Strong in super-clean cranes for more than 25 years

Mennens has been around for (over) 135 years! We have been offering our customers excellent craftsmanship since 1888. And since 2024 we follow a new path with Mennens Cleanroom Cranes as an independent business. In the article below from Mennens' anniversary magazine we look back on the start of Cleanroom Cranes. And we look ahead.

The Innovation District Strijp-T in Eindhoven - one of the business parks at Brainport Eindhoven - is home to Mennens Cleanroom Cranes. Here, a team of experts designs, builds and distributes ultra-hygienic cranes for clean production environments and cleanrooms for the food industry, pharmaceuticals and the production of IT components, such as chips. Operations Director Dave van Zandvliet has been involved from the start. A look back and forward.

It was 1998 when a customer of Mennens in Dongen - Cleanroom Cranes did not yet exist at the time - asked for two cleanroom cranes. Dave: "We were already supplying balancers for this player in the semiconductor industry. Using pneumatics, you can move a load from A to B very accurately. Only: those balancers could carry a load of up to 500 kg. Our customer now needed a capacity of 3200 kg."

First cleanroom crane

The team set out to find a solution. "We sat down with our suppliers. Together we looked for a suitable hoist, researched the necessary controls and looked at how we could make the crane as clean as possible. Our first cleanroom crane was a reality: the NXT crane."

“We investigated how to deliver a crane as cleanly as possible."

From Mennens to Cleanroom Cranes

After that, things moved quickly. "Ten more orders followed. That's how the ball started rolling," Dave says. In 2008, business was so good that Cleanroom Cranes was founded as a separate part of Mennens. This was also the year that the second cleanroom crane was introduced: the NXE crane. Dave: "This advanced crane offers even more possibilities than its predecessor. For example, the NXE crane can hoist and lift to one millimetre accuracy in a Z-direction. And in the X-Y direction to two millimetres accuracy. The lifting capacity is four times 5000 kg."

Most recent innovation

In the years that follow, Cleanroom Cranes continues to develop. Dave: "Our latest innovation is our EXE crane. This crane set has a lifting capacity of 40,000 kg. This crane is proving especially useful in the semiconductor industry." In addition to these cranes, Cleanroom Cranes offers many other cleanroom lifting applications. Dave: "Think of fixed lifting points and hoists that move vertically via a beam, lighter cranes and hoists. Anything is possible."