Schopf
Encyclopedia
SCHOPF Maschinenbau GmbH is a German company that produces specialist vehicles for the mining and aviation industries.
The company was founded in 1948 by Jörg Schopf, a mechanical engineer. It started out with manufacturing equipment for the mining industry. It soon expanded into the growing sector of aviation by manufacturing stair lifts, tow trucks and loading machinery. It is now considered the global market leader in this field.
Products supplied for both civil and military aviation include a complete range of tugs to handle aircraft in every weight range, the unique PowerPush remotely controlled pushback system, container / pallet loaders and passenger stairs. In supplying to NATO, major airlines, ground handling companies and airports around the globe, 90% of SCHOPF’s aviation related production is for export, with deliveries to more than 130 countries.
SCHOPF’s range of mining vehicles comprises underground loaders suited for various materials and volumes, together with dump trucks produced in collaboration with an international partner.
Product conception, design, manufacture and sales are carried out by a team of 130 workers, all based at the factory in Ostfildern near Stuttgart in south western Germany.
The company's most powerful tow tractor, the F396P, is used to tow the world's largest cargo aircraft (Antonov An-225
) and the Airbus A380
, the largest passenger aircraft.
The company was founded in 1948 by Jörg Schopf, a mechanical engineer. It started out with manufacturing equipment for the mining industry. It soon expanded into the growing sector of aviation by manufacturing stair lifts, tow trucks and loading machinery. It is now considered the global market leader in this field.
Products supplied for both civil and military aviation include a complete range of tugs to handle aircraft in every weight range, the unique PowerPush remotely controlled pushback system, container / pallet loaders and passenger stairs. In supplying to NATO, major airlines, ground handling companies and airports around the globe, 90% of SCHOPF’s aviation related production is for export, with deliveries to more than 130 countries.
SCHOPF’s range of mining vehicles comprises underground loaders suited for various materials and volumes, together with dump trucks produced in collaboration with an international partner.
Product conception, design, manufacture and sales are carried out by a team of 130 workers, all based at the factory in Ostfildern near Stuttgart in south western Germany.
The company's most powerful tow tractor, the F396P, is used to tow the world's largest cargo aircraft (Antonov An-225
Antonov An-225
The Antonov An-225 Mriya is a strategic airlift cargo aircraft, designed by the Antonov Design Bureau in the 1980s. It is the world's heaviest aircraft. The design, built in order to transport the Buran orbiter, was an enlargement of the successful An-124 Ruslan...
) and the Airbus A380
Airbus A380
The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner manufactured by the European corporation Airbus, a subsidiary of EADS. It is the largest passenger airliner in the world. Due to its size, many airports had to modify and improve facilities to accommodate it...
, the largest passenger aircraft.