The investment in a special handling device pays for itself by reducing the number of persons needed for handling the parts, by decreasing the handling and transport times, by minimising the idle times of the sheet-metal cutting machines and by avoiding damage to the sheets which can result in costly complaints from customers.

This is particularly true when commissioning metal sheets in a sheet-metal production firm or trading company, such as Messrs. NE-Metall-Kontor GmbH + Co. KG Handelsgesellschaft in D-35460 Staufenberg-Treis, a renowned trading company for semi-finished products and sheet metal.

In the past, two persons had to manhandle the sheets from the stack, a procedure which frequently resulted in damage to their surfaces. Heavy sheets had to be separated with the aid of iron bars and then lifted, moved and deposited with the aid of a fork-lift truck, a process which also often caused damage.

Today, in contrast, one person carries out the handling with the combined crane and vacuum handling system and damage to the sheets is a thing of the past.

Due to the fact that the six suction pads are spring-mounted and flexible and have special sealing lips which leave almost no marks on the sheets, the handling of both thin, non-rigid sheets and thick sheets is very easy and safe, particularly since the large vacuum reservoir and the electronic warning device ensure safe handling even in the case of a power failure.