Wirtgen Group goes all in with sustainability and technology

Digital Products Industry experts present groundbreaking technology

Internationally recognized experts and specialists from the Wirtgen Group provided first-hand insights into the technologies of the future. On the subject of sustainability, they shared their experiences and knowledge of sustainable construction, the potential for CO2 reduction offered by the recycling of hot-mixed asphalt and cold recycling, and new electrically powered drive solutions for crushers and screening plants.

In the thematic complex of digitalization, presentations by specialists from the Wirtgen Group showed how the company can support and assist its customers in the course of the digital transformation. The John Deere Operations Center for construction equipment will become the central platform for providing digital solutions for the management of entire construction sites – at any time and from anywhere, including planning, monitoring, analysis, and maintenance. The Operations Center will act here as an interface between operators and machines on the construction site, the offices of site and resource managers, and the workshop manager.

But what does this mean in practical terms? Thanks to plannable machine availability, customers will, for instance, enjoy the benefits of reliable equipment utilization. The immediate availability of comprehensive information will enable project managers and machine operators to make the right decisions. A higher degree of process automation and the use of machine assistance systems will not only lead to higher productivity due to operators being able to concentrate fully on the work in progress, but also to a more efficient and effective deployment of human resources. The precision and, consequently, the quality of the work will also increase, which will in turn avoid the necessity of reworking and will help reduce material and operating costs. 

The broad spectrum and informational depth of the presentations underscored a clear road map that lays out how customers can be fully supported on today’s evolving job site. Wirtgen Group Production Systems provides end-to-end process solutions that address a wide range of project requirements aiming to decisively accelerate the digital transformation and connectivity of the industry with the ultimate goal of increasing profitability and maintaining the highest machine utilization rate.

Digital Products How to “Do More with Less”

The greatest ecological and economic potential lies in the totality of the construction process. Various live demonstrations showed how the Production System solutions from the Wirtgen Group play a role in this – for instance the use of low-temperature asphalt, concrete and asphalt recycling, or soil stabilization – and illustrated how the target-oriented utilization of technologies leads to greater precision, higher quality of results, and the consumption of fewer resources. Or, in other words: how to “Do More with Less” – and be “Smarter, Safer, and More Sustainable.”

As Knickel explains, “This enables our customers to realize more construction projects with fewer resources, build and rehabilitate more infrastructure, and simultaneously increase their profitability.” 

At the same time, he emphasizes that digital assistance systems and process automation also contribute to offsetting the shortage of qualified personnel throughout the industry. “This also means that less experienced machine operators will be in a position to deliver qualitatively identical results to those a skilled specialist would achieve,” he says. 

On top of this, telematics solutions will deliver greater transparency about the operational status of customers’ fleets and enable them to carry out proactive and even more precisely targeted servicing and maintenance of their machines.

Digital Products Kleemann opens the factory doors

On a guided tour through the Kleemann production facilities, the host of the event gave the professional audience fascinating insights into the manufacturing process. Since the opening of the new plant in 2009, the highly specialized facility has been successively extended and, like all other Wirtgen Group factories, has been constantly upgraded for sustainable operation in line with the Group’s sustainability strategy. Today, the Kleemann plant is one of the world’s most modern facilities for the production of crushers and screening plants. Many of the visitors were particularly impressed, not least by the highly complex prefabrication centres in which the core components of the Kleemann plants are produced with exceptional precision.

“In past years, we concentrated our efforts on target-oriented expansion of our product portfolio and now offer suitable solutions for every application, no matter whether for recycling or natural stone processing. To achieve this, we invested in areas such as expanding our production capacities and improving our assembly or logistics processes,” says Kleemann CEO Alexander Knam, describing the development of the company’s headquarters site in Göppingen. He believes that the specialist for materials processing equipment is ideally positioned for the future. “With these investments, we have laid the foundation for the ongoing production of our products and technologies under ideal conditions, sustainably and efficiently.”