Skip to main content

Innovation is behind all business partnerships

While reclaimed asphalt pavement is not a new idea, there are new and innovative technologies coming all the time to improve its application and durability. This RAP is “black gold”, as Thierry De Sars, technical director at Groupe Fayat, told delegates at the Pavement Preservation and Recycling Summit conference in Paris this week. But it all comes down to cost savings and efficiencies that importantly include increasingly precise dozing to get the exact amount of bitumen laid down on a pass. De Sars cauti
February 24, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
RSSWhile reclaimed asphalt pavement is not a new idea, there are new and innovative technologies coming all the time to improve its application and durability.

This RAP is “black gold”, as Thierry De Sars, technical director at Groupe 217 Fayat, told delegates at the Pavement Preservation and Recycling Summit conference in Paris this week.

But it all comes down to cost savings and efficiencies that importantly include increasingly precise dozing to get the exact amount of bitumen laid down on a pass.

De Sars cautioned delegates that imported bitumen from RAP may have deteriorated to a sufficient degree that the road project is compromised. For one thing, the imported bitumen may have reduced mixability at the plant.

The Retroflux technology from Fayat, the French civil engineering, general and steel construction and energy services provider, has along thermal heating exchanger to protect the bitumen from overheating. Also, from a health and safety standpoint, the Bitumen vapours are consumed in flames.

Yet innovation is not just about technology, said Andreas Marquardt, head of exports at 2395 Wirtgen. It can also develop through, and be imbedded by, the way companies behave in a true partnership, he told PPRS delegates during his presentation.

Never underestimate the need to sell your technology and projects to potential customers. However, as a machine supplier, you must always listen to the client about how the machinery is operating. No matter how tried and tested the equipment, there is always something learn about its performance. Building this data bank from global projects is essential for knowing where to start improving equipment.

But for innovation to come about, all partners need to listen and learn, he explained. Importantly, never forget that brand reputation almost always comes from not from the machinery being used on a project but how the companies work together to make progress and solve problems.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • To re-use asphalt in quality mixes
    August 25, 2016
    Asphalt plant manufacturers agree that recycled asphalt is a valuable resource that is too good to waste - Mike Woof writes. Around the globe there is growing interest in the use of recycled asphalt pavement (RAP). The technology to utilise RAP in asphalt mixes has been available for some time, with a range of asphalt plant manufacturers in the US and Europe having developed a number of solutions. However, take-up of this technology has varied, with the US pushing ahead with the use of RAP while progress ha
  • Recycled pavement use rises again in the US, according to NAPA
    March 5, 2015
    Recycled asphalt use is growing in some markets - David Arminas writes. The use of reclaimed asphalt pavement in the US increased during 2013 after two years of no rise, according the latest report from the US National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA). The report found that more than 73 million tonnes of reclaimed asphalt pavement and 1.7 million tons of reclaimed asphalt roofing shingles were used in new asphalt pavement mixes in the US during in 2013. Using recycled asphalt material saved about $2 bill
  • Rubber recycling for South African roads
    November 5, 2012
    South Africa takes crumb rubber use to the next level - *Anders Marschall Jensen The preservation of the environment is a global concept, and in the road construction industry, it is all about preservation of roads. In earlier days, roads were built with the primary goal of moving passenger traffic from one place to another, but these days, roads are very different. Not only is there passenger traffic, and more of it, but roads must also deal with extensive movement of products in heavy vehicles. Therefore,
  • Derby road repair student to be awarded Nynas Bitumen prize
    February 6, 2015
    Nynas UK AB bitumen specialist is giving University of Derby students taking the Diploma in Road Surface Treatments the opportunity to be awarded the Nynas Bitumen prize for ‘Best Student’ in 2014-15. The winning diploma student will receive a £250 cash prize and be presented with a certificate by Nynas. The online, distance-learning course has been developed jointly by the Road Surface Treatments Association (RSTA) and the Institute of Asphalt Technology (IAT). This is the first university level academi