Lifting frame used for fruit press installation

“That Pfanner company, now they can make fruit juice,” is the slogan used by this major European fruit juice producer, which has its headquarters in the Austrian federal state of Voralberg. Since 1985, they’ve been doing that in their factory in the Upper Austrian town of Enns as well. And to make sure it stays that way, a fruit press weighing approximately 25 tonnes was replaced by the Felbermayr heavy equipment installation team in April.

Rail-mounted lifting frame

The new press was delivered last year, but was put into temporary storage until installation could take place in April. “We transported the press to the site in February of this year before carrying out the final preparations for the installation process,” says Herbert Gruber, looking back on the project from the branch office in Linz. In his role as Head of the In-Situ Transport department, he played a significant role in the planning phase of this project. A special-purpose lifting frame with four pistons and a maximum lifting force of 50 tonnes was used for this project. “What makes this lifting frame particularly special is its slender design. It’s this design that allows us to use the lifting frame even in particularly cramped spaces,” says Gruber, who goes on to explain: “Two pistons were set up both in front of and behind the press in order to lift the 25-tonne press up off the 2.6-m-high baseplate. We then lifted the 6.6-m-long and 3-m-wide machine off the baseplate and set it down on a rail-based shunting system using two buffer beams, which were mounted on the lifting frames.” Because a belt press was blocking the route to the exit area and the process of dismantling this press would have involved a serious amount of effort, we decided to use the rail system to circumnavigate this obstacle. “We carried out the final mounting work on the new press at the same time,” explains Gruber.

A mobile crane with a bearing load of 250 tonnes, a forklift truck and telescopic forklift and a heavy-duty transportation vehicle were used to rig the heavy components at the production site. The new press was moved in by carrying out the removal steps in reverse order. It should be noted, however, that the new press weighs around 43 tonnes and is around two and a half metres longer than the old one. This made the moving-in procedure complicated: “In the end we managed it with about two centimetres to spare,” explains Gruber, who is delighted that the team was successful in moving in the new press; an achievement that was celebrated with delicious fruit juice.

Due to the spatial restrictions, a lifting frame with a special-purpose, slender design was used

The new fruit press, which weighs around 43 tonnes, was transported to the installation site on a heavy-duty transportation vehicle.

A mobile crane with a bearing load of 250 tonnes was used to rig the heavy lift cargo at the factory premises of Pfanner.

The new press was installed successfully thanks to the synergistic interplay of human resource and lifting frame technology. Forklift trucks and telescopic forklifts also had a role to play.

The Felbermayr heavy equipment installation team put their heart and soul into their tasks at the factory of the Austrian fruit juice producer Pfanner.

An obstacle, namely a belt press, blocked the route to the exit area and had to be circumnavigated with a rail system.

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