both in Germany and abroad are now produced by the firm.

The new Sennebogen 723 pick & carry material handler, which sales and service partner BRR Baumaschinen Rhein-Ruhr Mitte delivered to Langenbach in 2017, has since become an all-purpose machine within the company's operations. The material handler is now used in a whole host of applications including removing the logs from the sorting boxes, filling the mill decks, moving the long timber onto the cross conveyor, and supplying the chipping lines.

The Sennebogen 723 E-Series is equipped with material handling equipment with a reach of 11 m and the reliable hydraulics are powered by an economical 119 kW diesel engine that meets the stage IV emission standard. When it came to the features that the drivers and company management were looking for, the compact and flexible nature of the machine in particular was the decisive factor, as Bernd Koch confirms. Of particular importance to the drivers was the excellent view afforded by the elevated cab and the fact that the machine would be easy to access for maintenance purposes. The machine also impressed with its fast work cycles and low noise emissions.

Depending on the application, trunks ranging from 2.5 m to 20 m in length and with diameters of between 13 and 50 cm are moved at Koch. The original Sennebogen log grapple with a capacity of up to 1.25 m² and extra-low design thanks to the horizontal cylinders is particularly suited to this task.