FAMILY BUSINESS DOPPSTADT HAS BECOME A WORLDWIDE NAME IN RECYCLING MACHINERY.
Today they look forward to a new chapter with Cat® power.
Germany’s success as an industrial nation isn’t simply dependent on a handful of major multinationals. Throughout the land you can find hundreds of family-run businesses whose engineering and design skills have brought them fame and fortune on the world stage.
Doppstadt is a prime example. Founded in 1965, the enterprise started out as the union of two farms; one run by brothers Werner and Josef Doppstadt, and the other owned by the Zellin family, whose daughter Hedwig became Werner’s wife. Together, the close-knit trio decided to branch out from farming into agricultural machinery, offering local farmers machines and manpower for sowing, mowing, chopping and threshing. With an inventive and innovative mindset allied to a powerful work ethic, the company soon outgrew its original production line — a simple barn on the family farm.
A GLOBAL EXPORTER
Today Doppstadt’s modern production facilities and 700 employees produce stationary and mobile recycling machinery, capable of processing and recycling a wide range of materials. Doppstadt technology has helped to separate and reprocess contaminated sludge from the Venetian lagoon and even radioactive soil from the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The company exports to more than 50 countries, from North America to Japan. Yet at heart it remains a family concern, with the active involvement of main shareholder Ferdinand Doppstadt, Werner’s son.
CAT® POWER FITS THE BRIEF
A key part of the company’s global success is its Inventhor range of slow-speed shredders, and it’s here that Cat becomes part of the Doppstadt story. Product Manager Dominik Niehaus explains: “We already had two highly successful slow speed shredders; the Inventhor 6, which featured a 260 kW diesel, and the larger Inventhor 9 with 390 kW. But we had identified a gap in the market for a machine with the compact dimensions of the 6 but greater processing power. As there were no suitable power units in our existing supplier’s portfolio, we contacted Cat via its dealer Zeppelin Power Systems.”
THE POWER BEHIND THE INVENTHOR 6 PLUS
The solution proved to be the 310 kW EU Stage V Cat C9.3B engine, but it’s no simple matter to fit a new, more powerful engine into a compartment designed for another unit. “Zeppelin were quick to respond,” comments Niehaus. “They understood the issue, gave good advice and helped the whole process to run smoothly. They were a pleasure to work with.” Zeppelin adjusted the engine installation and ancillaries to the individual requirements of the machine and installed it in the prototype. The result of their collaboration, the Inventhor 6 Plus, delivers up to 35% more throughput per hour than the 260 kW standard model.
And that’s not all. “The Cat C9.3B features continuous exhaust regeneration, saving our customers downtime. It has excellent dynamic load response, making it ideal for the cyclical loads you encounter in shredding. It has also proved completely reliable, with no service issues,” confirms Niehaus.
AN INSTANT HIT
The Inventhor 6 Plus was launched in 2020 and proved an instant success with customers. The first order in the UK was placed by Wolverhampton-based Jones Skips, a long-term Doppstadt customer. Managing Director Lyndon Rushby recalls: “Our dealer, Blue Group, brought the Inventhor 6 Plus to our premises for demonstration for one day. We liked it that much that we didn’t want to give it back. So, we bought it there and then.”
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Could the success of the Inventhor 6 Plus lead to a growing collaboration? Niehaus is confident, adding: “Cat has an excellent reputation and support network around the world, and that makes it an easier sell in many of our export markets. Flexibility and smart solutions are increasingly important to our customers, and both Zeppelin Power Systems and Cat have shown they can deliver.”
“Cat has an excellent reputation and support network around the world, and that makes it an easier sell in many of our export markets.”