Wirtgen, Vögele, Hamm, Kleemann, Benninghoven and Ciber at bauma CONEXPO AFRICA 2018
The Wirtgen Group South Africa will use the upcoming bauma CONEXPO AFRICA 2018 to showcase its innovative solutions for road construction and rehabilitation as well as for mining and mineral processing from across its group of internationally operating companies, comprising Wirtgen, Vögele, Hamm, Kleemann, Benninghoven and Ciber.
The Wirtgen Group South Africa, the local subsidiary of the Wirtgen Group in South Africa, will use bauma CONEXPO AFRICA 2018 to display a range of its available solutions and a broad range of services tailored to specific requirements for all areas of road construction as well as mining and processing of minerals, to its African customer base. bauma CONEXPO AFRICA 2018, the third international trade fair for construction machinery, building material machines, mining machines and construction vehicles, will be held at the Johannesburg Expo Centre in South Africa from March 13 to 16, 2018.
Having exhibited at the two previous editions of the show in 2013 and 2015, The Wirtgen Group South Africa rates bauma CONEXPO AFRICA as a great platform to showcase its latest technologies available, according to Waylon Kukard, Sales Manager at The Wirtgen Group South Africa. “The Wirtgen Group is the market leader in our industry and we regard Bauma as an important platform to showcase our class leading technologies to our customers and to live our ‘Close to our customers’ motto,” says Kukard. He adds that the Wirtgen Group has the second-biggest stand at Bauma Munich and The Wirtgen Group South Africa would like to build on this international success to further get closer to its local customers.
“We will showcase all our brands, namely Wirtgen, Vögele, Hamm, Kleemann, Benninghoven and Ciber,” says Kukard, adding that the range of products from these companies are relevant to the local market. With their leading technological features, the products will help local customers maximise productivity and execute top quality jobs. “Bringing products and technologies to the local market that have been successfully applied internationally provides the local industry with an opportunity to identify projects that can benefit from the international experience,” he adds.
Ahead of the show, Kukard notes the current challenging operating conditions in the local market. Testimony to this is the dramatic decline in the total equipment numbers sold during the past three to four years, largely due to the current economic conditions. For example, compaction roller sales in 2017 were down 15-20% year-on-year in the different ranges in South Africa, with 350-400 units being sold per year for the past three years. Roller sales are linked to infrastructure development and government expenditure has been very limited in the past few years and in some provinces non-existent. “The sector is currently under pressure and declining with no real growth potential in sight,” he says.
It is during such times that industry should be prepared to engage with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) on a consultative basis to see how best to apply existing and new technologies developed by OEMs to keep operational and capital costs down, says Kukard. For example, one of The Wirtgen Group South Africa’s key focus areas at the upcoming bauma CONEXPO AFRICA 2018 is sustainability and recycling of scarce natural resources, which has been the foundation of its product development over the years.
“Resources such as bitumen, road stone, layer works, among others, can be reused rather than being discarded and replaced,” says Kukard. “The Wirtgen Group South Africa has an in-depth understanding of the niche markets that it operates in and can provide a full range of solutions, all the way from machine selection through to application and operation.”
“Even in these tough economic times, The Wirtgen Group South Africa can fall back on the strength of the Wirtgen Group internationally to be able to provide our customers with the best and latest technologies available,” concludes Kukard.
