Case Studies

Fraport Facility Services GmbH

Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s busiest airport by passenger numbers, is operated by Fraport GmbH and is expecting to see 55 million passengers in 2023. Matthias Palmovski, Head of Surface & Parking Infrastructure for Fraport Facility Services GmbH (a subsidiary of Fraport), first saw the Multihog online back in 2017, before visiting a trade show later that year to test drive it.

Matthias was responsible for introducing Multihog to Frankfurt airport, “As soon as we saw the Multihog, we liked it. At the time I was in my previous role with Fraport, and we were looking for equipment to collect garbage at the airport. Litter is a huge safety concern for any airport, and we needed a machine to assist us with that. The Multihog with trash vacuum seemed ideal.” explains Matthias.

In order to test out the Multihog and its capabilities, he agreed a four-month rental with a Multihog dealer near Frankfurt. “We trialled the compact CX model with the trash vacuum. The first requirement was that it had to be easy to use. I was heading up a team of 20 operators, all of whom could be called upon to drive the machine at a minute’s notice. Secondly, comfort was a high priority for me. Ensuring that my operators have air-conditioning, heating and a radio to make their shifts as comfortable as possible is important. So, for me, the fact that the machine was both comfortable and easy to use ticked a lot of boxes. The team liked it so much, they nicknamed it “The Elephant” due to the similarity between the trash collection chute and a trunk!”

After the successful trial, Fraport moved forward with the purchase, and the CX model was delivered at the end of 2018. “It was really good at trash collection. Cabin visibility was the key factor for us. Airside is a tricky environment; you have so many moving parts – vehicles, passengers and staff, and being able to see exactly what is around you is invaluable.”

In 2022 Matthias took up a new role as Head of Infrastructure with subsidiary company Fraport Facility Services. Asked to build a brand-new grounds care team and source equipment for same, Matthias knew, based on his previous Multihog experience, that it was the machine he wanted. Despite Covid-19 delaying the purchase of the second machine, a Multihog CX with rotary mower and boom mower was finally delivered in December 2022.

Matthias says “I really like it, and I only have positive things to say. Before the purchase, we looked at other products which compete with Multihog, but it’s better in almost every way. The quality is certainly better, and so is the comfort. In our experience, the dealer service from Thome Bormann GmbH is also excellent, and that’s incredibly important.”

All Applications

X