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

  • Novel twin layer paving technology saves time
    February 28, 2012
    German paver specialist Vögele reports that market acceptance is growing for its novel twin layer paving technology
  • Reduced temperature asphalt in road construction
    January 17, 2022
    The use of reduced temperature asphalt in a road construction project in Germany has helped to lower emissions
  • MASSENZA's advanced tank
    February 15, 2012
    MASSENZA, which manufactures bitumen handling equipment for worldwide export, is offering the latest and more advanced model of emulsion spraying tank, which has already received "very positive feedback from many contractors." This state-of-the-art unit is equipped with a small hot oil heater completely designed by MASSENZA, and this allows for a more gentle heating up of bituminous product inside the tanks, avoiding emulsion settlement and piping clogging problems (which could be there if direct flame burn
  • Surface quality a key trend in asphalt paving
    March 7, 2012
    Improved surface quality and improved machine design are key trends in the asphalt paving sector, Mike Woof reports There is a big difference in asphalt paving techniques in North America and Europe. In North America, the need to construct long stretches of highway quickly resulted in wide pavers offering high throughput capacity, with compaction equipment then being used to achieve the required density of the various courses. In Europe's highway construction projects, distances tend to be shorter and contr