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Bauma 2004

World’s biggest construction fair celebrates its 50th anniversary in style

Germany’s triennial Bauma construction exhibition celebrated its golden jubilee in style earlier this year with yet another record-breaking event. From modest beginnings back in 1954, when 8,000 visitors came to Munich to see 58 exhibitors on 12,000m2 of open-air exhibition space, the event has grown into the largest international trade fair of any kind in world.

In contrast to that first exhibition, this year’s show attracted 2,801 exhibitors, 410,000 visitors and occupied 500,000m2 of indoor and outdoor exhibition space at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre, each one of these statistics beating all previous records.

And for the first time ever, this year’s event featured a new 14,000m2 section devoted entirely to mining machinery and technology, where the latest products and services for opencast and underground mining were presented. Over 500 companies had products for the mining industry on display at the show, including 133 who exhibited in the dedicated mining area.

Great Britain was also well represented with a total of 123 companies taking part — the largest ever British contingent. Of these, 28 were grouped together to form the British Pavilion in one of the trade fair’s huge indoor halls, while the remainder exhibited in other product-specific areas of the show.

Liebherr’s vast 10,000m2 stand at the heart of the showground formed the stage for over 70 exhibits from the company’s wide product range including hydraulic excavators, wheel loaders, bulldozers, truckmixers and tower cranes. But in visual terms the highlight of their line-up had to be the new 370-tonne capacity, diesel-electric T282B — the world’s largest mining truck.

JCB used the show to launch several new products including three additions to their next-generation JS hydraulic excavator range. Building on the success of the JS200, JS210 and JS220 machines launched last year, the new JS130, JS240 and JS260 models feature similar extensive improvements to offer customers a broader line-up of intelligent machines with more power, better performance and efficiency, and lower operating costs.

On the Komatsu stand the new PC450-7 hydraulic excavator was launched to replace the earlier dash-6 model. Offering lower fuel consumption and higher hydraulic pressure, the PC450-7 is designed for ease of maintenance and is fully compliant with Stage 2/Tier II emissions regulations. Komatsu also announced the launch of the new PC340-7LC super long-reach excavator, which has a maximum horizontal reach of 22m, and the 19-tonne WA420-5 wheel loader, which offers bucket capacities from 3.3m3 to 5.5m3.

As well as their open-air displays, Caterpillar occupied an entire indoor hall to create a futuristic setting for the launch of numerous products and technologies, ranging from compact equipment, mid-range excavators and G-series track-type tractors to new Bitelli planers and pavers and the latest Stage 3a/Tier III Cat engines with ACERT technology.

Volvo also offered a peek into the future with a glimpse of their new V-ACT engine technology, which is not due to come into service until the new Stage 3/Tier III emissions legislation starts to come into force in 2005/2006. Although keeping much of the new technology a secret, Volvo say that V-ACT will not only exceed the forthcoming emissions requirements, but will also improve engine response at low engine speeds while maintaining optimum fuel efficiency.

Several new off-road tyres were launched at the show, including Michelin’s 27.00 R 49 X-Traction for rigid dumptrucks and 23.5 R 25 X-Super Terrain AD for articulated dumpers, and Bridgestone’s VJT radial tyre for wheel loaders and VLTS 65-series for articulated dumptrucks.

Metso Minerals used their new outdoor stand to introduce a number of new products including the Barmac B7150SE vertical-shaft impactor, which has a throughput capacity of 260–490 tonnes/h and accepts a maximum feed size of 66mm. Also on display were the latest-generation Trellex modular step screen panels, which incorporate a number of design features to improve wear life and increase panel strength.

Seven new machines featured on the Powerscreen International stand. Among them were the Chieftain 2400 mobile screener (the largest unit in the Chieftain range) and the Chieftain 1800 triple-deck unit for coal, aggregates and inert waste, and the Phoenix 1400 and Orion 1400 trommel screens for recycling applications.

Finlay Hydrascreens extended their range with the launch of the new 694 Supertrak. Previewed at Hillhead last year and now in full production, key features of this four-way split, track-mounted screener include a 20 x 5 triple-deck screenbox, four on-board stockpiling conveyors and a belt feed hopper which can be fitted with a single- or double-deck vibrating grid. Also on display was the recently launched Finlay TC15 Sandmaster, which is capable of producing one or two grades of sand at up to 150 tonnes/h.

As well as promoting their best selling product lines, Pegson used the show to unveil their new 1214 track-mounted impactor. The machine is fitted with a Hazemag AP-PH 1214/Q impactor which features a 1.2m diameter x 1.4m wide four-hammer rotor and a feed opening of 950mm x 1,360mm. The 1214 also incorporates the latest PLC canbus control system, which can be used to automatically regulate the feed to the crusher.

The C12 and C10 tracked jaw crushers and the S-series doublescreens drew visitors to the Extec stand, but perhaps the greatest level of interest was reserved for two brand new products — the Evolution tracked fingerscreen system and the new Extec tracked roll crusher.

Star attractions on the Atlas Copco stand included the new MB 1000 hydraulic breaker, suitable for mounting on carriers in the 12–20-tonne class, and the new ROC D7 RRC drill rig, designed for radio remote control on difficult and dangerous to reach work sites.

This review provides the briefest glimpse of just a handful of the hundreds of Bauma exhibitors offering products, equipment and services for quarrying and related applications, however many of the new products included above, and others to numerous to mention, will feature in more detail in future issues of Quarry Management. The next Bauma + Mining event will take place at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre from 23–29 April 2007.

 
 

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