Kirby-Smith Machinery Inc., the Wirtgen, Vogele, Hamm, Broce Broom, Rosco and LeeBoy dealer for Oklahoma and North Texas, sponsored two paving seminars on March 2 and 4, 2010.
The first seminar was held at the Francis Tuttle Technological Center in Oklahoma City and the second took place at Tulsa Tech in Tulsa, Okla. There were attendees from the Department of Transportation (DOT), turnpike and municipal employees as well as private paving contractors from Oklahoma and Texas.
With 124 attendees at Oklahoma City and 131 in Tulsa, the seminars focused on basic paving techniques along with the latest innovations, research and efficiencies of today’s paving challenges. According to many of the attendees the information was most helpful as a refresher, but more importantly there was a great deal of new information that would help their jobs become more efficient and their finished projects longer lasting.
The first session was presented by Richard Evans, vice president of sales of Hamm compactors. The session started with a history of Hamm and then focused on different types of compaction including the Hamm Oscillatory rollers and the need for proper compaction to help ensure the best project upon completion. Evans also discussed the latest innovations with the Hamm 78 and 84 in. (198 and 213 cm) HD + series of tandem wheel rollers and upcoming new products for greater ease and efficiencies in compaction.
“Hamm has always reinvested in itself and since there has been only one company in Europe to provide roller drums for all the compaction equipment companies, Hamm determined to build its own facility, which allows us to more closely monitor our quality requirements and with our annual 15,000 drum capacity, we do not have to wait for deliveries from a supplier,” stated Evans. “We have always promoted training on our equipment and despite the present state of the economy, we recently completed a new seven million dollar training facility in Antioch, Tennessee, to supply our customers with new knowledge and proper techniques for compaction and paving at the lowest cost possible.”
L. (Nars) Narsingh, manager of Commercial Support & Development for Vogele America Inc. conducted the asphalt paving session with information concerning the best practices for the distribution of asphalt, ranging from the principles and evolution of the free floating screed to segregation causes and cures, non-contact continuous paving including proper truck exchange, pick-up machines and material transfer vehicles. His talk also included techniques to prevent tunneling of the materials and what to look for when this happens. Nars concluded his presentation with proper maintenance procedures and a machine walk-around.
The Wirtgen products used in recycling of existing asphalt were discussed by Jim Holland Jr., district manager, Witrgen Group and included recycling binding agents, foamed bitumen, emulsion sprays, cement treated base (CTB), roller compacted concrete (RCC) and fly ash/lime.
The VT LeeBoy section was presented by Mark Odom, regional service manager and concentrated on distribution of materials using the proper calibration of the distributor trucks, economies of mixing products and testing prior to proceeding with the projects. Scheduled maintenance of the equipment was discussed in-depth in order to provide the best job possible and ensuring the equipment functioned properly.
Jim Cornelsen, president/sales and marketing of Broce Broom completed the sessions with his presentation. He concentrated on the attributes and efficiencies of the Broce Broom products for the required clean-up of paving projects. Cornelsen presented videos showing their products in action along with the MK-1 for on-the-go truck loading of excess materials. One of the videos gave a preview of the new innovative MK-1 gutter brush.
“Even with the rocky economy, at Broce we are seeing an upturn in business and have just experienced our very best first quarter,” stated Cornelsen. “The Broce equipment line has become very well accepted and is considered to be a ’have to have’ product. Our innovations and ever present quality standards have provided us with a good back-log of orders that will see us well into the future,” concluded Cornelsen.
“At Kirby-Smith we strive to be the ’Paving Authority’ by constantly searching for methods to help our customers in their everyday business and especially in today’s economy, we know they need to get the very best out of their equipment for the least amount of money,” stated Glenn Townsend, vice president/general manager of Kirby-Smith. “Our reputation has been built on providing the very best equipment and product support for the equipment that is possible. Since we all know that down time and inefficiencies are unacceptable especially now that the tax dollars are being dispersed in so many directions we feel investments such as these seminars are to everyone’s benefit.”
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