Customer Support Series Part 4: Application Consulting

The Wirtgen Group’s product brands are specialists in their field and all of them draw on decades of application experience, Customers around the globe benefit from this, as the Wirtgen Group is always glad to share this expertise.

Anyone who chooses to work with machines from the Wirtgen Group gets a comprehensive, fully integrated package – covering everything from the product to service. For customers, this means that they can always rely on comprehensive support – from the purchase of the machine to technical assistance in the workshop and on the project site, the transfer of knowledge through technical literature, comprehensive training opportunities and specific application consulting.

Real-world expertise, deep-rooted understanding of applications

Wirtgen, Vögele, Hamm, Kleemann and Benninghoven are not only premium suppliers and innovation drivers in the field of products and technologies. Wirtgen Group product brands have decisively influenced the various application methods and continue to play an important role in ongoing developments. This has resulted in the companies amassing an immense wealth of experience over the years. The group shares this expertise in a variety of ways: for instance through training at its brands’ headquarters in Germany, international production sites, at subsidiaries and dealers around the world – and even on the customer’s own premises. In training programs, theoretical knowledge always has a tangible connection to everyday working scenarios, which is why machines are often the focus of practical demonstrations, materials training and process presentations. In addition, experienced Wirtgen Group technicians and construction site specialists also provide professional advice in advance of planned operations, which allows customers to systematically implement special processes and methods in the realisation of their projects.

Professional advice assures certainty

Actual on-site experience simply can’t be beaten. Here too, application engineers from the Wirtgen Group provide on-the-spot support to machine operators on project sites around the globe. This includes, for example, how to avoid application errors, maximise the added value of Wirtgen Group solutions and, ultimately, how to achieve the best possible results. Matthias Fritz, Application Manager 3D Control Systems at Wirtgen, is one of them. He ensures that customers can fully exploit the performance potential of the new AutoPilot 2.0. As in the case of Westerleigh Estates, a new residential development in Moseley, Virginia, USA.

Great advice on the spot

At Westerleigh Estates, concrete contractor Talley & Armstrong Inc., one of the first companies in North America to upgrade to Wirtgen’s new 3D system for stringline-free concrete paving, relied on the support of the application specialist: ‘I’ve already worked with the predecessor of AutoPilot 2.0, and the current version is even more user-friendly. But it also offers some really great features I’m not yet familiar with’, explains Clay Armstrong from Talley & Armstrong.

These include, for example, how to correct unwanted kinks in an imported digital data model in order to achieve the best paving quality. On the project site, good advice is always welcome. ‘That’s exactly what my colleagues and I are here for. To provide immediate assistance in the event of questions or problems’, says Matthias Fritz. Then he turns back to Clay Armstrong and shows him how to iron out the kinks on the touch screen with the aid of a few simple steps with graphic editors. The Vice President at Talley & Armstrong, who operates his SP 15i slipform paver himself, is delighted: ‘The advice provided by the Wirtgen Group’s experts is extremely valuable to me because it gives me the certainty I need for the realisation of my projects.’