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RotoTop with Kranfix makes forestry cranes flexible and economical
Murrhardt-Fornsbach, 11.03.2026
RotoTop with Kranfix makes forestry cranes flexible and economical
Wahlers Forsttechnik, based in Stemmen, south of Hamburg, offers its customers a wide range of forestry machines and accessories from renowned manufacturers. The company is the general importer of Ponsse for Germany and Austria and, of course, also offers all related services. The group includes a branch in Uffenheim near Würzburg, subsidiaries in eastern Germany and Austria, and dealers in Switzerland.
Wahlers employs a total of 145 people and offers a very high standard of service: spare parts are mostly in stock and can be shipped to customers overnight in urgent cases. The company is also happy to respond to requests from customers who need newly developed special solutions for specific applications for their forestry machines.
Breaking new ground with a pilot project
Jürgen Cordes has been with Wahlers for 21 years. He started as a field service technician, later took on training for new machines, and now oversees all technical details for the ‘forwarder’ division. He is also responsible for special requirements and modifications of all kinds, which led to the addition of the Holp Kranfix and RotoTop to a Ponsse Fox harvester owned by Butterweck Rundholzlogistik GmbH & Co. KG from Lehe/Ems, a long-standing regular customer of Wahlers who offers services related to timber trading and forestry maintenance.
Norbert Küwen is a trained industrial mechanic, a long-term harvester driver and now a timber buyer for Butterweck. He was involved in this project because his aim was to equip the 20-tonne harvester with additional capabilities so that it could perform other tasks in the company's service sector in addition to its full harvester function. Then Norbert Küwen began working with Jürgen Cordes, who came across Holp's attachments during his research.
RotoTop ensures maximum flexibility of the saw heads
Since forestry machines do not have the kinematics of an excavator and their arm is essentially just a crane with a joint, a solution was sought to increase the flexibility of the crane arm. It was important that attachments such as saw heads could also be moved with maximum flexibility, which meant that a rotary drive had to be used. To be able to buy both devices from a single source, Wahlers decided to collaborate with Holp. Since then, Wahlers has also become an A-dealer for Holp and can now offer its customers the entire range of RotoTop and RotoX products in addition to the Kranfix.
Greater machine utilisation for harvesters
Even after 400 hours of daily operation, the new system is still being tested to exploit all the possibilities that arise when the reach and performance of the harvester are combined with the new technology and flexibility of Kranfix and RotoTop. According to Norbert, it has already become apparent that the converted forestry crane can take on numerous other tasks, which is getting more important because storms and beetle infestations have reduced the amount of timber being felled, which means less work for the machine than in former times.
The Forstcutter on Kranfix and RotoTop can be used to effectively remove large quantities of thin wood thanks to its collection function and precise control options. The machine operator does not have to constantly reposition the machine, which makes the whole process must faster. For example, fast-growing black cherry trees can be removed from older tree populations, chopped up and used for energy production. Shrubs and trees up to a height of 10 metres can also be cut without any problems.
Within the forest, the skid trails are 20 metres apart, so the crane does not have to be driven into the stand to cut or remove wood. This long reach means that soil compaction can be limited to the trails. Norbert Küwen explains, ‘In some areas, mulching is no longer permitted, so we can also use the forestry cutter on the forestry machine to perform this task.’
Tests have also been carried out with a travel rake to prepare the ground for new planting. Pruning roadside verges is also a possibility. ‘Even though we are still in the trial phase, many people are already interested in the new system, so in the future the combination of RotoTop and Kranfix will certainly be seen more often in a wide variety of forestry tasks,’ says Küwen.
