Urgent plane transport of a 4-ton automotive mold

What happened? A Slovak automotive plant contacted us urgently: a mold had broken on their production line. Moreover, the only specialist able to fix it is located in Portugal, 3000km away. Therefore, we needed to organize a return journey as quickly as possible to shorten the production disruption.

Challenge: The mold on the pallet weighed 4 tons and the return trip represented 6,000km. That is to say, a heavy load and a challenging journey for unplanned plane transportation.

Solution: ATC® offered a complete urgent plane transport solution. We positioned a chartered Antonov with an internal loading crane. Then we monitored the pickup, delivery between the factories, and handling at the airports.

The heavy 4 tons mold was loaded on the plane and landed in Lisbon airport Portugal that same evening.

After a night of repair work, the mold left Lisbon at 10 am. It was back on the production line at 4 pm in Slovakia. Line stoppage minimized – Mission accomplished.

Do you have to organize urgent corrective maintenance and spare parts delivery door to door? Get in touch with ATC® today to discuss it and put in place an emergency action plan.

Did you know it? Portugal is a reference country in Europe for the machining of industrial molds. Produced in Marinha Grande and Oliveira de Azeméis, a 2-3 hour drive from Lisbon, 82% of the moulds produced in Portugal are intended for the automotive industry (source: MoldMaking)