Bitelli spa - Minerbio BO Italy
This Road Construction Equipment Manufacturer is one of the biggest and more aggressive in Europe. Its Engineering Department is of outstanding quality and its product palette includes Compacting Rollers, Pavers, Stabilisers, Milling Machines etc. Niarb could however be rather useful to this Company in many instances solving rapidly a few "niche" product problems.
A typical engineering "outsourcing" operation.
In the late seventies Bitelli decided to add to its line of vibrating Rollers a powerful Combination piece of equipment, following all other Road Rollers Manufacturers wanting to brake the Simesa monopoly in this particular "niche" sector of the market. Niarb sold Bitelli the patent rights and the related license. The model "COMBIT 65" was born, a very successful combination vibratory roller.
In the Asphalt Paver sector Bitelli always had the widest and most complete line of machines: Not less than four rubber tire mounted models (with operating weight from 7 to 20 tons) and four crawler mounted models (from 5 to 25 tons).
In those times (1970-1985) the crawler mounted pavers were equipped with classic metallic crawler chains composed of a multitude of interconnected rigid metallic elements. For this reason (no elastic suspensions are acceptable in a paver to ensure stable levelling) Crawler Mounted Pavers of the traditional type cannot travel at speeds above 4-5 Km/hour. Contractors, however, cannot avoid keeping in their yard, respectively on the job site one or more Crawler Mounted Pavers to be used on "soft" or slippery base courses. From its first days of operation Niarb has poured large amount of money and of working hours into studying researching and developing a new Flexible Crawler Belt
Bitelli was one of the first manufacturers to understand the vital importance of this innovative type of equipment: With a slight increase in cost contractors only need to own one single line of pavers: the "Flex Belt" paver line.
The introduction of such an innovative type of equipment into the various market areas will take many years, but at the end of the process one can imagine a possible re-organisation also of the manufacturer's Paver production lines.
One single "Flex-Belt" mounted paver line can replace the two traditional Paver lines (Rubber-Tire and Crawler-mounted lines)
Self-propelled Soil Stabilisers were rather unknown machines in Europe in the early eighties. One of a sudden, Consulting Co. asked for such equipment for the execution of new highways and for the maintenance of the old ones.
Niarb had a full project ready (as the one delivered a few years early to Simesa Milan. Bitelli was in need to quickly enter into competition with American and German manufacturers with a truly advanced piece of equipment.
Thanks to a tough joint effort between Bitelli's Engineering Dept. and Niarb, the new ST 200 Soil Stabiliser and Recycler could be launched into the market in few months time.
This is the first page of the Screed agreement showing a picture of the Niarb "Soft-Action" screed, mounted on a traditional paver. Twin pre-compacting action ("tamping" and vibration) unsurpassed sideways elongation of the two extensible elements make possible stepless adjustment of paving width from basic up to twice the basic width.
As explained before, the Traction System of an Asphalt Paver is very important. Adopting the "Flex-Belt" Crawler system for upgrading a paver traction system is highly desirable indeed.
The most important element of a Paver is however its Screed.
A good asphalt paver screed performs at the same time many vital tasks: levelling the asphalt mat, compacting it (first by "tamping" and then by vibrating it), and determining the accurate mat thickness and width. Starting from the mid seventies, the width of the paved stripe is easily adjustable, thanks to the so-called "extensible" screeds. All known extensible screeds can increase their "basic" width by 70%, Niarb has developed a more advanced screed that can double its basic width.
The advanced Niarb screed is also lighter and more flexible than the traditional ones. For this reason it was called "Soft-Action" Screed.
INPLANT Ltd., a joint partner of Niarb, has closed a Technology Transfer agreement with Bitelli, including the conveyance of the related Niarb patents.
This agreement enabled Bitelli to rapidly start production of the "Soft-Action" RISA 500 screed, positioning itself as the only paver manufacturer offering an extensible screed capable of widening its "basic" width by a factor of two.