BOMAG Americas Innovation Days 2022 on Sept. 15 at the company’s manufacturing facility in Ridgeway, S.C., provided guests a brief history, a look at future goals and entertaining outdoor product demonstrations.
The event was sprinkled with a few sideshow acts, including Busted Knuckles Stunt Tour performing wheelies and burnouts on asphalt in front of the grandstand with their Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Tulga, a smiling stuntman, performed feats of strength, tossing and juggling bowling balls and twirling four-stroke tampers attached to each end of a flame-ridden telephone post perched on the back of his neck.
Aside from the entertainment, the BOMAG message was clear: Growth in North America.
A brand of the French and international construction and industrial company FAYAT Group, BOMAG has manufacturing facilities in Italy, Germany and China, in addition to the U.S., and employs 2,900 people globally. A worldwide leader in soil, asphalt and waste compaction, BOMAG manufactures milling, paving and compaction equipment in its 250-product line.
BOMAG was founded in 1957, the same year FAYAT was founded. FAYAT Group purchased BOMAG in 2006.
With uneven supply chains and geopolitical concerns, Ralf Junker, BOMAG Group president, says the global situation is steering BOMAG towards growth in the U.S.
“Chinese business was growing year by year between 6 and 10 percent,” Junker says.
“Whenever it dropped down to 6 percent, the Chinese government injected huge money, and it grew. Now, this is completely different, and the Chinese government is not investing in infrastructure as much as it did before. And, therefore, the biggest market for construction equipment, China, is half the volume as before. It’s quite dramatic. Coming to the U.S., it is by far the fastest growing market for us actually, and very, very important,” he says.
Europe is still BOMAG’s biggest market, stable on a high level, but the company is concerned about the European challenges in acquiring gas from Russia.
Junker and other BOMAG representatives touched on some of the trends the company is focused on, including digitalization, health and safety, autonomous operations and zero emissions.
BOMAP and BOMAP Connect, for example, provide users with digital solutions for job sites, saving fuel and controlling the quality of work. As for zero emissions, Junker says, “in more and more regions of the world, authorities demand it. There are cities in Europe where you have to be zero emission to get the job. It’s coming.”
Some of the new products BOMAG introduced included:
BS 16 spreader
A towed spreader designed to apply powdered binding agents like lime, cement or fly ash in an even distribution to stabilize and improve the substrate. It offers a maximum distribution width of 7.9 ft. and can be mechanically reduced to a 3.3-ft. width in four stages. The two-axle spreader is equipped with a 565-cu.-ft. hopper capacity. The spreader can be towed at up to 15.5 mph.
RS 250 and RS 300 tractor-towed stabilizers
Offering a 99.2-in. cutting width and 15.7-in. depth, the RS 250 pairs with tractors in the 200- to 300-hp class. The RS 300 can be operated by tractors in the 300- to 450-hp class range to cut a 98.4-in.-wide path at depths reaching 19.7 in. Both models offer easy coupling to the tractor with a three-point hitch and are powered by a standard 1.75-in. power take-off (PTO) shaft.
BW 174 AP-5 AM HYBRID roller
The machine lowers fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 20 percent without sacrificing performance, the company says. The machine includes a high-resolution 10-in. customizable touchscreen for menu navigation. Asphalt Manager is a tool that enables operators of all skill levels to achieve perfect compaction every time, the company says.
Click below to watch a video report from BOMAG Americas Innovation Days 2022.