From Bauma onto the road

Road paver leasing company Pave+ acquired one of the new tracked pavers and deployed it for the first time during fibreoptic network expansion work in Jettingen, near Stuttgart. THE ROAD was there and spoke to technical sales manager Patrick Werner and foreman Holger Nopirakowsky. The two gave their initial impressions of the outcome in an interview.

Mr Werner, Mr Nopirakowsky, Vögele launched the MINI 500 at Bauma 2022 and you recently used it for the first time in Jettingen. How is the new MINI paver on the road?

Werner: It keeps its promise of completing extremely small road construction projects in tight spaces efficiently and to a high standard of quality. Here in Jettingen, for example, we were connecting a housing estate to the fibreoptic network; our team then backfilled and paved a surface course over the trenches for the optical cable. Pave width was 90 cm and in some cases, we had to pave close to hedges and kerbs which would have been impossible with larger machines - a lot of the work would have to have been completed manually. With the MINI 500, it was no problem - our team was able to pave all the trenches using the paver, making it much quicker and more convenient to do it to a higher standard.

Nopirakowsky: The MINI paver really does save a lot of manual labour, especially on long, narrow sections such as those which often arise during expansion of the fibreoptic network or in general, when paving trenches for drains. The MINI 500 is much more accurate in this process, the paving looks much better than when it is completed manually. The machine also delivers a high output, is easy to operate and to clean - these too are key features for me in my capacity as foreman and operator.

Pave+ is a full-service company supplying the construction machinery leasing business and already has a number of Vögele pavers in different sizes. What now made you decide to buy the smallest paver in the product range as well?

Werner: Several reasons. Firstly, the MINI 500 enables us to cover the whole range up to the SUPER 2100-3i large paver, so in concrete terms, pave widths from 0.25 m to 14 m. Secondly, we have a great many customers with small-scale projects during work to expand the fibreoptic network or drainage works, for example, so demand for the smallest pavers is high. The great advantage of Vögele’s extremely compact MINI paver in these cases is that it can be used virtually anywhere, even in very tight spaces. There is also the fact that it can be transported on an ordinary car trailer, so doesn’t involve any great logistical complexity. Thirdly, Vögele’s advice and service continue to impress - the whole package just works.

For which areas and construction projects do you mainly use the MINI 500?

Nopirakowsky: Any situation in which a project requires pave widths between 0.25 m and 1.8 m and small, manœuvrable machines. The MINI 500 is incredibly flexible. Its dimensions, for example, make it ideal for footpaths about 1 m wide on new housing estates. But as already mentioned, it’s useful for drain-building as well as for road construction jobs, making its potential applications very varied.