Mobile solution that eliminates long trips

Working in projects throughout the remote west of Australia, BGC Asphalt needed a versatile high production mobile asphalt plant. The iNOVA2000 by Ciber from the Wirtgen Group fulfilled its role. Roads & Infrastructure explains.

In 2016, BGC Asphalt introduced a mobile batch plant in its fleet, but almost a year later, and with several ongoing regional projects, the company needed another mobile plant to meet demand.

Ensuring a contract in the Airport of Busselton, 250 km from Perth, and another project of remote airport for BHP in Newman soon after, the company headquartered in the west of Australia needed to complement their mobile asphalt plant with a high capacity configuration.

“Because we hoped to implement this extra airport project, and we are working on projects in remote locations, we had a need for extra resources and plant,” says Craig Hollingsworth, General Manager, BGC Asphalt & Quarries. “We wanted an extremely mobile plant, highly productive and unique, in a short time frame, and the Wirtgen Group was the only one that could provide it.”

The company got involved with the Wirtgen Group in relation to its Ciber line of asphalt plants. “We did not know Ciber well before Wirtgen Group, but once they applied their ethos in relation to manufacturing, we believe that it improved the quality of the product,” says Mr. Hollingsworth.

Ciber Equipamentos Rodoviários – or Ciber – is part of the Wirtgen Group, which incorporates the brands Wirtgen, Vogele, Hamm, Kleemann and Benninghoven. In 2015, it launched its mobile asphalt plant, Ciber iNOVA 2000, which BGC identified as the best option for its operations. The plant Ciber iNOVA 2000 provides high production capacity in only two mobile units, helping minimise transport and installation costs, maximising production power. Such production benefits, due to its mobility and adaptability for remote works, have made the Ciber iNOVA 2000 the ideal solution for BGC Asphalt.

“It is designed to operate at remote locations such as Busselton, so it does not have to be sophisticated in terms of asphalt design. It can produce the mixes we need in such remote locations, such as polymer-modified asphalt or special mix asphalt. That means we would be able to provide a broad range of asphalt to all points in Australia if we wanted to,” says Mr. Hollingsworth.

Choosing the basic equipment configuration with an additional storage bin, Hollingsworth says that the beauty of the Ciber iNOVA 2000 lies in its significant production capacity. “One of the most important features of the iNOVA is that our staff can configure it in two or three days. This is not just amazing by itself, but it provides 200 tonnes of power per hour,” he says. “If we can take this plant 1,500 kilometres away from Perth and produce 200 tonnes per hour after two days of installation, this is wonderful.”

Hollingsworth says that the plant is ideal for Western Australia and that it meets all requirements for the business completing jobs at remote locations, something that is a bonus for the company’s Perth operations.

“When we go to such remote locations up to 1,500 km outside of Perth, we need to be fully self-sufficient. It has been meeting all our requirements and it is so simple that, if something goes wrong, we do not need to fly a technician from Germany – we can fix it ourselves,” says Mr. Hollingsworth.

For the business based in Hazelmere, the additional advantage of Ciber iNOVA 2000 is that the main office of the manufacturer is located nearby, in South Guildford. “This is the cherry on the cake – the shop and the technicians are right there and we know they will always have spare parts available,” says Mr. Hollingsworth.

The Wirtgen Group in Australia worked with BGC and the manufacturing engineering team to ensure that the new iNOVA 2000 met all compliance requirements before total commissioning. The company’s local support team, headed by the Internal Engineer, Ash Johnson, was able to ensure a smooth program for the engineering modifications that were completed in due time. The current fleet includes the plant Ciber iNOVA, a small milling machine Wirtgen W 35 Ri, a Vogele paver Super 1303-3, an HD 14 TT tire roller, and 2 HD 14 VO vibration and oscillation tandem rollers by Hamm.