High payload despite a large crane – the four‑axle vehicle developed by Customer Tailored Trucks specifically for Wego Systembaustoffe GmbH is used for delivering construction materials into the upper floors of buildings.

At least one thing is booming despite the pandemic: Frankfurt is currently one big building site. But it isn’t just Frankfurt that is undergoing vast amounts of construction work, rather also the entire Rhine‑Main region – and especially at some pretty dizzy heights. One such new addition to Frankfurt’s skyline is the 180‑metre‑high “Grand Tower”. If you were to stack all of the plasterboards used in this building on top of each other, the pile would be more than 1,100 metres high. And these very plasterboards were delivered by Wego Systembaustoffe GmbH.

The company is based in Hanau and has more than 50 locations in Germany and Luxemburg. They are leading specialists in the sale of drywall materials, floor systems, construction elements and technical insulation solutions – all of which are indispensable in the vast majority of building projects.

“We have a strong sales team, market‑leading logistics processes and top‑level suppliers,” says Daniel Schimmelpfennig who is responsible for the approximately 900‑strong vehicle fleet which Wego/Vti operates in Germany and which also features 300 trucks. Around 200 of the trucks are from Mercedes‑Benz.

For Mr Schimmelpfennig, the vehicle fleet is decisive for the company’s success: “We increasingly have to deliver just‑in‑time because there’s only limited storage space available on the sites,” says the trained vehicle mechanic, IT sales specialist and former self‑employed logistics advisor. This means that a large amount of material has to be brought directly to where it is needed, where there is often only limited space available. “High‑craning as part of logistics processes is becoming increasingly important.”

“Thanks to our ability to deliver using the crane, our customers save time and money,” says Mr Schimmelpfennig, who gave particular attention to the best compromise between equipment and payload when configuring the vehicle. In close collaboration with Custom Tailored Trucks in Molsheim (France), the requirements of Wego/Vti were turned into a tailor‑made four‑axle Actros. The vehicle left the production line as a three‑axle truck and the fourth axle was added in Molsheim.

What’s more, the leading and trailing axles are both steered and can be lifted. “It means I can get round pretty much any bend,” says Werth. The body comes from Kotschenreuther Jahnsdorf and the crane is a Palfinger 34002 SH. “With the crane, we can reach a working height of 27 metres. That means that we can deliver up to seven stories high,” explains Mr Schimmelpfennig.

Despite this equipment, the truck offers an available payload of more than twelve tonnes. The benefit of this additional payload is also felt when planning the routes: “The four‑axle Actros enables us to leave the trailer behind and still deliver roughly the same quantities,” says Mr Schimmelpfennig.

That’s not just a good news for our fleet efficiency, but also particularly advantageous when driving in Frankfurt where the often complex traffic situations make driving with an additional challenge in daily operations.