Although International paper and packaging group Mondi only took over the facility in 2004, the site has been around for over a century, and the building housing the machine needing the part changed is hemmed in by newer structures.
This left Schmidbauer with very few staging points for the lift, and even once one was identified it was 46m away from the machine.
However, Schmidbauer have recently purchased a 350t Liebherr mobile crane, the LTM 1350-6.1, which has a 70m-long telescopic boom.
As well as its suitability for this job, Schmidbauer Group managing director Werner Schmidbauer explained his rationale for purchasing the crane. He said: “With the LTM 1350-6.1 we are expanding our fleet. It’s the most powerful crane in its class, and at 70m in length the telescopic boom is a very definite move forwards in this segment.
“With the new Liebherr crane we can cover the requirements when it comes to moving really heavy loads, and it’s also very well-suited for operations in the wind power sector, for example when it comes to moving the wind power components around and the maintenance of the systems.
After taking delivery of the crane at Liebherr’s Ehingen factory, Schmidbauer brought the LTM 1350-6.1 to the Raubling site and rigged it with 100t of counterweight and a 42m luffing jib.
In this configuration, with a less than ideal vantage point 46m away, Schmidbauer’s operator carefully removed the drying cylinder through a narrow opening in the factory’s roof, and was able to position the replacement through the same opening using the precision controls on the 1350-6.1.