Wirtgen Group has been servicing the road construction industry in Australia since 1986. The company works consistently to provide new machinery and technology to enhance projects. Roads & Infrastructure finds out more.
At the heart of Wirtgen machines is German engineering. The company strives to make continuous advancements to machine technology in order to boost productivity and efficiency across a wide range of projects.
Robinson Civil Group (RCG) is a civil construction company based in North Queensland, who has worked with Wirtgen for almost a decade.
A longstanding partnership
RCG provides civil construction services throughout Queensland including remote and regional areas. Their modern fleet of plant with the latest machine technology is based in depots from Townsville to Cape York.
Through expansion into road stabilisation RCG chose Wirtgen as their plant supplier.
Caytlyn Mead, Chief Executive Officer at RCG says when we were investigating the market for road stabilisers the Wirtgen road reclaimers were of value for us and that is where the relationship started.
Now RCG has nine Wirtgen machines in its fleet, seven profilers and two stabilisers.
“We use Wirtgen equipment to deliver projects for state and local government. We also provide wet hire of plant mostly for government and private sector and have a large number of asphalt clients for the profiling machines,” Mrs. Mead says.
RCG saw that there was a natural transition into profiling and Wirtgen again could provide high quality options.
“In business you always compare market options and as a result of our research we have committed to a fleet of Wirtgens. Continuing with the same technology and support is important to us and so is continuing our relationship with Wirtgen.”
Recently, RCG decided to add to their fleet by purchasing a new W210 Profiler from Wirtgen.
“When we were reviewing our upcoming program and the significant amount of work which required an additional 2 metre machine, the Wirtgen team was very responsive to our needs. We had a machine shipped to us within a week, along with someone on site commissioning the machine,” Mrs. Mead says.
“The Wirtgen team responded and we were able to continue business without disruption to our client’s programs.”
Strong relationships forged between RCG and Wirtgen have been developed through quality support and communication. Mrs. Mead said RCG has enduring relationships with Wirtgen staff and they have gone above and beyond to ensure that RCG is well serviced.
“Wirtgen staff are available to us around the clock should we need something addressed immediately,” she says.
“The team at Wirtgen always ensure parts and consumables are dispatched in a timely manner. They provide phone support and technical knowledge in addition to responding to parts requirements as we need for unexpected breakdowns. We work closely together to deliver quality outcomes for our clients.”
Mrs. Mead acknowledges that the relationship with Wirtgen is very important to RCG as Wirtgen machines provide the latest in technology to the civil construction industry.
Forming solid foundations
Dowsing Group is a specialised civil services business started in Western Australia in 1985. For over 30 years the company has been growing and most recently expanded to New South Wales, with the acquisition of Seovic Engineering.
Over the years, the business has used an array of machines for local and state government projects in slip forming, profiling, footpaths and civil services. However, the group’s relationship with Wirtgen has grown for four years as the company added Wirtgen machinery to its fleet.
Similarly, to RCG, Dowsing Group’s first taste of Wirtgen machinery was when it stepped into the road profiling market.
Bohdan Dowsing, Executive Director of Dowsing Group says he believes Wirtgen has the best road profiling machines in the world.
“Through our relationship with Wirtgen, built around the profiling machines, we decided to make the switch with our slip form pavers as well and the relationship continued to grow from there,” Mr. Dowsing says.
The company now has six Wirtgen profilers and four slip form machines out of its fleet of 12 pavers across the country.
Mr. Dowsing says Seovic Engineering recently purchased a Wirtgen SP64 paver as an asset for work it is about to undertake on the M4/M5 tunnels in Sydney.
“It’s a versatile paver for its size and we already liked the back-end support we get from Wirtgen so that, coupled with the German engineering and some of the features on the paver, was a no brainer for us.”
Parts carried onshore was another important component for Dowsing Group. Mr. Dowsing says with parts carried in Perth and Queensland they are only one day away, which might not be the case coming from overseas.
He says Dowsing Group really enjoy the local support they get on both sides of the country from Wirtgen.
“Knowing there are parts in Australia, and I can speak to someone in Perth that is a specialist in the product is important. When we are on a major project and the machine breaks down, I can call these guys and get it sorted easily. At the end of the day all machines break down so it’s the back-end support that I really appreciate.”
No matter where its customers are located or how many Wirtgen Group machines they have Wirtgen stands by its customers to support their businesses well beyond the machine purchase itself.
Being a provider of specialist equipment enables Wirtgen to focus on providing expertise. Feet on the ground is great but pairing that with the knowledge and expertise on specialist pieces of equipment is important. That is something Wirtgen aims to excel at with a firm commitment to supporting its customers through the test of time.
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