Europe’s most sophisticated commercial vehicle plant is in Lübtheen: here, on a site of over 430,000 square metres, Brüggen (part of the Krone Commercial Vehicle Group) manufactures around 8,000 – 9,000 actively and passively cooled vehicles per year, exclusively for Krone. Refrigerated trailers, dry cargo boxes and swap bodies are also manufactured here. Brüggen can guarantee high quality because all core components for vehicle chassis and boxes are manufactured by professionals in the company’s own facilities. Orders come in from customers from around 40 countries.
Chassis production
Box production
C1 STEEL STRUCTURE
The steel blanks are MAG welded.
C2 BLASTING
The chassis is blasted with steel balls for preparation – this ensures optimal adhesion of the CDP and powder coating.
C3 CDP AND POWDER
In the fully-automated production plant the CDP coating is applied in 200,000-litre capacity dip tanks, followed by the individual colour powder-coating, depending on customer specification.
C4 CHASSIS BELT
All safety attachments – including rear underride guard, tool boxes, water tank, lifting/lowering unit, axles including wheels, support legs and tank, pallet boxes and ship lashing – are bolted-on and electronically monitored through automated, precision-timed operations on the chassis belt.
B1 COIL PROCESSING
The coated material for the inner and outer skin of the box is supplied and then processed, straightened and cut to size.
ISOWALL
The new retrofittable Krone Isowall PLUS is particularly lightweight, yet ultra robust and exceptionally easy to handle and position. Locking system, sliding wall and a clever opening/closing design reduce components and weight, enable a greater load area and make the wall easier to manoeuvre.
B2 SHEET METAL MANUFACTURING
The individual sheet metal segments are joined and the customer-specific equipment such as DOS rails, lashing rails, evaporator, air guidance and air ducts are installed.
B3 FOAMING
The polyurethane sandwich panel is produced in the corresponding material thickness, to customer specification, whereby the physical properties are optimally configured.
B4 ASSEMBLY
The individual box elements – side walls, base, roof, front wall and rear door – are assembled.
MERGER
Here the box and chassis are optimally matched and joined, and completed with a refrigeration unit and optional foil wrap. The vehicle is accepted by the quality assurance department once manufacture is complete.
DELIVERY
The dispatch staff collect all data and take photos for the vehicle file documentation, which is then delivered to the customer.
