VfB Stuttgart is coming home in two weeks from now to a newly redecorated home. The Mercedes-Benz Arena now has scoreboards as good as new. It were fully inspected and cleaned by a the help of a custom-made Mercedes-Benz Arocs truck.
VfB Stuttgart played away this past weekend (2-2 in Hoffenheim) and next week they will not be seeing their own stadium, since Bundesliga is taking a break to let the national team play in the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying group. But they will be having a nice surprise when they get back to the Mercedes-Benz Arena. Their scoreboards now look and function as good as new.
You might think that is not a big deal, but when we are talking about locations suspended at a dizzying height above the stands, with no no stairs or access points, the perspective automatically changes.
The truck studio of Mercedes-Benz, the Custom Tailored Truck Center equipped the vehicle with special detachable components and a fifth steered trailing axle. Crane manufacturer Palfinger built up a combined loading crane and work platform body for work platform specialist LANZ Company.
The truck has just completed its first real-life mission: the heavy-duty Arocs 5051 five-axle vehicle of LANZ Company was hired to clean, inspect and service the gigantic LED scoreboards of the Mercedes-Benz Arena. The Arocs/Palfinger combination was able to stabilise itself securely and make full use of the high and wide pivoting ranges despite the working space being limited by the pitch and the stands.
The intuitive radio remote control system easily enabled working with precision and avoiding mistakes. The Arocs was so efficient that it finished cleaning and servicing the scoreboards far earlier than the set deadline.
The Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart, home to Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart, is one of the stadiums Germany is proud of. The sports arena can host 60 449 spectators for the league games and 54 906 for the international matches.
The outer ring of its unique fabric roof is 273 m long and 224 m wide. It is suspended at a height of 38.50 m above the stands and 47.10 m above the grandstand. The roof structure made of precision-tailored membranes, required about 2700 tons of steel and 420 tons of high-strength steel cables and castings to build.
Two identical LED scoreboards measuring 17.12 by 7.22 m, each fitted with 603 136 light-emitting diodes and weighing 11 tons, hang at each end of the stadium. Each scoreboard has a display area of 115 square metres.
