Liebherr LH120C User Manual

Material handling machine

LH 120 C

Job Report

The LH 120 C Litronic material

handling machine in action

at Schrott- und Metallhandel

M. Kaatsch GmbH

Situation

Scrap recycling protects raw material resources, saves energy
and protects the environment. To ensure that the recycling
process can be carried out economically the old materials must
be collected, sorted and treated correctly so that they can be
used as secondary raw materials. Schrott- und Metallhandel
M. Kaatsch GmbH is a waste disposal contractor with a highly
modern range of machinery and an extensive infrastructure which
enables it to make a significant contribution to this process.

The company is one of the most important and largest handling
companies for scrap and metals in Southern Germany. When it
was founded in 1952 by Margarete Kaatsch, M. Kaatsch Schrott­und Metallhandel was the first step in a successful company
history bridging several generations. From humble beginnings
with a horse and cart, the company’s willingness to accept new
production techniques meant that it developed into a handling
company with its own port facilities and into a healthy, growing
business. In the hands of Managing Director Hermann Wager
and Scholz AG in Esslingen since 1988, Kaatsch GmbH has
developed into a modern recycling company. The small scrap and
metal storage facility from the 1950 has expanded not only in the
form of the company’s own fleet of vehicles but also with rail and

Task

Scrap is a mass volume material which means that transporting
it by waterway is an economical solution. An inland waterway
vessel on the River Neckar to date has had an average cargo
capacity of around 1250 tonnes. This corresponds to around 60
truckloads. The vessels are becoming increasingly larger and
they now have a capacity of up to 2000 tonnes of scrap. Since
the time when they are tied up costs money, the objective is to
load and unload these vessels as quickly as possible.

quay facilities. Since 1982 the company’s site has been extended
with environmental and bulk goods storage buildings and sound
protection systems to comply with environmental regulations.
Since 2004 Kaatsch has also operated a waste timber treatment
plant. Today the company in Plochingen has over 7,000 square
metres of production and storage space on which an average of
500,000 tonnes of material is handled every year.

The company site right on the railway intersection in Plochingen
with its own port facilities on the River Neckar is just about ideal
for transporting material by rail and water. Large quantities of the
treated scrap are loaded into vessels straight from the storage
site. The material then goes to supply steelworks in both Germany
and elsewhere with this valuable material by waterway which
protects the environment and saves energy.

A large number of Liebherr handling machines in various sizes
with mobile and crawler undercarriages is used for loading and
unloading trucks and railway wagons, for sorting the storing
scrap, feeding the 1,200 tonne scrap shears and for loading and
unloading ships.

This results in an increase in loading capacities. This also
reduces storage costs since the material is stored for as short
a time as possible. To achieve these objectives the company
decided to purchase a larger, more efficient handling machine.
The requirements for it were more grapple capacity and the
ability to get a greater reach and height range.