Wood splitting at a high level

The new truck at Martin Zolnhofer is a real powerhouse. It makes light work of tree trunks, splitting them into logs. We’re going to tell you how this special-purpose vehicle came into being and what it can do.

“Just grab it” – that’s what it says on the crane arm of the MAN TGS firewood processor. And that’s exactly what it does. It grabs a log and loads it into the firewood processor. The firewood logs that are produced are then conveyed to their storage area, namely a tractor or car trailer, on a conveyor belt. The size of the logs that ultimately emerge can be determined before work begins – log lengths of 25 to 100 centimetres are feasible.

Since June, Martin Zolnhofer has put its faith in the MAN TGS, which was equipped with special bodies by Toni Maurer and the Swiss company “von Atzigen AG”, for its day-to-day business of firewood preparation. One of the special features of the powerful black and green lion: It can be operated by one person. In the Zolnhofer family business, there are three people who know how to operate the large machine. Company owner Martin Zolnhofer, his daughter Lena and his son Lukas: “You need significant technical knowledge, a lot of experience and you have to be able to read the wood,” Lukas Zolnhofer explains to us. He knows everything there is to know about wood and how to work with it. After all, as he says himself, he has been working at his parents’ company “since early childhood”.

Close rapport with the body manufacturers

This experience was essential when constructing the MAN TGS firewood processor to meet the company’s needs to the very last specification.

The basic concept for the vehicle came from the company “von Atzigen AG”, which they stumbled across on the internet. “Von Atzigen was willing to combine our ideas and experience with theirs to create our customised vehicle,” says Lukas Zolnhofer. To prepare the MAN TGS for log production, a firewood processor from the Swiss specialist construction company was set up.

“We are very happy with the MAN vehicle.”

Lukas Zolnhofer

For Martin and Lukas Zolnhofer, there was no doubt that an MAN TGS should form the basis of the system. Lukas not only works for his parents’ business, but is also employed as an automotive mechatronics technician at the MAN service workshop Hueber in Pleinfeld. “We are very happy with the MAN vehicle,” he says. And he also said that working with Toni Maurer was very satisfying. The MAN TGS was retrofitted with an OMSI auxiliary drive there. “By working with the competent team at Toni Maurer, it became possible to make this vehicle a reality,” Lukas Zolnhofer is pleased to say. To ensure that the firewood production process would run smoothly and satisfactorily in the end, the company managers were in regular contact and dialogue with the body manufacturers during the planning and construction phase.

Lukas Zolnhofer has already had ample opportunity to get to grips with and test out the firewood processor during business operations. He is particularly impressed by the manoeuvrability of the vehicle and the convenience afforded by the air-conditioning system and heating system. He won’t need the heating again until the colder months, but the wood for the winter has to be prepared now. That’s why the crane arm of Zolnhofer’s “powerful MAN” wastes no time in grabbing the next log to feed into the firewood processor. Once the timber store is full here, it’s on to the next customer, which is another benefit of the MAN TGS wood splitting vehicle: It is mobile and can provide the customer with the required amount of timber right there on site.