CLOSE TO OUR CUSTOMERS, has always been our Mantra
The WIRTGEN GROUP’s products are specialists in their field and have decades of application experience. The company offers a broad range of highly advanced and innovative equipment to suit customer’s requirements for all areas of road construction and road rehabilitation. In an exclusive interview to CONSTRUCTION OPPORTUNITIES, RAMESH PALAGIRI, MD & CEO, WIRTGEN INDIA, speaks about the products offered by the company, key features and a lot more.
Tell us about the range of Compaction & Paving equipment offered by you, in terms of types, capacities and applications. Have you launched any new products or launching new products in the near future.
The Wirtgen Group Hamm compactors come with more than 125 years of experience in the development and manufacture of roller and compactors for soil and asphalt compaction. HAMM, the German manufacturer leading the field in compaction technology, is a member of the internationally successful WIRTGEN GROUP and a global leader in the market of road rollers with more than 180 years of compaction expertise. In India we offer the Hamm HC 119i soil compactor, HD 99i Asphalt compactors, which are produced at our Pune plant.
Hamm soil Compactors are built with patented design of three point articulation joint. This connects the front and rear end of the compactor and enables excellent directional stability and provides driver safety on difficult terrains and also adds to drivers comfort.
The right machine for every paving application, VÖGELE Asphalt pavers are offered from the range of 0.5 mtr upto 16 mtrs. Mini Class, Compact Class, Universal Class, Highway Class and Special class- the names of the pavers says it all. The NEW Dash-5 generation of Pavers offer customers- an up to date, cost efficient paver technology that simultaneously makes a measurable contribution to environmental protection also. Vögele has made user requirements a key focus of development, resulting in further optimisation of the ErgoPlus operating concept which, with its touchscreen and smartphone shelf, delivers even greater convenience for digital road construction.
What innovations or technological advancements have you imbibed in your compaction & paving equipment. What distinguishes them from competitors.
In Asphalt paving – the VOGELE-In Line Paving where the binder and surface courses are paved “hot on hot” in a single pass, greatly accelerating activities on a job site. In addition, it is not necessary to completely close down the road: the three machines – a paver for the binder course, a paver for the surface course and a material feeder – work “in line”, one behind the other, leaving one lane open to traffic. An ideal solution for rehabilitation of heavily travelled roads. The process is both economical and highly eco-friendly,the layer thickness can be reduced in “hot on hot” paving, thus lowering consumption of the costly surface course mix.
VÖGELE also offers an innovative and economical solution for the road construction sector with the non-contacting Road Scan temperature measurement system. The scanning and documentation of the freshly paved asphalt‘s temperature is already specified in tenders in several markets, and in others there are definitive plans to implement this.
Hamm Compactors are equipped with isolated operator platform mounted on shock absorbers so that the vibrations are reduced. The operator platform is with Antiskid material to ensure operator safety. The sliding seat console for operators and excellent drum edge visibility are some striking features which make the machines easier to operate. Hamm soil Compactors are built with patented design of three point articulation joint. This connects the front and rear end of the compactor and enables excellent directional stability and provides driver safety on difficult terrains and also adds to drivers comfort. This also increases the operator efficiency. WIRTGEN GROUP has always served its customers with technology intensive machines including the Hamm soil compactors and tandem rollers. We are already offering ICT based technologies and features in our compactors.
Factors such as safety, operator comfort, ease of operations are crucial. What are the steps undertaken by you for providing the same.
For the varying and challenging work conditions across India, we emphasis more on the ergonomics, safety and comfort of the operators. The cab design for the operators also plays very important role as the operator can concentrate more on the work rather than struggling for his basic safety and comfort during the long work hours.
To give an example, our ErgoPlus display technology in Vogele pavers is extremely user friendly on which the operator can work intuitively and does not need the knowledge of any specific languages. The operator seat and the console can be adjusted easily to achieve maximum visibility. Operator safety and comfort is enhanced with wide Protective roof, All round Hand-rails, Vibration-isolated operator‘s platform with rubber buffers, Comfortable Suspension, backrest adjustable seat and Anti-slip profile platform. As standard, a USB socket, 12 V socket and a bottle holder are included on board. Thanks to this equipment and other details, the operator platform on the rollers is a comfortable place to work. Bright work lighting with durable LED lights rounds off the high-quality and environmentally friendly overall picture.
Aftermarket services as a strategic differentiator.
“CLOSE TO OUR CUSTOMERS“ has always been our policy. We offer direct service support to our customers and this together with our Application support is our main differentiator.
