The Schoenbeck Company, with 35 years of experience, has successfully designed, engineered and installed specialised machinery for many industrial sectors worldwide. A large spectrum of fully automatic, semi and manual robotic vacuum lifters for soft and hard clay pipe, steel and PE coated pipe, concrete coated/lined pipes, masonry bricks and heavy steel plating is just a fraction of Schoenbeck’s unique state- of-the-art equipment and know-how. The pipeline sector is not new to the Schoenbeck Company. Numerous vacuum pipe lifters around the world carry the company's stamp of first class engineering but operate under other names. In 2006, Schoenbeck engineered and designed exclusive tailor made vacuum pipe lifters, which are able to lift one or six pipes in a single lifting motion. Today, Schoenbeck manufactures and markets its own state-of-the-art vacuum pipe lifters, currently covering 8000 kg, 12 000 kg and 16 000 kg lifting capacities for both internal (electrically powered) and external (diesel powered) applications. Pipe lengths from 6 - 24 m are the company's standard. Additional sizes are available on request. The EliTE ® vacuum pipe lifter is a new vacuum pipe lifting concept, capable of operating in some of the most inhospitable environments worldwide. The design is simple to handle and operating staff can grasp an easy and rapid understanding of the equipment in a very short space of time. This rapid-learn effect reduces machine downtime losses, which are sometimes caused by misuse or a simple lack of equipment understanding. One hugely positive effect resulting from the company's concept is the improvement in the level of safety during pipe lifting operations. A standardised and optionally recurring operator (hands on) training programme is very popular with customers. This underlines the operator's understanding of the equipment in areas concerning safety, handling, start check procedures and general fault finding/troubleshooting. All of these points are covered intensively in Schoenbeck’s training programme, which takes place at the customer’s site. An equally important aspect of the planning was to manufacture a compact but service friendly machine. This immediately allows all-round access to components, which in turn reduces precious machine downtime caused by servicing intervals. Targeting customer requirements, the company offers an interesting range of additional features. The EliTE ® vacuum pipe lifter can be supplied with the variable type suction pad, which will allow one to lift various outer pipe diameters with the same suction pad. This reduces initial investment costs and site plant storage capacities. Additionally, it provides more customer flexibility when having to deploy different outer pipe diameters. Schoenbeck also offers the twin variable suction pad. This allows one to deploy double jointed PE coated pipes which may need to be lifted, whilst having the PE void in the pipe central weld position. Radio or cable remote controls are also an option that can be supplied and utilised when applying or releasing pipe suction. The EliTE ® vacuum pipe lifter can optionally be delivered with the new state-of–the–art multiple excavator yoke, (equipped with hydraulic rotator and oscillation brake). The multiple excavator yoke is adjustable and will allow for coupling the EliTE ® vacuum pipe lifter to almost any available excavator model, of any size, on the market. So, instead of dedicating one particular excavator to the vacuum pipe lifter, the customer now has a much freer hand. Instead of transporting the vacuum pipe lifter and excavator from one location to another, one needs now only to transport the The EliTE® vacuum pipe lifter for excavator and crane applications. Schoenbeck 94 WORLD PIPELINES April2008 www.worldpipelines.com ( machinery review )