The high point of the event was a gala evening in the newly constructed 22,200m2 dispatch hall at the Vögele headquarters. "A personal and professional exchange with our international customers is very important to us," said Domenic G. Ruccolo, CEO of the Wirtgen Group. "It helps us develop tailored country-and customer-specific solutions in an industry with such diverse and highly differentiated requirements. The Road Technology Days is an ideal platform for exchanging knowledge and experiences."
The best of three worlds
The three brands showcased coordinated machine and application technologies in operation: a total of 25 machines milled, fed material, placed asphalt and compacted on an area of around 3,000m2 in two live demonstrations. "We're not just presenting state-of-the-art technology and solutions for road construction: our customers also see for themselves how our machines work together in practice and the synergies this creates for the entire road construction process," said Roland Schug, Head of Marketing at Joseph Vögele AG.
Digital measurement and control
The event gave insights into digital measuring and control systems as the three brands demonstrated the latest 3D solutions. The SP 15 slipform paver from Wirtgen, for instance, can entirely pave even the smallest of radii automatically, thanks to the GPS-based Autopilot. The 3D Navitronic Plus solution from Vogele allows the layer thickness, the screed's position and the paver's direction of motion to be controlled automatically. And the HCQ system from Hamm measures the most important compaction parameters and shows the roller operator directly on the display where more compaction is required. Such applications save a lot of time and money, while enabling precise implementation and high quality.
Intelligent solutions for road construction
Industry experts gave an overview on the current and future developments in road construction. Wirtgen presented precise levelling, cost-effective cutting and advanced recycling technologies, while Vogele presented the software-based process management system, WITOS Paving. The telematics solution networks road pavers, mixing plants and lorries, among others, supported a perfectly coordinated supply of mix. All the players involved have real-time access to data such as machine operating data and lorry loading and unloading times, allowing them to coordinate all processes precisely. Hamm demonstrated intelligent solutions for compaction, including the intuitive Easy Drive operating concept and the principle of oscillation, where tangential rather than vertical shearing forces are directed into the material to be compacted. The drum maintains constant ground contact for particularly speedy compaction.
Quality creates quality
Visitors explored Vogele's most modern road paver factory built in 2010 and currently being expanded with a dispatch hall and additional production facilities. An interactive exhibition titled Quality Management also used display panels, videos and exhibits to demonstrate what requirements the components have to meet and what controls they have to pass through for final assembly and delivery to the customer. Said Bernhard Düser, member of the Board of Directors of Joseph Vögele AG, "Only with perfect and technically sophisticated products can our customers build high-quality roads."
Since 2005, the event has been held alternately at the brand headquarters of cold milling specialist Wirtgen, road paver manufacturer Vögele and roller manufacturer Hamm.
