ABUS EOT cranes in a plant producing concrete parts in Norway

Staff at the Norwegian company Björn Hansen A/S (www.spennbetong.no) may take their inspiration from the "Preikestolen" to be found near where they are doing their jobs at Forsand. The "Preikestolen", also known as the Preacher's Pulpit or Pulpit Rock, has been created by nature: this famous tourist attraction in the southwest of Norway is a massive cliff towering 604 metres (1982 feet) above Lysefjorden; the top of the cliff is approximately 25 by 25 metres (82 by 82 feet) square and almost flat. Another famous "structure" and tourist attraction is to be found at the Kjerag mountain, also on the Lysefjorden: the famous Kjeragbolten, a 5 m³ big stone which is plugged between two rocks.

Björn Hansen A/S is a specialist in the Norwegian concrete industry. Björn Hansen A/S was founded in 1998 with four staff and has grown to 65 employees today. Björn Hansen A/S has a design and calculation department to assist builders and architects in their planning stages. Next the concrete parts for the different projects like agricultural and industrial buildings as well as public buildings and bridges are being produced in a production plant of 1,600 square metres. The concrete elements weighing up to 60 tonnes are speedily shipped from the company-owned quay to the customer. Once the concrete elements have reached the customer’s building site Björn Hansen A/S will carry out the final installation.

Björn Hansen A/S is currently building a new production plant and had Industrikran Norge A/S (www.industrikran.no), ABUS’ Norwegian sales partner, install five double girder cranes of the ZLK type with lifting capacities of 20 tonnes and spans of 24.2 metres. One of these cranes features a second hoist with a 10 ton lifting capacity. Furthermore, one single girder crane of the ELV type was installed with a span of 11 metres and a 5 ton lifting capacity. These ABUS cranes are used in several areas of the company: for loading steel and concrete elements, for production processes as well as in the storage area.

While the new building is still under production concrete parts are already produced using about 50% of the production area.