At the end of August, a brand-new AK 52 truck crane left the factory premises of Böcker Maschinenwerke GmbH to strengthen the team of Hubert Clees & Sohn GbR in Moers in the future. During the handover in Werne, Managing Director Daniel Clees, who manages the company in the fourth generation together with Christian Clees, received the keys. David Paulus from Geschwandtner + Felgemacher GmbH in Bocholt was one of those who congratulated him on the new acquisition. The crane was ordered via the roofers’ purchasing cooperative.
After the official handover, the strongest Böcker crane in aluminum-steel construction set off for its new home at the Lower Rhine in order to replace a loading crane which approaches the end of its service life.. It is in best company as the machinery of the family-owned company includes an AHK 34/1800 trailer crane and an AK 46/6000 truck crane already. In addition, Clees owns a number of inclined hoists, with four material hoists added only in the last three years. One more construction hoist of the Avario model has been ordered and is currently being manufactured at the Böcker premises.
In 2015, Clees decided to purchase a trailer crane in the 3.5 t class to make all jobs around the roof more efficient, to execute the increasing order volume on time and to be prepared for the future company growth. David Paulus, who is responsible for capital goods, durable goods and consumer goods at Geschwandtner + Felgemacher, organized a product demonstration in close cooperation with Böcker. After Clees tested the crane for a few days, the trailer crane convinced with its high outreach, large payloads and flexible set-up. Thus, the first crane joined the Böcker inclined hoists which were already used by company founder Hubert Clees, one of the first Böcker customers, for material transport in the sixties. With increasing order volumes, further new acquisitions became necessary in order to keep up with the growth also in technical terms. Thus, in 2019, an AK 46/6000 truck crane, which shines above all with its mobility and payloads of up to six tons, complemented the Clees team. Due to the constant expansion of the roofing company with currently more than 30 employees, the acquisition of the strongest Böcker AK 52 crane was obvious in order to be prepared for the requirements of the increasingly demanding large construction sites and future large orders. The crane handover and commissioning was celebrated in the due manner as another milestone in the company history during a big company party. As before, David Paulus also handled this purchase in close coordination with Andreas Weige.
The new AK 52 truck crane satisfies the roofing company with its enormous performance data combined with a very compact design and a low swing-through radius. Installed on a Mercedes Arcos truck, it has a gross vehicle weight of only 32 t and scores with excellent driving and maneuvering characteristics. As a 4-axle vehicle, it achieves large extension lengths of up to 52.00 m (optionally 55.00) with a maximum footprint of 6.89 x 6.40 m on both sides and lifts payloads of up to 12 tons. The additional ballasting reduces the footprint of the crane maintaining the same range. Thus, the AK 52 is really flexible and space-saving particularly when set up in tight spaces and used for inner-city jobs. The Böcker outrigger technology allows to extend and position each of the crane outriggers individually in order to optimize the set-up configuration on site.
With a large load capacity and high ranges, the AK 52 lifts any construction materials directly upwards without repacking thus minimizing handling on the ground. This saves valuable time and manpower that can be used on the roof instead. Another advantage of the AK 52 is its sophisticated control system with auto leveling of the outriggers, automatic release of the maximum working range and an optional rotation and erection angle limitation. The radio remote control with a full-color graphic display ensures an easy and intuitive operation. A radio camera on the jib with image transmission to the display provides the crane operator with an optimum view of the working area at any time.
In order to ensure a safe work even at dawn/dusk or in the dark, the truck crane as ordered by Clees also has LED ambient and loading area lighting as well as working lights on the jib joint and load hook. The PK 350-D personnel basket completes the equipment and, thanks to the Easy-Lock system, turns the crane into a fully-fledged access platform within a few minutes. The platform, which can be rotated through +/- 220°, can accommodate up to three persons or a load of 350 kg, which the AK 52 can lift out to a distance of 33 meters. With a cage load of 100 kg, the AK 52 in platform mode even reaches working heights of up to 51 m and ranges of up to 37 m.
The special equipment of the new crane also includes the connection to the smart customer portal BöckerConnect. Here, Clees can view the location and performance data of their connected cranes at any time. On the construction site, they benefit from the numerous technical possibilities of the portal, e.g. GeoFencing to protect the equipment against theft, tracking of routes, available up-to-date usage statistics and sophisticated remote maintenance thanks to up-to-date diagnostic data and sensor values.
