Competence for the timber industry: MAN at Elmia Wood 2017

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MAN Truck & Bus Press Release  /  June 13, 2017

MAN exhibits its extensive range of products for the first time at the leading forestry trade fair // MAN presents a comprehensive portfolio for the entire forestry value chain at Elmia Wood with its TGX, TGS and TGL

From 7 to 10 June, MAN demonstrated its proven competence to the timber industry at the world's largest Forestry trade fair.

Every four years, the global timber industry convenes in a vast area of forest near Jönköping in Sweden. Over 500 exhibitors present important technical trends and current innovations for the timber economy to some 60,000 visitors from 50 countries, mostly professionals in the sector. And this all takes place in a natural working forest environment, because the extensive exhibition grounds are situated in the middle of the forests south of Lake Vättern. For MAN, this application-oriented industrial fair gives it the ideal opportunity to demonstrate its proven expertise in vehicle solutions for transporting timber. Seven MAN TGX, TGS and TGL models were exhibited in the Load & Transport category at Elmia Wood 2017, providing a wide selection of top-notch vehicles to meet specialist needs.

An expert on high-performance drives, MAN showcased the top-of-the-line 640 hp engine, newly introduced at German’s 2016 International Motor Show, in the form of a TGX as a short-log transport vehicle in a classic 6X4 chassis version. This D38 engine, with its maximum torque of up to 3000 N m, provides sufficient power reserves for even difficult conditions, making it especially suitable for timber transport. As an alternative to this maximum power version, D38 engines are also available with 540 and 580 hp. And then there is the D26 engine, also introduced in 2016, which covers lower power ratings from 420 to 500 hp with a torque range of up to 2500 N m. In combination with its new generation of MAN TipMatic gearboxes, with numerous luxury functions and a range of application-specific driving programmes, MAN offers a finely-graded drive-train portfolio with especial provision for off-road applications.

Not only high performance reserves, traction also has an important role to play in forestry operations. For this, MAN’s fair booth presented a fully equipped Elmia Wood edition of its 500 hp MAN TGS 6X4H4 with additional HydroDrive hydrostatic front wheel drive. This traction assistance system, which is active up to 28 km/h, offers additional traction reserves to ensure that sufficient grip is available in every situation, even on loose ground or undeveloped forest paths. On steep descents, the HydroDrive also applies additional braking torque to the front wheels, thus significantly improving the safety of forestry deployment.

MAN also fielded a TGX PerformanceLine 8X4 – 4 with 640 hp to illustrate the manoeuvrability and loadability that are also called for when transporting timber. This short-log truck, designed with the Finnish market in mind with a permissible overall weight of 37 tonnes, has an Alucar body and Epsilon crane plus two driven rear axles supplemented by a steered trailing axle. This triple-axle configuration allows for high payloads with maximum manoeuvrability. The trailing axle can also be raised for unloaded journeys.

The fact that forestry trucks are not only used for transporting timber, but have applications along the entire value-added chain, was amply demonstrated by two more TGS chassis with D26 engine and 500 hp engine power. With their shredder attachments, these vehicles offer an example of mobile wood processing on the forest floor. For solutions of this kind, MAN offers a large number of pre-installed and auxiliary drive configurations for connecting a wide range of components and implementing even complex attachment functions. The auxiliary drive via the transfer box, especially powerful at up to 8000 N m, is particularly conducive to wood chipping work.

Rounding off the value chain, MAN exhibited a roll-off skip loader version of a TGX 6x2-4 with a 500 hp D26 engine. This vehicle configuration is ideally suited to efficiently removing the wood chips produced locally in the forest, using containers. Since forestry is heavily dependent on the reliable use of diverse vehicles and machines, fast on-site service also plays an important role. For this aspect, MAN’s Elmia Wood exhibits also included a workshop vehicle solution. To represent the lightweight truck class, MAN fielded a 12-ton MAN TGL truck whose box body incorporates a workshop and appropriate service vehicle equipment.

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