31
Mar

2015

Fatzer — Don’t Be Roped In With Massive Legacy Expenses

Fatzer Performa Wire Rope Cable

The rope is the heart of any ropeway — but companies that produce these components say that planners who ignore this fact early in the process do so to their detriment. Image via Fatzer AG.

Imagine dressing for the most important presentation of your career. Your $3,000 hand-tailored suit is perfectly matched with a newly pressed bespoke shirt, bright silk tie, and completed by richly burnished brogues. Then it is utterly spoiled by gym socks.

Add several zeroes to that initial sum and you have just pictured the sartorial equivalent to mismatching steel wire rope to your urban cable-car system. It can be an ugly error — but unlike socks, which are easily changed, this expensive mistake keeps on taking.

“When a cable-car system is designed, it is uniquely calibrated to fit with whichever gauge and quality of rope is selected. So the time to select the appropriate rope is right at the start,” says Matthias Stacher of Romanshorn, Switzerland. He’s the Sales Manager of Fatzer, among the world leaders in the production of steel wire for cable car systems since 1900. So he knows what he is talking about.

 

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25
Sep

2015

History Repeats Itself in Cycles: Fatzer Ropes

 

La Paz Linea Roja urbane Seilbahn-5 klein

Fatzer ropes doing the heavy lifting in La Paz

In a world of pliable brands that lend their name to nearly anything, Fatzer remains focused on doing what it has always done. The company has been creating rope since 1836 and steel wire cable since around 1900. Imagine trying to compete with so many generations of insider know-how. Imagine to break tight bonds between Fatzer rope engineers and the leading, close-by ropeway engineers, at the heart (the Alp triangle of Switzerland, Austria, South Tyrol/Italy and Savoy/France) of ropeway technology, where all state-of-art ropeways ever have been and still are engineered.

“When you do one thing really, really well, like aerial wire rope for ropeways and cable cars it’s hard for competitors to keep up,” says Daniel Graf, Fatzer’s Head of Transportation Wire Rope.

It Starts With Rigourous, Extended Testing

Every new Fatzer rope is tested on an improbably short ropeway at the company’s manufacturing site in Romanshorn Switzerland. Their engineers run the ropes at variable tension loads and exceptionally high speeds, unlike anything they would ever experience in the real world. The testing continues around the clock for weeks, sometimes months.

With the two stations just a few dozen metres apart and the constant bending and straightening of the rope, the effect is like a gondola system on steroids. The ropes quickly pass tens of thousands of cycles. So the Fatzer engineers quickly learn the life expectancy of a given product, whether wire rope, splice connection or rope pulleys and sheaves.

The testing goes beyond spinning the rope through cycles. “Everything that comes into contact with the rope, is tested,” says Graf, “and clients do appreciate that.”

Quality of Relationships and Trust of Their Clients

Graf is quick to add that a quality product is only table stakes in the ropeway game. “We know our business inside out”, but also makes a point of knowing our clients’ businesses inside out too. And there is the Fatzer wire rope at play: meeting not only written specs but the customer’s practical needs.

“When you understand what your client needs, you can recommend a solution that saves them big money,” says Graf. Such knowledge of their clients’ business is more essential than ever these days when use of urban ropeways in metropolitan areas is rapidly expanding worldwide.

As an example, he talks of clients in Barcelona created a win-win when they put in a rope with Fatzer’s Performa rope. Here’s what Fatzer client Mr. Carlos Sanchez said: “Bullwheel and sheave linings wear is significantly decreased, to appreciably prolong the useful life of such wear parts. Consequently, it demands lower power consumption due to the lower friction of the rope with all different rolling elements.”

The client satisfaction went further. “Concerning rope stretch is very low, allowing the installation to operate without costly downtime for rope shortening work. In our case, the Telefèric de Montjuïc, after 22,000 hours of operation, needed no resplice yet.”

The Performa rope is so effective for urban ropeway use, it was awarded a Red Dot Design Award earlier this year.

 

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28
Oct

2015

Sea, Sand, Doppelmayr and the World’s Longest Aerial Ropeway

Grundsteinlegung-HonThom.jpg_origin

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyên Tân Dung attended the launch of this record-etting project, September 4, 2015.

The Vietnamese islands of Phú Quốc and Hòn Thơm are the sort of exotically pretty holiday getaways that turn even the most mediocre of us into gifted photographers. Now, the photographs that tourists take here are about to become even more dramatic because Doppelmayr has begun building a cable car system of record-breaking length, connecting these two lovely islands.

End to end, the trip will be eight kilometers, making it the longest lift of its type in the world, plus the longest in a single section. We say ‘in a single section’ because, by design, it has to be. Connecting islands, the gondola traverses the beautiful Vietnamese Sea. Towers up to 160 meters tall are also being built on the two islands between Phú Quốc and Hòn Thơm. (That’s over half of the height of the Eiffel Tower, so imagine the views and photo opportunities.)

An extensive holidaymakers’ compound is also being constructed in the area, providing a huge array of exciting pastimes and accommodation for tourists. So the creation of this gondola made business sense.

Doppelmayr-3S-Hon-Thom-Grafik-A4-150901.jpg_origin

This new Doppelmayr 3S gondola system will stretch 8km, much of it across open sea.

DOPPELMAYR LAID THE FOUNDATION ON SEPTEMBER, 4, 2015.

Guests at the kickoff ceremony included Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng. Sun Group Corporation the project backers, commissioned Doppelmayr to build the gondola. The team expects to complete the project in about two years.

The gondola is a 3S system, technology which Doppelmayr believes is the best for the job. 3S stands for three ropes (S is for seil, the German word for rope). The system entails two fixed and fully locked track ropes that the cable car travels on, and another circulating ‘haul’ rope which is clamped to the 8-wheel cabin. It can move up to 8.5m/s.

Each cabin provides comfortable space for a capacity of 30 passengers. Doppelmayr created what it calls ‘an innovative carriage wheel generator’ to power the lighting and PA systems inside the cabins. Safety, however, remains the company’s priority. A unique recovery concept is being built into the design of this new gondola system. It ensures passenger safety in case, if for any reason, a cabin gets stranded on the line.

Doppelmayr-3S-Hon-Thom-Grafik-A4-150901.jpg_origin

This is just one of several major projects gondola systems Doppelmayr is building in Vietnam.

NOT THE FIRST RECORD-SETTING PROJECT SUN GROUP HAS AWARDED DOPPELMAYR.

Recently the two companies teamed up to create several other cable car systems including the Bana Big Ropeway, which itself set two Guinness World Records: 1) the longest gondola system of its kind in one section and 2) the system achieving the greatest vertical height.

Two other significant projects are presently underway: another 3S lift — this one will stretch over six kilometers on Vietnam’s highest mountain, Fansipan — and a reversible aerial tramway in Ha Long Bay. Both projects are coming on apace and the team at Doppelmayr expects they should be completed in the first half of next year.

So clearly the investment group believes Doppelmayr has the chops for this latest record-breaker, crossing the sea.

 

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29
Oct

2015

The Logistics of Transporting a Fatzer Rope

Using rope slings, a crane transports the fast-secured drum bearing 23.2 metric tons of cable bound for Korea.

Using rope slings, a crane transports the fast-secured drum bearing 23.2 metric tons of cable bound for Korea.

Recently we talked about Fatzer’s rope performance and the issue of replacing the cable on existing gondola infrastructure. We used Barcelona’s Montjuïc Cable Car as an example, quoting this client of Fatzer’s thorough satisfaction with the performance of their city’s new rope. But we didn’t consider the delivery that rope. Barcelona is over 1,000km away Fatzer’s facilities in Switzerland.

Obviously delivery is a vital part of the complicated process of getting a gondola working — but until now overlooked. We wondered just what that process really entails.

First we wanted to know how Fatzer communicates with clients around the globe — they all speak different languages — and second, just how do they deliver the ropes?


Consider the communication and transportation-safety issues.

“We communicate in their own language if we can,” says Fatzer’s logistics expert Patrick Schrämli. “If that’s not possible, we communicate in English.”

The 752-metre cable for Barcelona was delivered by truck. During transport, the rope’s very weight and how it’s wound combined forces to help keep it from prematurely unspooling. Additionally the rope was fixed onto its drum with wires and wooden wrapping. On top of all that went metal straps. The drum was lifted onto the truck with rope slings, then tightly secured before the long journey began.

That may seem like a big logistical challenge, but two times recently Fatzer delivered huge rope drums to Korea. That’s an extra 8,000km farther than the trip to Barcelona. Needless to say, those ropes did not go by truck (at least not all the way).

So heavy was this bound rope, the Fatzer team had to drive it to an airport in the next country!

This bound rope was so heavy, the Fatzer team had to drive it to an airport in the next country!

If not by truck, how did Fatzer actually delivery the ropes?

The first delivery was back in May. “The logistics experts at Fatzer had to provide an express solution,” says Alexander Strauch, Fatzer’s Head of Marketing & Communications. “The 650-meter-long, eight-strand OCTURA rope was shipped by air from Zurich directly to Korea.” The total weight was 4.6 metric tons.

Sometimes numbers can confuse rather than clarify things, so consider: By our rough calculations, this drum of wound rope totaled over a third of the weight of the passengers on a fully peopled Airbus A300*.

That too seems like an impressive shipment until you learn of the next, executed just a few weeks ago. Fatzer flew another rope to Korea but this one weighed 23.2 metric tons. That’s nearly the weight of all the 400 passengers on a fully loaded 747.

This time “the rope was simply too heavy to be dealt with at Zurich airport” says Schrämli. Instead it had to be transported by truck over 600km farther to Vienna, Austria. There, the rope was moved from the truck to the plane by crane — overseen by the airport’s specialists, who are used to such logistical freight challenges. Once the plane arrived in Korea, Fatzer’s client took over responsibility for its transport.

“Deliveries by air are exceptions” for Fatzer says Schrämli. “We normally transport our ropes by truck (Europe) or sea (overseas). The heaviest rope we handled recently was 145 metric tons.”

That’s over a third of the weight of an empty 747.

In Korea, Fatzer’s client will meet the shipment, having arranged transport from there.

In Korea, Fatzer’s client will meet the shipment, having arranged transport from there.



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* According to Wikipedia, the average European weighs 70.8 kg. So if an Airbus A300 were filled to its capacity of 200* passengers without luggage, those flyers would add just over 14 metric tons (link).

 

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06
Nov

2015

Apprenticing at Doppelmayr Part 2: A Win-Win (Everybody Gains)

The Doppelmayr apprentices' workshop in 2014

The Doppelmayr apprentices’ workshop in 2014

Recently we reported Doppelmayr’s contracts to construct new ropeways of record-breaking lengths and heights. Before that, we wrote about the company’s apprenticeship program. According to Ekkehard Assmann, Doppelmayr’s Head of Marketing and Public Relations, the two stories are more closely related than you may think. He attributes much of Doppelmayr’s recent successes and wins to the quality of all the members of its teams, and “many of our senior employees have come directly out of the apprenticeship program, starting as junior members.”

This past September, Doppelmayr announced the launch of their latest apprenticeship program with a photo of 22 young men and women. That number seemed like a lot to us. “For Doppelmayr, it’s not a lot,” he says. “We’d say it’s just about right.”

THE APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM WAS FORMALIZED IN 1979.

Doppelmayr has a long history of apprenticeship. Indeed, the company founder Konrad Doppelmayr was himself apprenticed to the town blacksmith early in his career, and the company has been formally training young people ever since.

The original workshop in 1979.

The original workshop in 1979.

However, the modern program was born in 1979 with the creation of an apprentices-only workshop. Before then, apprentices were trained on the factory floor, an arrangement which created its own set of challenges.

Just 9 new employees inaugurated that workshop, beginning their apprenticeships and careers with the company. 25 years later, that number had risen to a total 50 apprentices. Today Doppelmayr is training 92 apprentices.

TRAINING BEGINS WITH A YEAR IN THE WORKSHOP.

After extended months of gaining skills and confidence, trainees are paired with skilled workers in assorted departments. They are regularly moved around to acquire other skills and training. By their fourth year, they will have chosen a specialty.

Of course, since 1979 when the workshop was opened, advances in technology have continually changed the nature of the training within it. Consider all the almost innumerable innovations in steel construction, metal and electrical engineering, plant and industrial technology, and of course computerization.

“25 years ago, production was very conventional,” recalls Georg Dür, the head of Doppelmayr’s apprenticeship department. “With new technology the teaching job has become more sophisticated, challenging and extensive. The knowledge and skills demanded of apprentices is much greater now.”

DOPPELMAYR CALLS IT “A MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL RELATIONSHIP.”

Apprentices receive first-rate training, in strict accordance with Austria’s educational standards. Indeed, all of Doppelmayr’s electrical and metalworking instructors have qualifications from the Vorarlberg Economic Chamber and Chamber of Labor. (They also all began their careers at Doppelmayr.) Since 1997, Doppelmayr has continually been awarded “Apprentice Excellence,” a 3-year title recognizing companies in the Ausrian state of Vorarlberg with top standards in training.

The entire program is designed to educate the apprentices in the fields of mechanical and electrical engineering, but with a specialization in ropeway production. Dür says he is always looking to improve the program and maximize all the apprentices’ work experience with the company. “We take pride in helping each apprentice achieve their training goals with top marks.”

To accomplish those goals (the apprentices’ and his own) Dür inserts himself deeply into the students’ experiences. “I am the contact person for all kinds of schools, especially those providing vocational education, but also special interest groups for the local economy, like job fairs.” Reminding us how young the students, he says “I am also in contact with parents.”

Dür says apprenticing realizes a big return on investment for Doppelmayr and for himself. “Teaching keeps you on your toes. You need to remain relevant in our fast-changing world. Young people are so keen and show us a lot.” He says that teaching apprentices has helped keep him feeling younger too.

“I’m always impressed with what young people are able to achieve. They manage their schooling and private lives with family time, sports, volunteerism and the like. And they do it all with such positivity.”

 

 

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20
Nov

2015

Urban Ropeway Highlights From the Latest WIR Magazine

Emirates Air Line, featured in the latest WIR magazine, crosses London's River Thames.

Emirates Air Line, featured in the latest WIR magazine, crosses London’s River Thames.

Recently, Doppelmayr released the 197th issue of its WIR magazine, a review of the company’s worldwide scope of business. A good deal of the content examines the phenomenon of Doppelmayr’s products as urban transport. If you don’t have the time to read the magazine just now, here are some highlights and summaries of the urban ropeway stories there. You can always read them later.

Statistics Summary of London’s Emirates Air Line

Titled “An attraction in its own right” this short section on page 4 serves up the important numbers about London’s ropeway, built for the 2012 Olympics, bridging the River Thames. Highlights include 93% customer satisfaction out of 1.8 million customers per year and a recently renewed contract with DCC UK Ltd to continue service until June 2017.

A Review of the Benefits of Urban Ropeways on Page 6

Titled “One ropeway instead of the 2,000 car journeys”, this feature article equates 2,000 cars transporting 10,000 people in an hour with 100 buses — and 1 ropeway. The ropeway, it says, offers other unique advantages though, including minimal environmental damage, virtual noiselessness, cost-effectiveness, dedicated and predictable routes that can’t be clogged, easy linking to other urban transportation, excellent safety profiles and availability. Moreover, the article says ropeways can easily blend with the environment, traversing nearly any obstacles. Finally, it talks of how they are flexible enough to accommodate bicycles and wheelchairs, with constant access and no need to consult timetables.

Working Examples of Doppelmayr Urban Ropeways

Portland Aerial Tram.

Portland Aerial Tram.

The bottom section of page 8 features the 3S lift in Koblenz, Germany, which crosses the Rhine River, and the 10-passenger gondola lifts in the cities of La Paz and El Alto in Bolivia. Extending almost 10km they form the world’s biggest urban ropeway network. Next page over in the same spot, there’s a small blurb on the environmental advantages of Marquam Hill’s aerial tramway in Portland, Oregon. (Above this section is an easy-to-follow graphic plotting the major benefits of urban ropeways.)

 

Interview with a Transport for London Senior Manager

On page 10, WIR discusses London’s Emirates Air Line, England’s first urban ropeway, with Jeremy Manning, Engineering and Assurance Manager at Transport for London. The article’s title could be the theme of the whole magazine: “A ropeway is a means of transport and an attraction.” Manning talks up the ropeway’s environmental benefits in terms of eased traffic, minimal footprint on the ground and quick construction. Despite its occasional closing, Manning quotes an impressive technical availability of 99.9%. The interview closes with praise for the tourism the ropeway draws and the unique 360-degree views it offers.

Doppelmayr Cable Car (DCC) in the Urban Environment

Finally, on page 20, WIR reviews DCC’s “specialist areas” in cities, including ropeway construction, which the article says are “awakening interest worldwide.” Using its “requisite know-how,” the company is not only building Cable Liners but also winning contracts to operate ropeways in urban surroundings, on behalf of its client cities.

You can download the magazine here.

 

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01
Dec

2015

What Would a Ropeway Look Like in Your Hometown? Try Doppelmayr’s Ropeway Configurator

Select, colour and reposition cabins and stations in any background.

Select, colour and reposition cabins and stations with 360-degree mobility.

Last year, Doppelmayr introduced a ropeway configurator”, which anyone can sign up for and try out. It’s a simple suite of online tools you use to visualize key elements of a virtual cable car system. The configurator’s utility is limited but it does provide a great way to begin conversations about creating real ropeways.

In other words, if you’re considering a ropeway in your city — or pitching the idea of one — Doppelmayr has provided this tool for you to compose visual guides for your next meeting and presentation. (A warning: the tool is a lot of fun to use.)

TO START, YOU CHOOSE A SINGLE SUBJECT. THEN IMAGINE.

The instruction manual calls them ‘models’. They’re the key elements, to be found in a dropdown menu from a ‘+’ symbol. Choose a chair or cabin or one of two stations, then modify your model. It’s simple to move your model 360o in any direction, plus zoom in and out.

Choose from two available backgrounds or upload your own.

Choose from two available backgrounds or upload your own.

You can also colour a number of elements of your cabin and station. With dozens of pantones to choose from, you can select the one that best matches any of your corporate colours. Speaking of which, there’s also a tool that lets you add your logo to the cabin.

NOT JUST FOR SKIING ANY MORE.

You can add any background to your project. The configurator is made by an alpine company and, understandably, both stations sit atop snowy hills. But there are two available backgrounds for all models, one of which is an overhead vista in a densely crowded city.

Best of all, you can upload your own background and fiddle with the controls to fit your cabin or station into the scene with surprising realism. The background supports JPG and even PNG files. So you can take quick screen shots from the Internet and test them for snap judgments.

Remember, any of these elements can be rotated 360 degrees and zoomed into or out of. So say you have a photograph of your city taken from the air. You can place the cabin overtop as though it were traversing local streets and you were watching it from above. You can create this picture in a couple of minutes.

IT’S EASY TO GET STARTED AND RE-STARTED.

The tools are intuitive and easy to operate.

The tools are intuitive and easy to operate.

If you’re unsure what to do at first, download this PDF of simple instructions for operation. They explain how to register and log in and how to use every available tool for a great experience. The tools also fairly common. So the processes will seem familiar and intuitive to most regular web users. The configurator allows you to store several projects on Doppelmayr’s site, so you can always return later to polish or retrieve your work. Try it now.

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