Kalmar Service Hero: Christopher Thaller, Germany

Today, his work finds him at a key customer site, the multimodal terminal of Contargo Wörth-Karlsruhe GmbH in Wörth am Rhein. Christopher and his colleagues maintain a fleet of 12 Kalmar DRG450 Eco reachstackers at three of the terminal operator's locations in southern Germany.

Over the last month, the team has been busy with the delivery of eight brand-new reachstackers for Contargo, six of which are already up and running. The last two machines will be arriving overnight as special heavy transport from Kalmar's factory in Stargard, Poland. The assembly and commissioning of the new reachstackers will be handled by two teams of Kalmar technicians, working in close collaboration with four mobile cranes and their operators to assemble both machines simultaneously.

"We are pretty excited that the last two machines will be here shortly," Christopher says. "As soon as the transports have been unloaded in the night, we can then begin the actual assembly first thing tomorrow."

Precision lifting

By sunrise, the two new Kalmar DRG450 reachstackers – custom painted bright green in Contargo's signature colour scheme – have been unloaded from their road trucks and parked in the area of the container yard that has been allocated for the assembly project. Next to arrive are the flatbed trailer trucks carrying the booms and spreaders for the machines, as well as the four cranes required for the assembly.

The assembly of the booms and spreaders is a demanding job that requires pinpoint accuracy as well as precise coordination between the Kalmar technicians and the crane operators in order to ensure the correct fitting of the multi-ton sub-assemblies.

"Once the booms and spreaders are fitted in place, the majority of the job is done," Christopher remarks. "After that, we still need to connect the hydraulics and electrics, and to do the final checks to ensure the machines are ready to be handed over to the customer."

Teamwork gets it done

By noon, both reachstackers have been assembled and are ready for their final check-ups, letting Christopher and his team breathe a sigh of relief, hang up their safety helmets, and congratulate each other on a job well done.

"In this job, I really love the variety of day-to-day tasks," Christopher says. "I particularly enjoy the IT systems aspect of working on the newest machines, but I also like to have tools in my hand. It's really the best feeling, when you've helped the customer and get into your car with a certain satisfaction, and drive off into the evening. Especially when you've completed a major project like this one."

Christopher's previous job was in the maintenance department of a concrete plant, where he gained a wide range of experience on different types of vehicles. "Among the equipment that we serviced, we also had some Kalmar machines, and one of my current colleagues at Kalmar actually came over to the plant regularly to do maintenance work and scheduled inspections," Christopher recounts. "So that's how I connected with Kalmar and eventually ended up here."

Beyond the variety and challenges of the job itself, perhaps the most important part of the work for Christopher is the team. "The job can sometimes be stressful, but there's one thing I can always rely on, and that's my colleagues," Christopher says. "As a company, Kalmar feels like more than a business. It's like a family."