Related Links: 3M Capital Safety In the largest-ever acquisition by the St. Paul, Minn.-based manufacturing giant, 3M agreed to acquire Bloomington, Minn.-based Capital Safety from private equity firm KKR for $2.5 billion. Capital Safety is one of the industry's biggest makers of fall-protection safety equipment."The acquisition of Capital Safety bolsters our personal-safety platform and will build on our fundamental strengths in technology," said 3M Chairman Inge G. Thulin in a press statement. "Personal safety is a large and strategically important growth business in the 3M portfolio." In the same statement, 3M described the protective-equipment industry as a strategic priority for
Photo Courtesy of DESPE Bluevale in Glasgow, Scotland, is being demolished using the TopDownWay system. Photo Courtesy of DESPE Despe's TopDownWay system encases the top three floors of a tower undergoing demolition in a jobsite 'cocoon,' allowing continued access at street level while demolition activities devour the skyscraper, floor by floor. Related Links: The 2015 2Q Cost Report, with Data and Analysis Despe Safedem When seen from above, it looks like a giant orange spider perched on top of a skyscraper. But Italy-based Despe's TopDownWay demolition system is a method that takes down towers faster—and sometimes cheaper—than regular demolition techniques."You
This week we look at a horizontal directional drill from Vermeer and a crane attachment for power-line installations from LineWise. Click to begin the slide show.
Photo Courtesy New NY Bridge Project Video Courtesy New NY Bridge Project Related Links: The New NY Bridge Tappan Zee Constructors Using a massive barge-mounted crane—now nicknamed "I Lift NY" but formerly known as the "Left Coast Lifter," when it was on San Francisco's Bay Bridge project—crews placed the first horizontal steel assembly of the new Tappan Zee Bridge on June 17.The crane's load, including the steel assembly, lifting frame and rigging, weighed in at more than 1,360 tons. The 410-ft segment is the first of 134 similar steel assemblies that will form the two-span structure.The bridge across the Hudson
Related Links: Bitdefender Box Keeping a network secure on a large corporate scale is a full-time job for a team of IT security professionals. But when running a busy network for a small business or offsite office, there often isn't the space or money for that level of security management.Bitdefender, a firm best known for its antivirus software, is getting into the hardware game with Box, a stand-alone network gateway that scans all incoming and outgoing internet traffic for suspicious activity. Unlike a firewall, the Box does more than allow or deny internet activity; it actively scans network traffic for
Image Courtesy of Volvo CE Even pass Volvo's intelligent compaction approach relies on machine learning for proper density. Compacting asphalt pavement sufficiently is crucial to extending the life of roadways. Intelligent compaction technologies offer methods of evaluating the state of pavement compaction in real time, helping operators to avoid under- or overcompacting the pavement. Most intelligent compaction methods rely on measuring the relative stiffness of the pavement and displaying a real-time, GPS-enabled map of how many passes have been made over the pavement mat.The Federal Highway Administration has made intelligent compaction a priority investment for the future, and state transportation
