Tester of Stendal-based company in worldwide use for the construction of high-speed rail routes
At InnoTrans, ZORN INSTRUMENTS from Saxony-Anhalt presents its know-how
At InnoTrans, taking place from 17 to 21 September, more than 3,000 exhibitors from 60 countries will present innovations in transport technology. Packed with a lot of experience in the field of infrastructure and news, a team from ZORN INSTRUMENTS will participate in the world’s leading transport trade fair. The company from Saxony-Anhalt will present products and technologies, without which “new mobility” would be inconceivable.
In the near future, trains will rush between Sacramento and San Diego at top speed on the “California High-Speed-Rail”. It is also due to a company from Saxony-Anhalt that this ambitious project can be implemented in California. “ZORN INSTRUMENTS”, a traditional company from the Altmark region founded in 1870, posted employees to companies overseas that participate in the construction of the high-speed rail route. Their mission is to familiarise the employees of the local companies with a technology that has never been used before at this location. The “trainers” from the Hanseatic city of Stendal have their American partners “KSE Testing Equipment” at their side.
The background of this mission is a planned overseas delivery. “We will deliver our latest ZFG in the next few weeks,” explains Thorsten Hildebrand. This abbreviation – with an illustrious name in the sector – stands for a “Light Weight Deflectometer” that has become indispensable in international railway construction as it measures the load-bearing capacity of the existing foundations of rail tracks. “Our devices were used wherever trains are running,” says the Head of Distribution. “They are also used for repairs or maintenance work.”
Thoroughness is required
Having an international way of thinking, travelling the world and introducing the latest technologies and products is nothing new to the traditional company located in the Hanseatic city of Stendal. “For centuries, we have operated at an international level,” says Thorsten Hildebrand, responsible for sales and marketing at “ZORN”. Customers in more than 60 countries swear by the reliability, thoroughness and the modern focus of the products coming from Germany – especially from the company from the Altmark region.
Pioneer work from the Altmark region
At the beginning of the 90s, the medium-sized company revolutionised the procedure of testing construction subgrades. The Stendal-based company also captured the American market with testers of the “ZFG” range, as they meet the demanding American standard norm. In the development and production of testers, the contact to the “base” is really important to “ZORN INSTRUMENTS GmbH & Co. KG”; therefore, the company has customers in different fields. With the “Light Weight Deflectometer ZFG”, the company from the Altmark region introduced a device, being in great demand by now, for the so-called “dynamic plate load test” which assesses the quality of the load-bearing capacity of the subgrades of railway embankments. Furthermore, “ZORN” was substantially involved in working out different test standards for quality controls in national and international earthworks and foundation engineering.
Thereby, the company set the course for the future many years ago. The specialist for mechanics expanded its portfolio bit by bit and employs tinkerers and thinkers to make sure “not to miss any innovations,” according to Thorsten Hildebrand. The company cooperates with universities in order to find solutions for problems that come directly from practice. “We analyse which technologies are best suited for working in the most effective way,” says the Head of Sales of “ZORN”. The Stendal-based company focuses on many markets. As the company is active in many fields, it is just as familiar with test technology as it is with medical technology. The repertoire includes scales, measuring devices for minute sizes, distances, weights or hardness testers for all kinds of materials. Moreover, the company from the Altmark region is a demanded supplier of small series parts and prototypes, inter alia, for the automotive industry. With products such as scalpels or the “clip”, a device used in preliminary examinations of colorectal cancer, “ZORN” has been scoring in the market for medical technology for years.
In action all around the globe
At “InnoTrans”, the company from Saxony-Anhalt will present itself as a specialist for infrastructure. For years, the company has put a lot of energy into the further development of its testers and developed useful extensions such as the integrated position determination via GPS or the wireless transmission of measurement results via the mobile App. Furthermore, “ZORN” supports its customers in the interpretation of the results determined. Representatives of “ZORN” contribute to standardisation committees and strengthen the reputation as a valued partner in research and development projects.
Word gets around. ZFG testers from Stendal are used in the construction of high-speed rail routes worldwide. Between 2004 and 2010, “ZORN” delivered several hundred devices for the construction of the high-speed railway “CRH” to China. How things will continue concretely with the high-speed rail route in California will be shown in the coming weeks. “We are confident that the company that is soon to receive the ZFG with serial number 10,000 is involved in the construction of the rail route,” says Thorsten Hildebrand.
Either way, the expertise of the company from Stendal in Saxony-Anhalt – the place of research, development and production of “ZORN” – can be found in many construction sites and rail routes. “We have grown here. We have a lot of good partners in the science and economic sector and we are able to maintain our networks,” says the Head of Sales of “ZORN”. “From here, the world really is our oyster.” When he is “looking for” his employees, they are typically working in many different countries. In September, the company shows the world of transport technology in Berlin what comes from the Altmark region.
More information: www.invest-in-saxony-anhalt.com/innotrans-2018