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Roz Buick, vice president Heavy Civil Construction at Trimble, has highlighted some key technology introductions from the firm. The GCS Flex system is an important introduction for Trimble and Buick explained, “The idea is to install a less complex system. We want to attract customers from the smaller contractors.” Comparatively low cost for a machine-control system, the basic GCS Flex package offers entry-level 2D technology and it can be upgraded to what Buick calls a ‘2½D’ system.

A group of senior executives from Caterpillar spoke to journalists in a round table discussion, providing insight into the company’s future direction. Giving key talking points were: Rob Charter, vice president Excavation Division; Paulo Fellin, vice president, Global Construction and Infrastructure; Mary H Bell, vice president of Building and Construction Products; and Karl Weiss, vice president Earthmoving Division.

Ray O’Connor, president and CEO of Topcon Positioning Systems, has been a busy man at bauma. As well announcing the release of the new DC61 PXi Komatsu bulldozer, the Topcon boss also found time to comment on world markets and talk up a number of the products on the company’s stand.

Market conditions are tough, according to Jean-Claude Fayat, executive managing director of the Fayat Group. He said, “From my point of view this crisis is not over. We have a slow recovery but this is a structural crisis and a new balance has to be found.” Despite the difficult conditions, the company is performing well and Fayat said, “Our group turnover is around €3.7 billion/year. We are a family group and we have never wanted to be on the stock exchange.” The European market has become less important

A new airport project is benefiting from some of the latest developments in compaction technology Work started on a new airport for Istanbul in June 2014, with the facility set to be one of the world's largest and to set new standards when it opens for business.

An eight year project to construct the highest road in the UAE is now complete, with key help having been provided by a fleet of Volvo CE machines The work was carried out by local contractor General Mechanic Company (GMC), with assistance from Volvo CE dealer FAMCO as well as Volvo CE itself and Volvo Trucks. The 36km road climbs 1,910m to its highest point in a mountain range and required the transportation of 5.5 million m3 of materials during its construction.

A key road in Costa Rica has been upgraded and now features concrete construction CEMEX Latam Holdings, a subsidiary of CEMEX, supplied the cement needed for the project to upgrade a 50km stretch of the Inter-American Highway in Costa Rica.

A highway link to the north of Panama´s capital city that connects with a national park popular with tourists, has now been rebuilt Cement producer and concrete specialist CEMEX carried out a study into the project, to find a cost effective solution. And working with CEMEX, Panama’s Ministry of Public Works began planning for the project in 2015. A 5.7km stretch of the highway has now been improved, with the road structure being built from concrete.

Algerian firm SAPTA is currently using four Sennebogen cranes for a bridge project close to Algerian capital Algiers. SAPTA is a specialist in bridge construction and is using the cranes, a combination of crawler and telescopic machines, to lift heavy components weighing up to 60tonnes