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Mönchengladbach. Vehicles are often parked in a fleet for a long time without being in use, since clearing snow or gritting a road is not necessary all year round. The GEM recognized this years ago and uses the basic vehicles to transport the residual waste from Mönchengladbach from the depot to the waste incineration plant in Krefeld: After the winter service, the gritter is removed and the trailer can be coupled.
Now mags and GEM have further developed this idea. A container with 6600 liters of water is placed on the vehicle and a pouring arm is mounted. The tractor has been converted into an irrigation vehicle that waters street trees.
“We have developed the possibility of converting our carrier vehicles to multifunctional and thus cost-effective, as part of a research project,” says Gabriele Teufel, CEO of GEM. Because there were no comparable solutions on the market.
Mayor Felix Heinrichs, Chairman of the Board of Directors of mags, saw this efficient use of the 3-in-1 solution on site. He was particularly impressed by the short time in which the vehicles can be converted: thanks to the latest technology, the snow blade and winter service spreader can be mounted on the tractor-trailer and the winter service container filled with salt and 1700 liters of brine within 30 minutes. Also in just half an hour, the tractor-trailer can be turned into an irrigation vehicle.
The trained GEM employee controls the 5.5-meter-long casting arm from his driver’s cab using a joystick. From April to October you can see the vehicles in action for the trees on the street. The amount of water to be poured of 100 liters per tree can be set automatically. A 25 meter long hose is also on board. It is used to water buckets and to fill the watering bags on young trees.
Felix Heinrichs is impressed by the concept: “Irrigation is becoming more important, as the hot summers show us. I think it’s great that mags and GEM are so innovative. With targeted use of technology, water reaches the trees. “
In the next step, mags wants to use sensor technology for watering.
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