The Starkenberger Baustoffwerke GmbH SBW in north-eastern Thuringia excavates high-grade sand and gravel. Thousands of tonnes of earth are moved every day. The company has been using a Fendt 939 Vario to do this work for a few years now. The tractor is more flexible and economical than conventional construction vehicles.

One finds them increasingly more often on large construction sites. Sometimes they are powdered white with lime dust or full of mud in the rain: Fendt tractors. A Fendt 939 Vario has been in operation in the sand and gravel pit at the SBW for a few years now. “Its versatility has convinced us. Where we would have had to use a dumper, dozer and an excavator before, we now only need to use one Fendt 939 Vario. That saves costs,” explains Kai Plügge, General Manager and Head of Production and Technology at the Starkenberger Baustoffwerke GmbH SBW.

The sand pit starts just a few hundred metres behind the buildings housing the offices, workshops and garages of the Starkenberger Baustoffwerke. Their grounds look like a moonscape. Sand as far as the eye can see. Only the countless, busy machines at work are a sign that sand and gravel are being excavated here. Overall some 800 hectares belong to the company, which employs 63 people and has an annual turnover of 16 million euros. The high-grade sand and gravel excavated here is much in demand and finds many different kinds of uses in the construction industry: aggregates for concrete, mortar and screed, building material for road, canal or rail construction and also for gardens, playgrounds or sports facilities. “The special thing about this deposit is its high quartz content, averaging about 93 percent. That is why we are able to produce many different specialty products, for example, crushed sand, in addition to the usual sand and gravel,” continues Kai Plügge. He has a degree in electrical engineering and has been with the company formore than eight years and knows his way around. A Fendt tractor with a maximum output of 390 hp is in the sand pit excavating burden earth with a scraper bucket and transporting it to Halde. For all of this work, the tractor already replaces an excavator, dumper and crawler.

The burden layer over the sand and gravel layer can be a mighty four to fifteen metres thick. The valuable topsoil is carefully stored so that it can be replaced for recultivation at a later time. The company is in constant motion. On the one side, areas are devastated for removing gravel and sand, and on the other, the areas where gravel has been removed are being recultivated. That means that what was previously agricultural land is restored with the same fertile soil that was once removed there. Fendt tractors are also used for these kinds of operations: towing a tank wagon, they apply fine minerals suspended in a liquid onto the areas to be recultivated. “About ten to fourteen years pass from the first mining measures up until the time we hand it over,” explains Claudia Rehnert, General Manager and responsible for finances, accounting and human resources at the SBW and adds that about 95 percent of all the areas are given back to their owners, primarily farmers. This method of sand and gravel excavation, even if it many take several years, leaves the least amount of scarring behind in the landscape and preserves the earth. Fendt tractors, which play their part through their flexibility, profitability and high resale value, are becoming increasingly more interesting for companies like the Starkenbergar Baustoffwerke GmbH.