Capital Equipment News January 2018

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Use of electronic measuring and computing technologies and of micro-processor controls has been a key focus point in roller develop- ment in recent years

As R&D continues apace, autonomous rollers are the next big thing in this range of equipment

The introduction of documentation systems as well as EDP and GPS supported machine controls has been another significant change and milestone in compaction rollers in recent years

South African roller sales down 15-20% year-on-year in the different ranges

About 350-400 new rollers are currently being sold into the market annually

Pneumatic Tyre Rollers (4-28 t); Smooth and Padfoot drum soil compactors (5-25 t); and VC Compactor with vibratory crusher drum (25 t). “We cover all compaction application fields from soil and asphalt compaction, as well as machines designed for special com- paction requirements such as on bridges and between buildings,” says Kukard. Bell Equipment, through its agreement with Bomag, offers vibratory compaction equipment for soil and asphalt. “For soil we have single drum rollers ranging from 7 to 32 t, also comprising of different drum configurations (smooth drum, padfoot, rock crushing and polygon drums). In each case there are different exciter systems available – circular exciter, directional exciter and oscillating exciter systems,” explains Johan Hanekom, product marketing manager: Bomag at Bell Equipment. For asphalt, Bell Equipment offers Bomag’s range of vibratory tandem rollers from 2,6 to 12 t and also offers a circular exciter, directional exciter and oscillating exciter. “We also offer a static 27 t pneumatic tyre roller (PTR) for asphalt compaction,” adds Hanekom. Steenkamp says GEM stocks SANY’s STR30 and the SSR120 rollers. The STR30 is a 3 t double-drum vibrating roller and the SRR120 is a smooth drum vibrating roller. “The STR30 is well suited for small paving as well as parking areas. The SSR120 is your typical road surface roller,” explains Steenkamp. SANY’s Tandem roller range comprises seven models, starting with the 3 t ranging through to the STR130, which is a 13 t roller.

manufacturers (OEMs) in this space, including Wirtgen with its HAMM range, Caterpillar, Bomag (supplied locally by Bell Equipment) and SANY (supplied by GEM), have, in recent years, continued to make great strides in technological advancement of their roller offerings. Extensive ranges There are various types of rollers used for compaction. According to Jon Sjoblad, Caterpillar’s marketing communications manager (Paving), Caterpillar offers many sizes/types of rollers to meet most appli- cation requirements, from utility work to large scale main line road or runway con- struction or site development. Caterpillar’s roller range comprises Static Tamping Wheel Soil Compactors (typically used in large scale applications where the machine can build up the speed necessary to optimise compaction performance); Vibratory Soil Compactors (used for all types of applications, site construction, road base construction, earth dams, among others); Tandem Drum Vibratory Rollers (used for asphalt road construction, commercial asphalt applications, and more); and Pneumatic Tyre Compactors (used for both soil and asphalt applications – they provide a kneading compaction action and excel at sealing the surface. They also work well for chip sealing.) Kukard says HAMM has the biggest range of rollers in the market with over 200 dif- ferent machine configurations possible. It offers the HD Compactline Ride-on rollers (1,5-4,5 t); large Articulated Tandem Rollers (7-14 t); Pivot Steered Tandem Rollers (7-9 t);

Moving (GEM), the local supplier of SANY’s earthmoving equipment in South Africa, says Single Drum Rollers have the lion’s share of the roller market, selling around 220 units per year, while Tandem Rollers roll out about 150 units per year and Pneumatic Tyre Roll- ers are in the 25 units per year region. “Roller sales are down 15-20% year-on- year in the different ranges. Roller sales are linked to infrastructure development. Government expenditure is very limited and in some provinces non-existent. The next month or two will be critical for government to realise a stable political environment which will pave the way for improved capex expenditure in 2018,” says Steenkamp. Meanwhile, several original equipment

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