Airport & Municipal Days 2024 - two worlds in one place
Experts from airports and municipal services from 30 countries as well as many dealers and partners accepted Aebi Schmidt International's invitation to the Airport & Municipal Days 2024. Our guests were not only able to see and hear exciting things about future developments, but also drive vehicles and equipment themselves and put them through their paces.
The former military airfield and current ADAC test center in Penzing in the state of Bavaria offers a lot of space. A lot of space, in fact. An ideal place to move around freely, even with large machines, and to exchange ideas among specialists. Because long-term partnerships and a close, continuous dialog with customers from all over the world is and remains the foundation of our successful development.
Airport: focus on the future of snow clearing
Two topics dominated both during test drives and demonstrations on the apron and at the bar tables between the presentations in the hangar. Firstly: What solutions are there for carrying out snow clearance, which requires an enormous amount of power, with low or even zero emissions? Aebi Schmidt will be testing the first hydrogen-powered prototypes as early as 2025. Electrically powered sprayers and sweepers and vehicles will be tested in the upcoming winter season. Secondly, when will we finally see autonomous equipment in use? The technology for autonomous operations has been tried, tested and has been available for around two years. But how exactly and under what conditions it can be used at the airport depends on many individual factors. This has been demonstrated not least by the projects at more than 10 airports, where people wanted to know exactly how this would work in practice. Accordingly, nobody wanted to make an exact forecast at the event. Andreas Schwald, Head Special Clients & Key Accounts, says: "We are currently seeing increasing demand for our driver assistance system in particular. It supports more efficient processes and makes deployment planning and execution much more flexible. Ultimately, our driver assistance system is also a smart investment in the future, as the system enables a later transition to automated and autonomous operation."
Municipal technology: alternative drives, digitalization and intelligent product design
Many local authorities and service providers are also asking what contribution municipal technology can make to achieving local and regional emissions targets. In addition to alternative drives, digitalization is a major driver. Digital fleet and route management, remote diagnostics and maintenance, as well as assistance systems, lead directly to less use of resources and more flexibility in deployment planning. Compared to previous events, the number of electrically powered devices is growing steadily. The eSwingo 200+, eCleango 550, the Aebi CC 140e single-axle machine and the eSyntos and eStratos spreaders were clearly the focus of interest. "We support our municipal customers in achieving their sustainability and efficiency goals. At Aebi Schmidt, this goes far beyond offering alternative drives. I was delighted that we were able to showcase the full breadth of these capabilities," says Rudi Rosenkamp, Head Sales Global.
If you missed our Airport and Municipal Days, please get in touch with colleagues from our sales organizations or our dealers. Approaching challenges without prejudice and developing intelligent solutions has been in the DNA of the Aebi Schmidt Group for over 100 years. We look forward to hearing from you.