Variety of applications

The company's sights remained set on its objective to offer customers an appropriate solution for each individual application. Meanwhile, the number of requests for quote was rising steadily. New challenges spurred the company on. By the mid-1980s, the construction machinery specialist boasted a range of machines unmatched in the industry. In fact, even at this time, milling and cutting technology was already one of WIRTGEN's core competencies.

With all of this know-how and far-reaching experience behind it, it was more or less a logical move for the company to diversify into a brand new area of application. And so, all of a sudden, the watchword was: a "milling machine" that can cut mountains. WIRTGEN branched out into open-cast mining. With its surface miners, as they were known, mine operators could extract large quantities of useful minerals, operating selectively and highly economically. This new technology offered an alternative to the conventional methods of drilling and blasting. And indeed, surface mining technology became increasingly popular in the course of the following decades. Today, surface mining has become indispensable in open-cast mining. Here, too, Wirtgen leads the field as a recognized applications specialist.

As a result, the product range had grown further by the end of the 1980s. As if this were not enough, another development was in the offing. Up to this time, WIRTGEN had focused on the rehabilitation of asphalt roads. However, when it took over the slipform paver product line of a Belgian company, the company embarked on yet another new line of business – the construction of concrete roadways and monolithic profiles – extending the range of applications once again.