Features

Russia looks set to accelerate its road building programme – Eugene Gerden writes The volume of road building in Russia should be doubled by 2022, according to a recent order of Russia’s president Vladimir Putin. He said, “We need a real breakthrough in road building during the next several years. These volumes should be doubled during the coming decade.”

The International Road Federation has announced the winners of the 2014 Global Road Achievement Awards (GRAA) Competition. This year’s awards honor nine projects from countries around the world, each leading the way in innovation and excellence in its respective area of the road industry. “For the past 14 years, our Awards program has constituted an industry reference for innovators across the globe,” noted C Patrick Sankey, president & CEO of the IRF. “Year after year, our sector demonstrates that it is a

Connecting roads to development at 4th IRF Latin America Regional Congress Senior representatives from the World Bank, the Development Bank of Latin America and Odebrecht Latinvest joined IRF for the opening of the 4th IRF Latin America Regional Congress in Lima by Peruvian minister of transport & communications, José Gallardo Ku.

Nebraska Highway 92 in the US stretches from Nebraska’s western border with Wyoming to Omaha where the highway leaves Nebraska and enters Iowa, taking motorists through farmland and several towns and counties across the state. It’s also a major roadway that branches off from Interstate 80 and leads motorists through Polk County, Nebraska, where a recently completed road project is enhancing safety for motorists.

US contractor Robert Smith based in Chattanooga has long experience in the asphalt paving market but has recently added roller compacted concrete (RCC) to its paving portfolio. This heavy-duty cement mix can be poured as quickly as asphalt and the company has now developed its skills at laying large areas of RCC in just a few days for its industrial client base. Demand has grown and RCC work now accounts for over 90% of the firm’s workload, which it carries out using a Volvo CE paver.

Chinese manufacturer Shantui is expanding its operations with a more diverse range of products – Mike Woof reports Chinese manufacturer Shantui is reorganising its operations to cope with the current tough market conditions, taking a long term view that is geared for future growth. The firm has expanded its operations significantly, broadening its product line away from its reliance on the bulldozer business where it has its origins. Demand for concrete equipment has been strong in China and the firm saw t

Exports are crucial to XCMG’s growth and its aim to becoming a dominant player in the worldwide construction machinery market – Mike Woof writes One of China’s biggest construction equipment manufacturers, XCMG has a high profile, and particularly in the country’s home market. XCMG is a leader in key equipment categories such as concrete pumping and lifting technologies. The firm’s 4,000tonne crawler crane introduced two years ago has already proven its worth in a massive industrial construction appl

Ahead of bauma China 2014, Aggregates Business International visited the company’s Liuzhou, southwest China HQ, to hear about the company’s bold growth plans and how it’s keenly focused on tailoring its product output to domestic and international market demand - Guy Woodford reports Taking shape on a huge area of land next to the company’s impressive Liuzhou, China HQ, LiuGong’s new R&D centre, set to open in spring 2015, will take the ambitious firm’s product capabilities to an even higher level. Starti

XCMG is developing its presence in the road machinery sector – Mike Woof writes The road machinery division of XCMG is an increasingly important part of the firm’s overall operations and now produces an extensive range of machines to meet customer needs. Guo Chaohui is vice general manager of this segment and said, “Our aim is to become a world class leader of road machinery. We want to introduce the company on the international market and raise the firm’s profile.” XCMG already holds a strong position

Zoomlion is confident of future growth in its share of the world market for construction machines - Mike Woof writes Chinese manufacturers now lead the world in both lifting and concrete delivery systems, with Zoomlion featuring a particularly high profile. As one of the biggest manufacturers of construction equipment in China, Changsha-based Zoomlion is now a leading player worldwide in truck cranes, crawler cranes and tower cranes in particular. The firm recently raised its profile by combining its mobil

The Manitowoc Group is introducing new Potain tower cranes and Grove rough terrain cranes to the Chinese market at bauma China 2014. The two new topless tower cranes come from Manitowoc’s Potain brand and are products of the firm’s Zhangjiagang plant in China. Earlier this year the facility also celebrated the delivery of its 5,000th crane since production began in 2006. Meanwhile from the Grove range of mobile cranes will be the latest RT890E rough-terrain crane. Both machines will be on the firm’s booth a

SANY president Wenbo Xiang is confident for the firm’s future as a major international player - Mike Woof reports One of China’s biggest and most powerful companies, the SANY Group is looking to further expansion.

The Wirtgen Group is exhibiting a wide range of its latest machines for the local market at bauma China 2014 in Shanghai. The firm is showing 11 innovations and no fewer than 13 products manufactured locally at the Langfang factory for the Chinese market, from its Road and Mineral Technologies divisions. There are 38 exhibits in total from the Wirtgen Group’s Wirtgen, Vögele, Hamm and Kleemann brands that are tailored to meet Chinese requirements. The Wirtgen brand is exhibiting its powerful WR 250 reclaim

Lonking widening its product range and developing its hydraulics components operations - Mike Woof reports Shanghai-based Lonking is best known as a major supplier of wheeled loaders, and as one of the market leaders in China. The company has followed a path of diversification in recent years however, significantly widening its product range and with its excavator business in particular proving successful and taking a substantial share of the Chinese home market. Other Lonking products rolling off the produ