Clean competitive advantage

The VarioPilot® transferable steering is very important to Sauter's business. Every Unimog is equipped with it. The company, besa strassenunterhalt AG from the Swiss town of Balterswil in the canton of Thurgau, specialises in greenery and woody vegetation maintenance on roads and railroad embankments. His father laid the foundations of the company in 1980. At the time, Beat Sauter was out in the region with his tractor, keeping the growth along the roads in check. Gradually, the order volume and thus the operation grew. The tractor quickly reached its limits. "That's why there was no alternative for us but the Unimog," says son Ralph Sauter (35), who now runs the business together with his brother Sandro, who is one year younger.

The Sauters have 23 employees. And all of them are huge Unimog fans. "Our father had already built the first crane himself back then. We don't use any off-the-shelf cranes. We build all our cranes ourselves and also fit all the bodies in our workshop ourselves." They are talking about a hydraulic universal arm that is mounted in front of the engine hood or at the rear and can operate a variety of machines.

Whether mulcher or shear for cutting woody growth along the railway tracks: the Sauter brothers are proud of their father's skill and his technical masterpieces, which they still build as he once did. The hydraulically extendable counterweight on the left side is also a Sauter invention. Five of the Unimogs are equipped with a 2-way system. "In just a few minutes we're on the track and can start vegetation maintenance," explains Ralph Sauter.

But that's not all: only a few companies in Switzerland are able to clean tunnel tubes. besa AG is one of them. As a rule, Swiss tunnels are washed every year. However, only up to four metres high. Above that there are no safety-related markings or lighting installed. It takes four hours to clean one kilometre of tunnel on both sides of the carriageway.

And what if all tunnels have been cleaned and all woody vegetation cut back? Of course: then it's time for winter service!

Project implemented with Unimog dealer: LARAG AG