When everything revolves around clean roads and paths for three days in Hochdorf in the canton of Lucerne, it's sweeper drivers' conference time again. The specialist event, which takes place every two years, has meanwhile established itself with customers throughout Switzerland and this year again reached a record number of visitors. Around 415 participants from depots and road maintenance companies from all over Switzerland and Austria accepted Aebi Schmidt Switzerland's invitation to obtain first-hand information at the competence centre for sweepers and to further educate themselves on the subject of sweeping technology.
"For us, the customer relationship does not end with the purchase of the sweeper. On the contrary, it really starts then," says Guido Anderhub, sales consultant and sweeper expert at Aebi Schmidt Switzerland for 44 years. "The machines are becoming more and more technically complex and, at the same time, are exposed to ever higher demands. Operating times of up to 8 hours per day at full capacity 7 days a week are now often the norm. It is not unusual for a sweeper to accumulate more than 10,000 operating hours in its lifetime. At the equivalent of 48 km per operating hour, this results in an extremely impressive mileage of 12 circumnavigations of the earth. This requires not only high quality material, but also competence in daily operation on the part of the user, as well as corresponding know-how in maintenance and service. Our philosophy is therefore to make our customers themselves experts in the maintenance of the machines in order to reduce their costs for external maintenance and service work."
Topics such as breakdown repair, service, maintenance or warranty handling were trained at six stations. Of course, not only the latest sweeper models served as demonstration objects, but also older generation machines. Employees from the service or customer service departments explained in a clear manner how, for example, leaf grates can be cleaned most easily, hydraulic fluid can be checked or water filters can be replaced without water leaking from the tank.
"Some of my colleagues from the service department or the workshop have been with the company for several decades, just like me," says Guido Anderhub. "During this time, a lot of valuable knowledge naturally comes together, which we are happy to pass on to our customers."
Finally, during the demonstration on the test site, the latest generation of compact sweepers could be experienced in live operation. It has a new combination of pressurised water circulation and Koanda recirculation system on board. This reduces the emission of harmful fine dust by up to 95%, making it the most environmentally friendly compact sweeper on the market. Water consumption during sweeping is significantly reduced, as are noise emissions. Last but not least, sweeping operations are now possible even at slightly sub-zero temperatures without any problems. The new intelligent water system makes the machine even more efficient and resource-saving than ever before - longer sweeping operations are possible because time-consuming stops to refill the water tank are less frequent. In addition, a new height- and tilt-adjustable steering column including swivel function ensures ergonomic entry and exit and a comfortable seating position - even for tall drivers.
