A paving team used WITOS Paving Plus for the first time at Jade-Weser Airport. The Georg Koch GmbH team used the construction project in Wilhelmshaven as an intensive opportunity to get to know VÖGELE’s networked system solution for process optimization and documentation. The asphalt work consisted of paving the approx. 1,500 m long runway.
With around 60 flights a day, Jade-Weser Airport in the Friesland / Wilhelmshaven region is of great importance. It was therefore important to deliver a high quality asphalt pavement. A SUPER 1900-3i – equipped with WITOS Paving Plus – was used as the main paver for paving two asphalt base layers (pre-profile and base layer). For the last paving process, namely the surface coating, three SUPER pavers worked “hot to hot”.
The highlight of the construction project for everyone involved was the premiere of WITOS Paving Plus – and above all the productivity gains associated with it – because the innovative VÖGELE solution enabled the pavers to run continuously. The experienced paving team was pleased to see that fewer mix trucks were actually needed than planned. WITOS Paving has thus very quickly demonstrated the extent of the optimization potential that it opens up for customers and users.
“When you see how you can get a little better every day, it’s incredibly motivating,” said Tim Gassmann, Senior Site Manager.
WITOS Paving Plus networks All involved in real time
This positive impression is not surprising. WITOS Paving networks the managers of the asphalt mixing plant, the truck drivers of the transport company and the entire paving team on site. The system gives planning engineers and site managers a complete overview of the current project. Potential disruptions and obstacles to the construction process are recognized more quickly, which means that those involved have more options to deal with them. You can immediately take measures to optimize the construction site and correct deviations from the plan in real time.
Precise planning in advance
Process optimization with WITOS Paving Plus begins with WITOS Paving Control. VÖGELE calls this the planning and control module and enables convenient, wizard-based project planning that systematically guides users through the planning process and helps to cover everything. Specifically, this is done on the site manager’s or site planner’s PC. At Georg Koch GmbH, the PC is located in Gassmann’s office in Westerstede.
“We were already very impressed by the system in the planning phase because it simply calculated many values itself – for example the amount of asphalt required,” he said. “If the capacity of the planned mixing plant is too low, the system issues a warning. ”
This was the case with some of the planned strips in Wilhelmshaven, which is why Gassmann set up a second mixing plant to cover these spikes at an early stage.
Digital integration of the mixing plant
The WITOS Paving Materials module integrates the mixing plant into the system. One of the advantages is that the mix can be ordered dynamically. This means that WITOS Paving Plus reports to the mixing plant via a server-to-server interface when a mixing vehicle should drive to the construction site.
“As a mixing supervisor, that’s a great thing for me. The system already knows which tonnage of which mixture is required so that I can get the next truck ready for use in a flash, ”said Manuel Weyerts from the Wilhelmshaven asphalt mixing plant at Ems-Jade-Mischwerke. “The delivery note is also digital and is sent directly to the site manager.”
If required by law, a paper delivery note will also be issued.
The truck app reports the estimated time of arrival
As soon as a mix truck drives to the construction site, the WITOS Paving Transport module reports this to the construction manager via the server in the form of an estimated time of arrival at the construction site. This information means that the site manager always knows how many tons of Mix are on the way. This enables him to react quickly and easily to the current logistics situation – by requesting additional or fewer trucks. This enables a higher quality plaster due to the continuous paving. This goes hand in hand with higher cost efficiency due to reduced downtimes.
This is another advantage of WITOS Paving Plus: the system automatically and digitally records the waiting time using geofencing. The paver automatically detects arriving trucks. The only requirement for the integration of trucks into the overall system is the installation of the Android app WITOS Paving Transport and its activation before starting work.
Reliable real-time data on the construction site
WITOS Paving Plus was also very well received by mix truck drivers within a very short time.
“Waiting times on the construction site occasionally lead to discussions with contractors. WITOS Paving Plus documents cleanly and fairly for both partners when I actually arrived with my truck and how long I was on the construction site, ”says a driver.
Operations manager Theo Hülsmayer was able to record incoming mix trucks on the construction site using the WITOS Paving JobSite module on his tablet. He also measured the distance, paved with an odometer. WITOS Paving meant that he could soon do without this manual work, as WITOS Paving Plus records the distance with its own odometer. This data is then compared with the GPS values. The result: an asphalt distance that was precisely recorded on the measuring device.
“The data from WITOS Paving Plus are extremely precise. You can rely on the system, ”said Hülsmayer. T.
The reason for this is explained by Jürgen Brenzinger from VÖGELE: “We have the decisive advantage over third-party providers that we can access the machine data directly.”
Valuable support, easy to use
Ease of use is at least as important as precise function.
“WITOS Paving is extremely practical. It can be easily used no matter what the weather. The software functions are easy to understand. This enabled me to quickly see the essential added value the system offers. I wouldn’t want to do without it now, ”said Hülsmayer.
The JobSite module from WITOS Paving Plus comes into play on the go. As a result, all important paving parameters and, in particular, information on the ETA of mixed vehicles are visualized for the construction manager on a tablet or outdoor PC. Important details on the current paving situation are made available to the paver and the site manager. Important information, including construction progress and pavement temperature, is shown directly on the color display of the paver’s ErgoPlus 3 console. The number of mixer vehicles and the amount of mixer vehicles currently on the way are also displayed to the road paver.
Added value with cash value
A particularly clear example of the value that WITOS Paving Plus offers users and customers is the improved planning of the trucks required: According to the system, 13 mixer trucks were required on the first day of paving to supply the three VÖGELE pavers with mix. The cooking team initially relied on their own experience and deployed 15 trucks.
The evaluation then followed. With WITOS Paving Plus, this is done in the analysis module, the statistics and documentation tool. It enables the objective evaluation of construction projects and sends daily construction site reports to a defined recipient list. In this way, contractors can learn from the daily paving work and receive information for the next day. Site managers receive a lot of information from clear graphics and diagrams – for example about the paving status, the paving temperature and the waiting times for trucks. Valuable additional information that the Georg Koch GmbH team gained from the statistics was that 13 trucks really would have been enough, two less than were actually used.
For the paving work the next day, the site management therefore only ordered the number of mixing vehicles calculated by WITOS Paving Plus – this step alone saves money every day. Despite the reduced number of trucks, there were no interruptions.
In addition, the reports from the construction site at Jade-Weser Airport show the essential contribution the VÖGELE solution makes to process optimization in terms of quality and efficiency.
“We were really impressed with how much we learned and the simple tools that enabled us to get more out of our technology and processes,” Gassmann concluded.
Comments are closed.