All over the world, road building machines and machine control systems are working in different projects. That can be the construction of a completely new road or the renovation of an old road.

For all these projects machines as well as machine control systems have to be robust, work precisely and reliably.

The difference, however, can be huge, depending on which country a machine is working. While in developed countries the most important factors are reliability, precision and the latest technologies and flexibility; in developing countries robustness, easy operation and cheapness are the main factors.

In developed countries reliability is very important because the planning of road construction projects is very strict, that means there are no buffers in timelines. The whole chain from asphalt plant over truck planning, asphalt laying up to compaction is jam-packed and if only one single machine is not working properly or a machine breaks down, the whole chain stands still and the complete process is postponed. That, in turn, means the project can’t be finished on time and often the company has to pay penalty payments for the delay. Penalty payments or on the other side bonus payments for imprecise or on the other hand extremely precise work are the reasons why precision also plays an important role. And for precise work, machine control systems with the latest technologies are essential, as a machine works much more precisely with an appropriate machine control system. When companies in developed countries acquire such systems, one decisive factor is the flexibility of a system. That means that for example a control system for a paver can work with different sensors, accordingly to the requirements of different projects, like MOBA-matic with its different sensors and possible combinations.

In comparison to developed countries, in developing countries it is in most cases important to have a machine and a machine control system that is very robust because the circumstances are often rough. For example, extreme heat or dust demand a lot from machine and control system. It is also important that the operation is simple, so that also unskilled workers can work with it without time-consuming instructions. Also, the equipment must not be too expensive, that is why often machines like pavers are reused in developing countries after being taken out of service after having already worked seven until ten years in developed countries. The machines are often getting refurbished and modified with MOBA systems.

Here is an example of a paver restoration in Bangkok

The paver has been upgraded with a MOBA Big-Ski system

So machines and control systems are necessary for any country and any project, but the way they are used and the preferences are different, depending on the project itself, but also depending on the country where the machine runs.