Max Bögl’s Mobile Fabrication for hybrid wind turbine towers wins the bauma Innovation Award

The Mobile Fabrication technology of Max Bögl Wind AG won  this year's bauma Innovation Award in the construction method category. The world's most unique production concept for Hybrid Towers won over the jury for its technical innovation and contribution to climate protection and resource efficiency.

 This year Max Bögl Wind AG was able to convince a jury of representatives from the worlds of science and business with its unique concept for Mobile Fabrication. The Bavarian company manufactures, delivers and installs Hybrid Towers. Thanks to this now award-winning mobile production concept, it is possible to manufacture hybrid wind turbine towers – a combination of concrete elements and steel segments – in German quality at almost any place on the planet. The evaluation criteria for the construction methods category, which are determined by the German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA), include, among other things, the degree of innovation, contribution to resource efficiency and implementation requirements.

Optimized process flows worldwide

Max Bögl mass-produces Hybrid Towers at two stationary plants. To make the production of the tower system economical and efficient for international projects as well, the serial production idea was transformed into a mobile concept. "The transformation from traditional construction to assembly-line construction at our company is an important building block to implementing projects even faster, more flexibly and more economically. For international projects we also rely on the established manufacturing processes that we use at our main plants," explains Stefan Bögl, CEO of the Max Bögl Group. As a trained mechanical engineer, he brought the idea of serial production to the company at the very beginning and also applied it to the development of Mobile Fabrication. "Thanks to the standardized processes, we can quickly train the local workforce in whatever region we are active and at the same time ensure high process reliability." 

For the Mobile Fabrication concept, the company able to adapt all equipment. For example, it adapted the CNC concrete grinding milling system so that the concrete segments of the Hybrid Tower are ground milled with the same quality as in stationary systems. As a result, the concrete tower can be built internationally and under all weather conditions. With a production time of around two days per tower, Mobile Fabrication is extremely fast and efficient.

Award a success for all employees 

Stefan Bögl is happy about the prize: "From the idea to implementation and finally to this award: The entire Max Bögl team helped achieve this success with their great dedication and expertise. Only those who think boldly and are undaunted by challenges can realize innovative projects and make a lasting difference." Underlining the success of Mobile Fabrication, Josef Knitl, CEO of Max Bögl Wind AG, says, "Sustainability and climate protection begins with the production of renewable energy sources. With our first successful project in Thailand, we have proven that we can produce Hybrid Towers with German manufacturing quality and in a resource-conserving manner on a global scale. In the future such projects will be crucial to ensuring that the green energy revolution succeeds worldwide."

Successful first use in the Far East

 Up until the beginning of this year, some of Southeast Asia's highest wind turbines were built using Mobile Fabrication. This shows that the production concept meets all the technical requirements for German manufacturing quality while also adding value on the local level. Max Bögl Wind AG erected 90 Hybrid Towers with a hub height of 156.5 metres at the Thepharak wind farm. In the process the company relied primarily on local materials and workers. This increased the cost-effectiveness of the project, lowered the infrastructure burden and benefited the region as a whole.