Start Technik Twenty years of stage equipment from ChainMaster – a success story

Twenty years of stage equipment from ChainMaster – a success story

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ChainMaster-TeamwebFor twenty years, it has been possible in the course of entertainment and show productions to move loads, both light and heavy, without effort, and position them with pinpoint accuracy – all thanks to the German engineering expertise of ChainMaster Bühnentechnik GmbH of Eilenburg.

The success story of the medium-sized Saxon firm in fact began with a request in the early 1990s from the theatrical world for an electric chain hoist conforming to the VBG-70 standard governing stage productions at that time. This led in 1994 to the first of many triumphs for ChainMaster, when it presented at the Prolight + Sound trade show in Frankfurt the world’s first VBG70-certified chain-hoist controller, a system that was to be used subsequently on countless occasions in a huge variety of show productions and revolutionize the market for hoisting machines and controllers.

This success spurred the ChainMaster team to new heights, and further innovative world premieres followed in quick succession: in 1995 the first chain-hoist controller with a network system was presented and in 1996 the first BUS system. The next milestones in the ChainMaster story were the VarioLift, which first graced the (stage) world in 1998, and two years later, the VarioTrolley. These two products proved so successful that they played a part in shaping the identify of ChainMaster and served as an invaluable reference.

The thirst for innovation of Managing Director Frank Rainer Hartung and ChainMaster’s employees inspired numerous optimizations of their systems in the following years, with established product concepts repeatedly enhanced and extended in the years up to 2005. These efforts found fruition in the release of an update for the controllers of all stage machinery and load-sensing systems.

In 2008, ChainMaster brought another highlight onto the market: the ProTouch StageOperator control unit with its choice of 5.4” or 8.4” touch screen interfaces. In 2009, the company developed a SIL 3 control system. In 2010, an expanded version of the ProTouch StageOperator – this time with a radio transmitter – followed. In 2011, ChainMaster launched the wireless XYZ controller: a fully functional mobile auxiliary unit to complement the XYZ control system introduced in 2007.

In the years since, ChainMaster has acquired the status of the world’s leading supplier of electric chain hoists and chain-hoist controllers. Its products are in use all over the world in show productions of every variety. They continue, however, to be developed and produced in the Saxon town of Eilenburg, where the company has now opened a training centre to provide users with the requisite know-how to make optimum use of ChainMaster chain hoists and control systems.

Caption: The ChainMaster team (photo: ChainMaster, may be reproduced freely)

ChainMaster Bühnentechnik GmbH
Uferstraße 23
D-04838 Eilenburg, Germany
Contact: Alexander Hartung
Phone : +49 (0) 34 23 / 69 22-0
Fax: +49 (0) 34 23 / 69 22-99
E-mail: sales@chainmaster.de
Internet: www.chainmaster.de

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