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TRACTO-TECHNIK Is Looking Into the Future After 50 Successful Years
As is often the case with highly successful companies, TRACTO-TECHNIK started their success story in a small rented garage in the village of Lennestadt, in Germany. The garage is even still standing today. It all began on November 14, 1962 when 4 employees started to build pulling devices. This equipment pulled drill rods and trench sheeting out of the ground. The main customer in those days was KRUPP Bautechnik, in Essen. Nice weather conditions on the first day turned out to be a positive sign: in conjunction with the economical development all roads seemed to be leading upwards in the years to follow. Still, it was not easy in the beginning. “My father was an optimistic person and looked at things from this angle. Whoever puts his head in the sand cannot discover anything new. In other words, he grabbed hold of every problem by the scruff of the neck when he believed that he could find a useful solution. Most of his results brought us forward very quickly. Our innovative strength grew through him and this is why, even nowadays, the driving factor and incentive are the main innovations,” remembers Wolfgang Schmidt, son of the company founder Paul Schmidt and the current company director. TRACTO-TECHNIK was still in its nursery years, but started to learn very quickly to stand on its own feet. The young company gained recognition and confidence in its competence and innovation strengths. The company name was programmed, as the first products carried the names TRACTODRILL and TRACTOMAT. The latter won the coveted “The Blue Band” award in Brussels and is still applied today for the pulling of guard railing rods adjacent to roads.
That was the birth of TUBOMAT. The interest of manufacturers did not take long to arrive. With small technical improvements to its original form, it is still the yardstick in hydraulic tubing. Forty years after the arrival of the first TUBOMAT, the business field around the pipe forming technology develops and produces safe solutions all around the tube package. This includes innovative machines and precise measuring technologies, as well as intelligent software solutions. The latest highlight is a fully electric right-left pipe bending machine fitted with 15 servo-axials, which can produce highly complex pipe figures within seconds. A small incident in 1970 lead to a radical upheaval in the product offering. A fresh tarmac road in front of the Schmidt’s house had to be disrupted once again after only a few days, In order to install a water pipeline. This gave Paul Schmidt another clever idea. The soil displacement hammer GRUNDOMAT was born – the start of many innovative developments for the trenchless pipe installation field.
Up to now, more than 350 patents secure the R&D. This has turned TRACTO-TECHNIK into a pacemaker and pioneer. TIMI (Tracto Ideas Make Innovations) makes sure that the innovation processes at TRACTO-TECHNIK have a true structure. The broad-mindedness and enthusiasm for technology has provided numerous new developments. These have also brought a large amount of awards and tributes. The steered bore technology has been especially fascinating. The tasks and requirements were diverse and lead the way to the level of technology available today via a non-exemplary development cycle. They were true pioneering achievements. Always new ideas on the board – arising from daily practical experiences – which were converted into this rather young technology under the motto: “The better is the enemy of the good”. The company Beerman from Hörstel-Riesenbeck is currently working with 20 GRUNDODRILL bore rigs. “Due to our collective experiences we have gained from each other over the years, we hold TRACTO-TECHNIK in high esteem, especially as they are always ready to listen to the challenges of the market, their innovative performances, as well as their reliability,” said the company owner, Ewald Beerman. The latest product is a bore rig for the installation of house connections, which is applied out of a so-called keyhole with a diameter of only 65 cm. The underground renewal of pipes with the GRUNDOBURST technology is a further center of focus. Service and sewage pipes in need of sanitation are replaced in the same bore path by pipes of the same size, or even larger with the relevant hydraulic power, providing a new effective service life for decades. Its chief aspect is a patented QuickLock bursting rod, which is not screwed, but is simply latched into place The GRD bore technology arrived in 2007 for an efficient exploitation of geothermal energy. Bores are carried out from a plastic manhole in all directions (360°) and inclinations (30°-65°). The compact bore rig can be used even on the tightest premises and hardly causes any surface damage. TRACTO-TECHNIK leads with example and applies successive geothermal heat at its operating plants. Production techniques have been constantly adapted to meet the requirements with modern CNC manufacturing technology. The aim has always been in part to increase productivity, but mainly to achieve a solid quality for highly reliable and long-lasting products. In the 1980s the company’s growth started to accelerate and spread out all over the globe, first of all in England, then in France, USA and Australia. The TT export department and the sister companies take care of and support more than 60 partners all over the world. TRACTO-TECHNIK has got clear eco-political targets, which are thoroughly and constantly encouraged, as well as an environment-friendly machine technology and also numerous ecological projects. In the meantime the nature protection board (NABU) has implemented the trenchless pipe installation method into its general directives. Continuity and stability have always been benchmarks in the company’s policy. The challenges of the future are seen by TRACTO-TECHNIK in a modern and safe supply and disposal in the energy and communication field, where technologies and methods of the trenchless pipe installation can contribute substantially.
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That was not all. A short time later, KRUPP presented a development consignment to TRACTO-TECHNIK for a hydraulically-driven ramming device. The professional knowledge in hydraulics was obtained by Paul Schmidt and his colleagues at an evening school in Siegen. Afterwards they searched in vain for a machine capable of handling hydraulic tubes. This included cutting lengths, deburring, bending and the pre-assembly of cutter rings. In the end, Paul Schmidt looked at this casually. “If there is no such thing, then we will invent the machine.”
As market leaders, the GRUNDOMAT soil displacement hammers are also “Global Players”, as they are applied on a daily basis all around the globe. For the trenchless installation technology the “mole” has become a strong symbol. It has become the marketing sign, which has won the trust and regards of our customers.
