48
EQUIPMENT
CONSTRUCTION EUROPE
OCTOBER 2013
Turning up
the heat
Bomag is pushing to increase competition in
the road building sector with a string of new
launches.
Helen Wright
visited the factory
D
espite experiencing weaker market
conditions this year, Bomag made
the biggest single investment in his
history during 2013 in the form of its new
12,600m
2
drummanufacturing facility at its
headquarters in Boppard, Germany, which
cost €22.5 million to build.
Manufacturing at the new drum factory
started in June. Meanwhile, Bomag also
finished its new logistics facility this year
– a state-of-the art warehouse which
stocks 45,000 items, deals with 500 to 700
orders a day, and is said to boast 96% parts
availability.
On top of this, the company has also
launched a string of new products for the
road building sector since the start of 2013,
including a wealth of new launches at the
Bauma exhibition in Munich, Germany, which
took place in April.
Most recently, it introduced the 1m width
BM1000 milling machine at its 2013 Asphalt
Days customer event in the first week of
September – the latest in a line of new
milling machines.
The BM1000 is a 257kW, Tier 4 Final/Stage
IV-compliant machine that it claims is not
only the most powerful in its class, but is also
said to boast lower noise and vibration.
The BM1000 features the company’s BM515
tool holder system for easy maintenance and
is available with a seat for the operator, in
contrast to competitive models where the
operator must stand.
In addition to the BM1000, Bomag also
launched two new, Tier 4 Final/Stage
IV-compliant asphalt pavers at its customer
event – the BF600-2 and BF700-2. These
are 17 to 20 tonne class machines that are
available with either wheels or tracks.
SCREED HEATING
A key feature is the Magmalife screed heating
system. The heating elements are cast in an
aluminium block which is said to make them
robust and durable and also reduce heat-up
times to 20 to 30 minutes. Bomag says this
represents a saving of up to 25% compared
to competitor machines.
The company also showcased examples
from its new dash 5 Series of articulated
tandem rollers. The 10 to 11 tonne class BW
161 ADO, BW 161 AD-5 and BW 190 models
were in action. They are machines which offer
Bomag president Jörg Unger, “We want to
position Bomag’s road building segment for
the future”
Bomag launched the BF600-2 and
BF700-2 asphalt pavers at its Asphalt
Days customer event in September
The advantages of low noise
Bob Weeden, operations manager at UK-based O’Rourke Contracting, was among the
visitors to Bomag’s Asphalt Days customer event in September.
He said, “I am particularly impressed with the turning radius and the noise levels on the
new milling machine [BM 1000], which for my company is very important.
“We do a lot of surfacing work at night, so
noise emissions are very important. We win
a lot of public sector work in the UK and
are currently performing surfacing work at
Terminal two in Heathrow Airport, London,
for instance, and a lot of our contracts are
very time sensitive.
“So if you can get a machine that runs
below certain decibel limits, potentially you
could run it all night and save a lot of time
on a contract.”
BobWeeden,
“Potentially
you could run
it all night and
save time on a
contract”
Manufacturing at Bomag’s 12,600m
2
new
drummanufacturing facility in Boppard
started in June
