Skip to main content

Optimising investment and uptime

Tight deadlines, inclement weather, long travel times and inadequate tank capacity are a few of the challenges facing road marking contractors. But with the right equipment and careful planning, road marking contractors can optimise their investment and uptime, says Borum Industri. "Timing plays a key role in every road marking job. On new roads it is the last part of a project, and if there have been delays along the way, road marking contractors are under pressure to complete the job fast. On existing roa
February 8, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Borum is now making more machines with a new dot and line system in response to demand
Tight deadlines, inclement weather, long travel times and inadequate tank capacity are a few of the challenges facing road marking contractors.

But with the right equipment and careful planning, road marking contractors can optimise their investment and uptime, says 173 Borum Industri.

"Timing plays a key role in every road marking job. On new roads it is the last part of a project, and if there have been delays along the way, road marking contractors are under pressure to complete the job fast. On existing roads, remarking can mean diversions for motorists, and at worst temporary road closures," says the Danish road marking equipment manufacturer.

With today's high traffic density, completing the job quickly is a must.

"To help my customers choose the right equipment, there are a number of important points to consider. One of the first, maybe surprisingly, is maintenance, which is a very important uptime parameter," says Lisbeth Knudsen, area sales manager at Borum.

In early 2010, Borum launched its LineMaster road marking computer, which is "designed to help operators control all road marking tasks, from line application and pre-marking to reporting and invoicing." Borum points out that tank capacity is alpha and omega for uptime and profitability, with road marking machines now so effective that they can empty a material tank very quickly.

"If using thermoplastic, this can mean having to wait for more material to melt and reach the correct temperature if the heating tank capacity for feeding the machine isn't large enough.

"Operators have told us that they can spend up to 25% of their daily working hours waiting for material to melt. But there are many small things that can be done do to help optimise investments." These include buying more melting capacity if the appropriate melting capacity is not on the feeder truck, and maximising current melting capacity, for example, by half emptying the tank and using the remaining hot material to melt incoming cold material.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Successful pavement maintenance
    February 16, 2012
    This is the final section of a three-part series about preventive maintenance for pavements. Written by Alan S. Kercher, P.E., Kercher Engineering, Inc
  • Successful pavement maintenance
    April 12, 2012
    This is the final section of a three-part series about preventive maintenance for pavements. Written by Alan S. Kercher, P.E., Kercher Engineering, Inc We practice preventive maintenance in our everyday lives and possibly with agency equipment such as dump trucks and backhoes, but when it comes to maintaining our roadways, most agencies will always defer repairs until the pavements have failed, resulting in very expensive repairs. This article will provide some guidance to help an agency make the switch fr
  • Developments in concrete pavers boosts quality
    July 13, 2012
    The latest technology continues to improve the quality of concrete paving while contractors are also benefiting from more adaptable equipment - Mike Woof reports For many concrete paving applications, versatility is required rather than a high production rate. Leading paver manufacturers such as GOMACO, Power Curbers, Terex and Wirtgen all offer high mobility machines that can be adjusted to cope with an array of tasks. For a contractor, the advantage of these smaller pavers is that they can be configured q
  • Software mapping takes on hard-to-tackle air pollution problems
    June 15, 2018
    Software mapping of air pollution along transport corridors is an important weapon for improving air quality, argues Arne Berndt*. Although power plants and factories play a large part in increasing air pollution globally, traffic is now the largest single contributor. Commercial vehicles account for a significant share of traffic around the world, with freight volumes projected to grow 40% by 2050. Yet, despite modern vehicles being more environmentally friendly than earlier models, the sheer volume of th