Cat's emerging pavers

Caterpillar paving products are in demand worldwide, with the firm placing great importance on its offering to Africa and Middle East customers, as Guy Woodford reports

178 Caterpillar’s new CW34 pneumatic compactor, first exhibited at 242 INTERMAT 2012 in Paris, is a valued machine in some of the company’s key regional markets, according to Gianluca Lombardi, Cat’s EAME (Europe, Africa and Middle East) paving products regional sales support consultant.

“It’s an important machine for the Africa and Middle East markets because pneumatic machines are frequently requested by contractors for their job specification,” said Lombardi. “It provides manipulation compaction and works very well. It’s also requested by government municipalities in their tenders.”

Lombardi said all Cat compactors and pavers were designed and manufactured for a global market and included the best and latest user friendly and operator intuitive technology. He stressed and that while the engines installed in them were different to comply with emission regulations – Tier 4 Interim for Europe and North America; and Tier 3 for Africa and the Middle East – the overall quality and user friendly nature of each machine remained the same.

The CW34, said Lombardi, provides weight versatility covering from 10tonnes up to 27tonnes, thanks to a flexible/modular ballast system and an automotive drive feel.

“With the CW34 we are introducing Cat Compaction Control. It allows the opportunity to better monitor the compaction,” explained Lombardi, who said the CW34 will replace the PF and PF300 pneumatic compactors. “When we talk about compaction, the difficult thing is to know how many times you’ve compacted, and where you’ve been in an area. With Cat Compaction Control, you have a control panel and an additional display on your cab screen.”

Lombardi said that late 2013 would see the launch of a new line of Cat vibratory asphalt compactors from 7-11tonnes. “It will be a new hi-tech, but still user friendly, machine that will be offered to Europe and North America, and with a Stage IIIA engine for Africa and other emerging markets.
Talking about the AP300, AP600 and AP650 asphalt pavers, he said: “We still maintain the double offering of LPG or electric heating systems for the screed. In some countries, an LPG installed system can offer an attractive alternative from a cost perspective. It means they [machine operators] do not have to use the heating system throughout the day.”

Cat pavers are now fitted with ‘Cat, Grade and Slope’ – a computerised levelling system devised for Cat by 2122 Trimble. “It’s been introduced pretty recently and was promoted at Intermat [2012]. It’s a hi-tech system but is very user friendly. It’s got a pretty wide screen and shows with icons what your sensors are doing. You can select which sensors you want to use. The great thing is that you can change configuration of the sensors on the fly. This is different from other [machine] systems.”

Lombardi said Cat, Grade and Slope can also be retrofitted on older Cat pavers.

Rajesh Chiddarwar, Cat AME paving products area sales manager, said sales of Cat paving products were growing in Africa and the Middle East. He also stressed how Cat, together with Cat dealer Borusan, had achieved “very good penetration” of paving products in the Turkish construction machine market. Among new key Turkish projects providing huge commercial opportunities for Cat paving products is the new 377km motorway project between Istanbul and Izmir “It’s a large project started recently and will take five-and-a-half years,” said Chiddarwar. “In addition to the motorway, the project requires 46km of approach roads and the building of a third bridge over the Bosphorus in Istanbul.”

Elsewhere, Cat Paving products are being used in ongoing work to seal Saudi Arabia’s border with Yemen and several other key projects in Africa and the Middle East. One new Saudi Arabian project that will require a lot of construction machines, including pavers, is the building of 5,000 villas at a site in the south of the country.

Meanwhile, Chiddarwar said Cat had many Cat RM300 and RM500 rotary mixers working on major highways projects in South Africa.

“There are many China and 2332 World Bank funded roads, bridges and airports projects going on in African countries where state-of-the-art Cat paving products are working and will have huge opportunities in the coming years,” added Chiddarwar.