Lightweight Super Lift Highest in the World


German Ruthmann GmbH & Co has set a new height record for aerial platforms for light vehicles. The new maximum working height is 27 meters, thanks to a powerful long telescoping boom made of advanced high strength steel. The design is one of four competing for the 2010 Swedish Steel Prize.

Steiger TB 270 is the name of the new vehicle - a light truck with built-in aerial platform and total weight just under 3.5 tons. For this weight class operators only need an ordinary passenger car driving license to drive the light truck. With a reach of 27 meters, the small truck holds the height record in its weight class. Compared with previous models, the reach has increased by five meters, or 22 percent.

"The difference is huge for these heights and vehicle size," says Stephan Balzer, site manager for Ruthmann's production facility just outside Münster, Germany. "The areas of application are rapidly growing. Work that previously required large, heavy trucks can now be carried out by two people with a small light truck that is set up in a couple of minutes. In addition, it operates in tight spaces and sensitive environments that large trucks can't reach."

Half the thickness

The material is crucial for the strong yet lightweight design. The lift boom consists of five telescoping sections, made of advanced high-strength cold-rolled steels. Tensile strength is 1200 N/mm2 and the material thickness varies between 1.5 and 1.8 mm, almost 50 percent thinner than the previous design. Even though the material is thinner, the design is stronger with better properties, partly because of the high tensile strength of the high strength steel, and partly because of Ruthmann's innovative new design solution.

"The changes are extensive but a few of the key points are that we changed the lift boom profile and moved the location of power, hydraulic, and data cables that go between the vehicle and working cage," says design manager Nico Wessels. "The boom is now lighter, stronger, and more rigid."

The vehicle generated great interest at its unveiling just before summer. The order books are already full and production is booming.

Facts

Vehicle Weight: 3,500 kg

Max working height: 27 meters

Max horizontal outreach: 14.80 meter

Max working cage load capacity: 230 kg

Number of employees: ca 300

Sales (): ca 50m.

Export: ca 30%

For more information, please contact:

Ulrika Lilja,

External Communications SSAB,

+46 72 209 31 54,

ulrika.lilja@ssab.com

Anders Sörman,

Project Manager, Marketing SSAB,

+46 243-710 80, +46 70 221 93 26,

anders.sorman@ssab.com

SSAB is a world-leading producer of high strength steels. SSAB offers products, developed in close cooperation with customers in order to create a stronger, lighter, and more sustainable world. SSAB has 8,700 employees in more than 45 countries, with production plants in Sweden and the United States. SSAB is listed on NASDAQ OMX Nordic, Stockholm.

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