Products

Topcon Positioning is introducing the C-63 GPS/GNSS indicator system designed specifically for use with compactors. The package can help deliver precise compaction and features the firm’s novel GNSS technology and graphical display, providing real-time positioning and plan data and ensuring optimum compaction is achieved where required. Compaction is important for soil or asphalt applications but monitoring surfaces is difficult with existing technologies. Over- or under-compaction of asphalt in particular

Hitachi Construction Machinery Europe (HCME) is launching a new range of compaction equipment which includes rammers, vibratory plate compactors and rollers. Designed to provide both performance and durability, the new models are said to be easy to operate and maintain. The ZV-R series rammers feature low-vibration handles and are said to deliver powerful compaction forces as well as manoeuvrability.

The commanding position of Bobcat in the world skid steer market was graphically illustrated earlier this year when the company produced its one-millionth loader. This achievement is being marked around the world with competitions and the availability of limited edition commemorative S650 (skid steer) and T650 (tracked) loaders. The latest wheeled Bobcat skid steer loader is the M-Series S450, which replaces the popular S130 model. This new radial lift path loader has a rated operating capacity is 608kg and

Lehigh Technologies, which produces micronized rubber powders, has joined forces with additive specialist Rheopave to come up with a system which will improve the performance of asphalt, while reducing the cost compared to standard polymer modified asphalts. Rheopave had developed its X10 additive, a blend of reactive polymers and other elements, to work with Lehigh’s MicroDyne micronized rubber powder. It overcomes two problems currently experienced with rubber-modified asphalt, according to Lehigh’s direc

Nynas and the University of Antwerp opened a joint asphalt laboratory in April, in the University’s faculty of Applied Industrial Engineering. The collaboration will bring benefits to both parties, according to Tine Tanghe, lab manager for Nynas’ Continental.

A fleet of wheeled loaders is playing an important role at a site producing concrete in China. Located at Lintong in Shaanxi Province, in China, the site is producing concrete using gravel from river plains. Lintong lies 35km to the east of Xi’An in western China, the site of the famous Terracotta Army. This new army of SDLG wheeled loaders meanwhile is being used to load gravel from the nearby river plains for Jinsheng Concrete, which sits on the 800km Wei River.

A number of tower cranes have helped complete the Chishi Grand Bridge project in China. Six Potain tower cranes were used to build two 280m tall bridge pylons, high in the clouds above the mountains of southern China. The cranes spent 30 months building the pylons at the Chishi Grand Bridge, which will span 1.47km and carry its road deck 180m above the ground. The bridge will open at the end of 2014.

New Holland’s 200 Series compact track loaders and skid steer loaders will now benefit from Tier 4 Final compliant engines. The next generation models of skid steer and compact track loaders maintains the same compact dimensions of the previous variants while delivering more power and torque than before. The improved skid steer loaders offer greater productivity, torque and fuel economy, while the new radial-lift Tier 4 Final L216 skid steer loader is said to provide best-in-class peak torque. Meanwhile

Komatsu Europe International is now offering the sophisticated D37EXi/PXi-23 bulldozer to the European market. The machine is equipped with Komatsu’s latest intelligent machine control technology and is said to perform both finish grading and rough dozing in full automatic blade control mode. This is the second intelligent Machine Control Komatsu dozer model available in Europe. Inside the cab, different modes allow the machine operation to be optimised to the application, while blade load settings are

The first Hitachi hybrid excavator in Europe has been bought by French rental company Cotra Styl – part of Groupe Noblet – in an official ceremony at Cotra Styl’s office in Trappes, to the west of Paris. Groupe Noblet’s owner, Laurent Galle, received the keys of the ZH210LC-5 from Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe) NV’s general manager Engineering, Hiroyuki Kamata, and the local Hitachi dealer Payen’s commercial director, Stéphane Bonifacy.

German contractor Gebrüder Bantle is working on a large ring road project in Bösingen, excavating and building 6km of highway and nine bridges. The region’s main road, the B462, provides an important link between the A5 Rheintalautobahn and A81 Stuttgart highways. The B462 carries some 12,000 vehicles/day and suffers congestion at peak periods, so a new ring road will help reduce delays for commuters. The Dunningen project consists of a 6.4km ring road, nine bridges and several access roads. Gebrüder Bantle

A Cornwall-based roofing specialist has carried out a tricky contract this week, which required the closure of one of the UK's busiest motorways. JR Flat Roofing, based in Redruth, secured a contract with a longstanding client, Moto Hospitality, the UK's biggest provider of motorway service areas. The company worked from scaffolding which was specially designed to sit on a truck, in order for it to be situated on the motorway lane. The footbridge over the busy M1 required some repairs and the contractor was

The versatility and mobility of a Terex crawler crane has helped enormously with the construction of a new road bridge in Luxemburg. The Terex Superlift 3800 lattice boom crawler crane owned by Trier-based Steil Kranarbeiten was used to build a bridge in Luxemburg only two days after the same machine was used on a job in the Hunsrück mountain range. The machine was needed to lift a 440m long bridge across a valley, connecting a new section of highway.