Photo: Cary Kopczynski & Co High-strength rebar is costly but cuts down weight, reducing overall costs, a new study says. Related Links: High-Strength Rebar Market Is Heating Up New materials and methods available to concrete construction crews in the past decade present a financial dilemma:A flashy material may offer advantages despite its upfront cost, but how do you know you aren’t sending your overall project into the red?A research team took a stab at this problem and released their findings this morning to the Construction Industry Institute’s annual conference in Chicago. In some cases, the team found overall cost savings.
Hollywood producers love a good sequel. But what about road engineers? While a successful movie's return squeezes extra profit out of a film franchise, a valuable highway follow-up cashes in on the lessons learned from previous work, yielding infrastructure that holds up over time. On the other hand, the engineering equivalent of a bad movie is a bloated boondoggle of a road that cracks under pressure. Related Links: From ENR's Archives: Tight Focus, New Mix Puts Wacker Drive Back in the Loop Official 'Revive Wacker Drive' Site Video: Rebuilding Chicago's Wacker Drive In the case of Chicago's Wacker Drive, an
It may be a good time to revisit your jobsite security: More heavy equipment is stolen in July than any other month of the year, according to a new report from the National Equipment Register and National Insurance Crime Bureau. SXC/bradimarte The highest volumes of equipment theft typically occur during the peak construction months. Related Links: Highway Robbery: Thieves Target Surveying Gear National Crime Database Reaches Critical Mass Read NER's 2010 Theft Report The summer months, when construction activity is usually in high gear, collectively made up for about one-third of all heavy equipment thefts last year, says the July
Photo: Tudor Van Hampton for ENR Deere took the wraps off its 944K hybrid loader this past March at the Conexpo exhibition in Las Vegas. Its research shows that contractors will pay more up front for a fuel-saving machine. + Image Image: Courtesy of Deere & Co. The 944K starts with a 13.5L diesel engine bolted to a pump drive and two AC generators. An inverter box manages power, and four wheel motors provide traction. Brake resistors burn off excess energy as the machine slows down, but some energy is pushed back to the generators to run the hydraulics. Related
Six months after the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration began enforcing its crane and derrick standard, which mandates higher levels of safety precautions for hoisting operations on construction sites, employers and regulators say implementation of the landmark workplace-safety rule has been no easy task.
Caterpillar Inc. estimates $300 million in sales and $100 million in operating profit will slip away this year, mostly in the second quarter, due to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Photo: Courtesy of Caterpillar Inc. Cat says none of it Japanese employees were injured, but the march 11 disaster disrupted supply chain. Although its Japan-based employees suffered no injuries and its plants in the region were not damaged, the event has taken a toll on the overall supply chain for construction machinery. Many of the industrial components and whole goods are produced in Japan or move through
A medium-duty truck that has been riding in the U.S. Army's tactical fleet for more than one decade is now available for commercial use. Photo: Courtesy of Worldwide Machinery Since 1988, more than 50,000 FMTVs have been built for military use. Contractors can now order them for their own private fleets. Displayed at last month's CONEXPO-CON/AGG construction show, the truck is “a unique beast,” says Chris Wilson, vice president of Channelview, Texas-based Worldwide Industrial Parts and Supply. “It eats the ground, and it just goes and goes and goes,” he adds. A subsidiary of equipment distributor Worldwide Machinery, the firm
Despite sluggish construction activity, the mood was noticeably upbeat at the largest construction event of the year, the CONEXPO-CON/AGG show, held on March 22-26 in Las Vegas. Nearly 120,000 people showed up for the event, where 2,400 exhibitors displayed equipment, products and services over 2.34 million sq ft. The turnout was about 17% lower than the previous CONEXPO, in March 2008, which saw more than 144,000 visitors. However, vendors and attendees alike say that pent-up demand for heavy machinery and related products worldwide lifted the atmosphere in Las Vegas. “The increased global participation by attendees and exhibitors underscores the importance
Although recent reports hint that Caterpillar Inc.'s chief executive is contemplating moving the manufacturer's headquarters outside Illinois, Cat Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman says that�s not true. Photo: Tudor Van Hampton for ENR Peoria, Ill., became the official home of Caterpillar after Calif.-based Holt Tractor Co. and C.L. Best Tractor Co. merged in 1925. "I want to stay here," says Oberhelman in a March 21 letter to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D), in which the Woodstock, Ill., native admits being "wined and dined" by other state governors trying to lure Cat to move its longtime headquarters in Peoria, Ill. "You've
