Demolition German demolition contractor Weimer GmbH has been using Rotar shears and grabs for more than 10 years.

Robust ROTAR attachments for high productivity on demolition sites

Weimer GmbH, founded in 1888, is a successful construction company that specialises in demolition and renovation in addition to turnkey construction, civil engineering and road construction. Jens Kunkler is Head of Machine Technology and therefore is responsible for purchasing, maintaining and selling the machines and attachments from the company's machine park, including numerous grabs, shears and pulverisers from Rotar.

Kunkler has also gained experience with the products of market competitors in these product groups and knows exactly what is important when these devices are in daily use. The company has been purchasing demolition equipment from Rotar for longer than 10 years and, according to Kunkler, all of the shears and grabs purchased at the beginning are still in use. His conclusion: ‘We are very satisfied with the quality of the Rotar attachments, the cutting and crushing power of the shears and also with their working speed.’

Close cooperation between manufacturer, retailer and customer

Before new equipment is added to Weimer's machine fleet, it is put through its paces by the machine operators: Also, when the cooperation started, the first Rotar attachments were only purchased after extensive testing. Since then, the company from Lahnau (located within 70km from Frankfurt/Main) has remained loyal to the attachments of the Dutch manufacturer who has got more than 40 years of experience in development and production of attachments for recycling and demolition. The co-operation between the two companies is now so close that Rotar asks Weimer for feedback on new developments and technical changes of the devices.

Regular maintenance and the replacement of wearing parts on the equipment is carried out in the company's own workshop; only for a thorough overhaul do they go to the Rotar dealer Zeigner Abbruchtechnik, with whom both Rotar and Weimer have a long-standing business relationship. Sascha Zeigner appreciates not only Rotar's high quality and quick response times but also the solution-orientated company philosophy and his close contact with the company's management and engineering team.

Rotar Sales Manager Hans George Ribitzki ensures that everyone involved is always up to date, he provides information, introduces new products and organises tests for technical changes. Ribitzki explains: "Our attachments ensure higher productivity and reduced downtimes for our customers, because we consistently stick to our quality principles such as the use of the highest quality components with the lowest possible wear, ease of maintenance and a simple but robust design. Many years of experience, extensive expertise in the field of hydraulics and constant innovation also contribute to the success of our devices." The long-term success of the attachments shows that this strategic orientation of the owner-managed company is paying off.

Rotar attachments on every construction site

Weimer's senior site manager, Thomas Koch, reports that Rotar equipment are to find on all sites of every current demolition project of the company: One example of this is the demolition of an old state winery in Schwalbacher Straße in Eltville. Here, two big Liebherr R946s are dismantling a former storage cellar, while another is carrying out the necessary earthworks. The challenge of this project is that the old cellar extends eight metres into the ground and consists mainly of very hard concrete with a lot of steel.

Rotar demolition shears, pulverisers and grabs of various weight classes are therefore used on this construction site, and occasionally a piece has to be chiselled away, but to minimise noise pollution, most of the time shears and grabs are used. After demolition, the concrete is crushed directly on the construction site, the steel is sorted out and the material is then taken to the landfill and processed so that most of it is returned to the construction cycle. On another construction site in an industrial area in Marburg, a big Hitachi KMC600P with a large RSS 50 scrap shear and RG 60-N grab is working, and on another construction site, an old school is being demolished with a Liebherr R966 including an RDP 42 S pulveriser.

Fully integrated adapter saves time and fuel

The fact that Rotar attachments can be equipped with the fully integrated ROQ adapter has also proved particularly successful with Weimer, who has also been involved in its development. The plug & play solution not only gives the attachments a flatter design and lower weight, but also the internal direct hosing ensures an optimised hydraulic oil flow and therefore lower fuel consumption. The implements also require considerably less time to service: The cover of the service opening, through which all important components in the rotary head can be reached, can be removed by opening only 5 screws. This makes the time-consuming disassembly of a conventional adapter plate with 18 screws unnecessary.

For Thomas Koch, the close cooperation with Rotar and the fact that they are always happy to receive suggestions for improvement is very important. Koch explains: "Not many manufacturers do this: If I say that my machine operators have a complaint about one of the attachments, someone comes round very quickly and takes a look at it. If it's something that has become a problem for several of them, the next generation of the device will remedy the situation." Looking back Koch says that the company has had very good experiences with the various Rotar attachments; there has never been any major damage or wear in all that time. Added to this is the great flexibility shown by Rotar dealer Zeigner Abbruchtechnik from Hünstetten. Sascha Zeigner solves problems quickly, pragmatically and without complications, and he is always available for his customers - as is the manufacturer of the equipment itself.