Environment
Environmental considerations are of great importance to Aebi Schmidt and are therefore directly incorporated into product development. Environmentally friendly products have a considerable additional market advantage, particularly among customers in the municipal sector, where strict environmental regulations are becoming increasingly prevalent. The product methods of Aebi Schmidt comply with the applicable requirements on waste disposal, exhaust gas emissions, industrial wastewater treatment and discharge, monitoring and reduction of energy consumption for products, processes, facilities, transportation and traffic as well as the avoidance of emissions in soil, water and air. Using mixing chamber distribution systems, the thawing agents can be applied more precisely and more specifically and the salt consumption thus further reduced. The company takes care to only use hydraulic components without hazardous chromium VI, has introduced a zinc-free powder paint coating method and utilises the residual heat of the powder paint shop for heating. In the production area, the efforts are geared towards reusable packaging material e.g. pallets, the installation of motion detectors to reduce the power consumption and separate collection of scrap. Snow ploughs are increasingly equipped with fine-finish blades and ejection locks to save additional work steps.
The environmental performance of Aebi Schmidt in its four business segments is as follows:
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Winter service
From now on, all winter service operations will target specific areas while using as little material as possible. The efficient use of salt and thawing agents is given top priority to keep the resulting environmental burden at minimum. The Autologic and Thermologic systems take environmental circumstances into account and make it possible to reduce salt expenditure by up to 15%. In the reporting year, the first pilot projects for the reduction of particulate matter were completed and Aebi Schmidt is well-prepared to comply with any tightened regulations on reducing particulate matter (PM 10).
The winter service products have a good price-performance ratio and a high quality image in the market. The compatibility of individual machine components with various carrier vehicles creates high customer value.
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Summer service
The issue of particulate matter and the introduction of the new Euro 5 emission standard have a major impact on the demand behaviour regarding summer service products. The latest generation of sweepers has considerable environmental advantages and quality characteristics: Multifunctional high-performance vehicles in the higher price range reduce the release of dust on the basis of the Koanda effect. All compact sweepers are equipped with Euro-5-compliant low-emission engines featuring PM 10 particulate matter certification. Owing to a flow-optimised suction inlet and noise-reducing components, they are highly efficient and quite-running. |
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Agriculture
Aebi Schmidt’s range of vehicles for difficult terrain is based on state-of-the-art tractor technology. The latest vehicles are equipped with intelligent electronic control systems to maintain an ideal balance between engine performance and application. The Terratrac TT275 additionally features an ECO-drive mode to enable lower fuel consumption, smooth engine performance and minimal engine noise in the driver’s cab. The use of increasingly large and heavy agricultural vehicles is causing considerable soil compaction, which reduces the soil’s ability to absorb water and affects its overall quality. By employing lightweight designs and construction materials, Aebi vehicles are optimised in terms of soil protection. |
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Airports
Reliability, efficiency and speed are key factors for airport services. The precise dosing techniques and the high performance of vehicles for the application of solid de-icing agents make it possible to quickly establish safe conditions on icy surfaces. Schmidt spraying vehicles precisely apply liquid de-icing agents in exact, surface-covering doses. The Airport-Logic system prevents excess spraying of surfaces and enables the efficient use of de-icing agents. Furthermore, it is easy to operate, which is why this model is highly demanded. With its Green TJS model, which was delivered to Arlanda Airport (Sweden) in late 2010, Schmidt introduced a particularly environmentally-friendly vehicle to the market. By employing Agro-Diesel and biogas, its dualfuel Volvo D9 engine even enables CO2-neutral performance. |
Environmental performance of Aebi Schmidt
It is the second time for Aebi to publish its most important environmental performance data and it is the first time that all Aebi Schmidt locations are included (previously only the facilities in Burgdorf (Switzerland), St. Blasien (Germany), Holten (Netherlands) and Kielce (Poland)). Due to more welding, blasting and powder paint coating operations, the power consumption increased by 10% compared to the previous year. This increase is, however, less massive than the increase in the production capacity. Aebi Schmidt has set itself the goal to reduce the power consumption by installing a building management system, the waste generated during powder paint coating operations by applying the zinc-free powder paint coating method and the emissions caused by heating and paint coating.
Optimised processes
Optimised processes are particularly important to ensure fast production and low manufacturing and storage costs while making efficient use of energy and other resources. Avoiding packaging material and transport costs are further measures to improve the environmental production performance. For example, plastic base tanks are no longer delivered wrapped in foil but on transport cassettes. Certain spreaders (Galeox) are welded and paint-coated directly in the paint shop of the factory in Holten, which makes the transport of the containers from Poland to Holland expendable.
Examples of new products
The redesigned sweeper Swingo 200+ has been in use since January 2011 and replaced the tried and tested Swingo 200. The new, optimised suction port developed on the basis of flow visualisation analyses achieves a considerably improved cleaning performance over the entire width at the same amount of air in the suction fan. Furthermore, the new Swingo 200+ is extremely quiet-running, which allows for using it round-the-clock, even in residential areas. Owing to its smart design, the maintenance and spare parts costs have been reduced and work safety, operational convenience and efficiency increased, which is why the Swingo 200+ was well received in the market.