Tunnelling support – Optimizing the decisive levers

There are two decisive aspects for all mechanized tunnelling projects, especially on longer tunnelling routes: Firstly, the tunnelling parameters require constant revision and adaptation to local geological conditions in order to achieve optimal TBM performance. Secondly, technology must be kept in top condition to avoid downtimes caused by breakdowns.

Proof of our service expertise is available in thousands of projects completed with our customers. We know the levers to be moved and what prophylactic action needs to be taken to get the most out of the TBM across the entire tunnelling route. On request, Herrenknecht can supply you with tunnelling experts and supervisors with advisory roles in an effort to support you with tips and empirical values for maintaining and optimizing your tunnelling technology. And when it comes to the crunch, it goes without saying that our service experts are well capable of rolling up their sleeves to help.

Personnel – Specialists for any task

A wide variety of tasks needs completing on any site during tunnelling and for most of which specialists are required. Nevertheless, comprehensive expertise in various areas such as hydraulic, electrical or mechanical systems are enormously helpful in order to understand the tunnelling process and provide optimal support. Herrenknecht can rely on a unique pool of experienced service specialists, enabling you to supplement your competent team in a targeted and project-specific manner and to safeguard swift tunnelling.

Depending on the respective project requirements, we or our subsidiary GTE (Global Tunnelling Experts) supply project managers, supervisors, mechanics, technicians, electricians, PLC specialists, hydraulics engineers, fitters, welders, surveyors or TBM operators. Our highly qualified personnel supports you in all matters and is available at all times – whether temporarily or across the entire project duration. Our large pool of experts means that we can also react flexibly to personnel queries worldwide and help you out at short notice.

Spare and wear parts – Adequately supplied

Tunnel boring machines are highly-complex systems whose performance is also dependent on needs- and schedule-based provision of spare and wear parts. Thereby a chain of complex process steps ranging from the initial proposal lists through to delivery on site needs to be planned and supervised. Thanks to many years of site experience and an international service network, Herrenknecht can provide construction companies with competent support during these logistical challenges. From assessment of demand, in-house production or orders placed with producers or dealers to delivery or efficient warehousing including stock optimization, we offer extensive spare and wear parts management.

Short communication channels between service engineers and the site ensure flexible and swift delivery of urgently required spare parts and reduce interfacing requirements among construction companies. This safeguards consistently high supply quality and therefore high availability of the tunnelling system. Depending on the respective project conditions, a competently-managed consignment store or deliveries on a running-meter basis can save time and personnel capacities.

On request, spare and wear parts management includes high-quality refurbishment of components in-house or on site. Furthermore, training courses and detailed technical consultations can also be conducted as required.

Excavation tools – Exact wear management

Replacing worn tools with high-quality spares at the right time is a basic requirement for high tunnelling performance and efficiency in any tunnel project. Herrenknecht supports you in selecting the right excavation tools and planning changeover times. To ensure precise and reliable prognoses, individual tools can be equipped with special systems for assessing wear (DCRM). This makes it possible to plan timely replacements in detail and avoid damage to the steel structure of the cutterhead or cutting wheel caused by excessively high wear.

During projects, worn excavation tools are reworked in cutter shops at Herrenknecht production plants and transported back to the site in a needs- and schedule-based manner. Alternatively, Herrenknecht supplies individual components or the entire cutter shop as a container system for direct refurbishment on site. On request, Herrenknecht specialists can handle comprehensive training of customer personnel. A professional cutter database logs details of all refurbishments and tool changes in a project. An exact overview is always maintained of all wear and costs incurred and future maintenance and changeover intervals can be planned more precisely.

These services are rounded off by technical consulting in special areas. For example, the interplay between contact pressure, tunnelling speed and other key tunnelling parameters enables the development of intelligent, project-specific, individual excavation strategies, thereby reducing tool wear and wear costs.

Rental equipment – Flexibility with a savings potential

At our international service hub locations and our Group headquarters in Germany, we have access to a wide technical portfolio of rental equipment for our customers. In the area of Utility Tunnelling Machines, an extensive range with various diameters is available at all times in the Herrenknecht rental fleet. Using rental machines is particularly recommended as a temporary addition to the range of machines for a limited period of time. In addition, this option can bring advantages in terms of financing. Customer equipment already available can also be supplemented by individual system components such as separate machines, control containers, pumps or surveying accessories on a loan basis.

This rental option represents a greater degree of flexibility, especially in short-term project business. At the same time, the machines and equipment used always comply with the state of the art. With reliability safeguarded by contract and full support by competent Herrenknecht engineers, customers are always on the safe side during the entire course of the project.

Remote support – Assistance from a distance

Herrenknecht provides you with around-the-clock support – regardless of where in the world your tunnel boring machine happens to be at a given time. On request, we can even configure your machine so that tunnelling support is possible via remote access from Schwanau. This basically means that the entire control panel is duplicated enabling our service experts in Schwanau to follow tunnelling in real time in Germany and make immediate contact with the TBM crew if required. This enables you to react swiftly and appropriately to any problems that may arise.

Modifications – Efficient conversion of TBMs

Some projects may require the tunnel boring machine to be converted on site. This is the case, for example, when a Multi-mode TBM is obliged to overcome various geologies within a single tunnelling route and tunnelling modes need to be changed. Even in projects with several sections, it can make sense or even be necessary to modify the TBM for the next section once intermediate breakthroughs have been achieved. Herrenknecht handles the efficient modification of your machine to enable you to recommence tunnelling as swiftly as possible. Whether it is inside the tunnel, in an underground cavern or at a tunnel portal.

Service consulting – When things change at short notice

Even the most precise and forward-looking planning can demand minor or major modifications attributable to particular events or changing underground conditions in tunnelling. In these situations too, our service engineers and technicians at Group headquarters in Schwanau are available at all times, offering their experience in an effort to support you at short notice. After all, our service aspiration is the successful breakthrough of your machine.