Wirtgen is a technology and innovation leader in asphalt & concrete pavers.

P Ramesh,
Managing Director & CEO,
Wirtgen India
We have a complete paving range for both asphalt and concrete pavers.

Wirtgen Group has rich expertise and helped develop innovative solutions in the fields of cold milling, cold recycling, soil stabilization, paving and compaction.“We at Wirtgen Group are fully equipped to help our customers to execute their projects ahead or within the time schedules,“ states P Ramesh, Managing Director & CEO, Wirtgen India. In an exclusive interview with EQUIPMENT TIMES Ramesh highlights the technology trends.

What are the Indian asphalt/road paver market trends in terms of – type of technology, type of product, working width, and the area? What is Wirtgen’s contribution here?
In the national highway segment in the last 3-4 years the market has been predominanty for concrete roads and for the state highway segment it has been a mix of both – bituminous and concrete roads.The working width typically depends on whether it is a national or a state highway. For a state highway it is 10 mtrs and for a national highway, it is from 9.5 mtrs one one side and accordingly for four to six lanes on either side.

The current trend is to complete the projects fast, considering the number of projects which are being awarded and the workload for our customers – they would like to execute the projects faster and move to the next one, so that the machines are clocking many more hours compared to the previous years and we at Wirtgen Group are fully equipped to help our customers to execute their projects ahead or within the time schedules.

What is the market size – in terms of number of units and value – in 2016 and 2017?
We anticipate the asphalt sensor paver market size to be around 500 machines and the concrete paver market has been varying in the last few years.

Could you enlighten us on the technology trends in screeds?
Vogele sensor pavers possess two main types of screeds: Hydraulic adjustable screeds with bolt on extension up to 9 m and fixed screeds up to 13 m. in highway class. The electric screeds maintains the temperature in asphalt which avoids the asphalt getting stacked on screed plates and also provides excellent surface finish and riding quality. High density screeds are the screeds with high compaction (TP2) gives maximum compaction before rolling after the screed.

Vogele offers screed which are technologically well ahead with features such as sensors for monitoring screed plate temperature through operating display, high quality generator management system and electric heating.

What is the impact of the changing asphalt/concrete mix designs on the paver market? How have you addressed these changing trends?
Asphalt concrete mix designs play the most vital role in road construction. The care should be taken that the mix should be dense enough and not allow water to penetrate it. The faulty mix design leads to premature failure of roads, bad surface finish, and undulated surface and frequent maintenance. To address this issue, we give optimum training to our customers and operators on how the mix design affects paving parameters.

As the operator is at the heart of the system, ergonomics, visibility, and comfort have become critical factors in the design of the cab. Please elucidate how you have factored these in your paver range?
Ergonomic design, operating safety, and comfort are very important elements of the cab design. Minimizing the strain on operator during long, hardworking days which helps him focus on operating their machines safely and effectively is our prime focus area. To further simplify everyday work on the job site and enhance safety, ErgoPlus 3 has a redesigned four-colour display with a high-contrast user interface ensuring brilliant readability even in poor lighting conditions. The graphic user interface and all symbols comply with all the latest requirements in respect of product design. Self-explanatory symbols that are understood irrespective of languages, allows the operator to work intuitively. The driver’s seat and the paver operator’s console on the operator platform, as well as the screed consoles can now be adjusted even more easily to the operator’s needs to achieve maximum visibility. Side panelling affords effective protection from the wind and rain.

How prepared is Wirtgen for the BSIV emission norms by 2020?
The BSIV norms will be implemented by 2020 and we are already prepared for this from our products made in the facilities outside India. With regards to the Indian manufactured products we are already working on them and would be ready for the transission.

The theoretical output offered and the actual output a contractor gets on the job site seems to have huge difference. So to what extent the worksite optimisations impact the performance of a paver?
The factors causing the disparity in theoretical output and actual output can be listed down as difference in planned capacity and actual capacity at the job site, lead time, paving width, thickness of the pavement, site preparation, and length of passes.

As explained earlier there will be the impact of the worksite optimisations on the performance of pavers and we can see the disparity between the actual outputs and therefore we focus on customer training and operator training which helps the customers to achieve the desired output.

Give an overview on the existing product portfolio?
We have a complete paving range for both asphalt and concrete pavers and in both the segments we are market leaders and also the technology and innovation leaders. In the locally assembled products, Vogele tracked pavers Super 1400 have 7.3 m paving width whereas the Super 1403 tracked paver possess 6 m. paving width.
For concrete paver we have both insets as well as offset paver ranges and thus we cater to all the market requirements with our impressive product portfolio.

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