SEEMINGLY undaunted by the global economic downturn, the world leaders in construction and mining equipment continue to head towards Munich, Germany, to showcase their latest, biggest and best at bauma 2010.

Considered to be largest international show for construction machinery, building material and mining machines, construction vehicles and construction equipment, the 2010 edition of bauma will be held on a record 555,000 sq m of indoor and outdoor exhibition space at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre – all of which is fully booked according to the organiser.
The show, now in its 29th edition, will be held next month (April 19 to 25) and will feature more than 3,000 exhibitors representing 49 countries. A 20 per cent rise in visitor numbers is anticipated for this year’s show, which will translate into more than 500,000 trade visitors from 191 different countries with around 155,000 of them travelling to Munich from outside Germany.
The three-yearly bauma is organised by Messe München International (MMI), one of the world’s leading trade-fair companies that organises around 40 trade fairs for capital and consumer goods, and key high-tech industries.

The bauma Forum – which was held for the first time in 2007 – will cover an interesting spectrum of themes that will include among the many discussions and lectures, the country specials, which are being organised in cooperation with Germany’s engineering federation VDMA (Verband deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau) on the markets of Asia, America, CIS/Russia and India.
At the bauma Forum, exhibitors, trade associations and business partners will present the latest product developments, trends and market analyses in the form of presentations, press conferences and/or panel discussions.

Partner country
India will be the partner country of the 2010 event, participating under the successful partner-country concept, which will be part of trade show for the fourth time in 2010. When selecting a partner country, the objective is to bring potential customers from the world’s rapidly growing markets to Munich. “After Latin America, the Confederation of Independent States and the Arabian Peninsula, India will be our partner country at bauma 2010,” says exhibition manager Georg Moller, adding, “In 2007, the partner-country concept doubled the number of visitors from the Arabian Peninsula.”
The Indian cabinet minister for road transport and highways, Kamal Nath, will be opening a symposium on the first day of the fair on the construction industry and infrastructure in India. Bauma is expecting several delegations and prominent visitors from India who use the largest exhibition in the world as a platform for developing new business contacts. From India, 38 exhibitors have already booked space at bauma 2010. More than 5,000 visitors are expected to visit from this country besides the high-profile delegation headed by the Indian minister.
bauma 2010 will mark technological development milestones in the fields of mining and tunnel construction, excavators and loaders, cranes and building machinery.

Building materials & machinery
The manufacture and processing of concrete, mortar and asphalt are among the core themes at the trade fair. In a quest for tailor-made, cost-effective solutions, the sector will showcase the following innovations:
• A new series of cost-effective mixer models, DKXN, designed primarily for the manufacture of ready-mixed concrete in soft consistencies, produced by BHS-Sonthofen;
• A planetary counterflow mixer EMPG 1000 used mainly for block-making, introduced by Elba-Werk Maschinen-Gesellschaft (see separate article);
• A new high-performance one-man mixing pump, PFT Ritmo XL, by Knauf PFT;
• ContiMix, a continuous asphalt mixing plant, developed by Swiss company Ammann;
• A newly-developed tracked paver Super 3000-2, from Joseph Vögele, suitable for large-scale construction projects;
• The Compactasphalt method, by Dynapac, in which two courses of asphalt are laid simultaneously on roads or motorways in one pass, with both layers being laid hot on hot;
• A compact design asphalt paver AP555E Mobil-trac, developed by Zeppelin and Caterpillar.

Safety & environment
Humanising the working environment and improving safety are common themes in all areas of the building industry. This will be amply demonstrated at the trade fair, where some of the innovations will include:
• A remote-controlled, electrically-operated demolition robot, developed by Finnish company Finmac, for use in confined hazardous working conditions;
• A new semi-trailer specially designed for securing reinforced steel mesh for transport, which will be presented by Schmitz Cargobull of Germany;
• The Staxo 40, developed by Austrian formwork specialist Doka, which is a framework scaffolding for building construction that makes it possible to have barrier-free workplace access routes and work-deck levels extending across several scaffold units at once (see separate article);
• Octopussy Evo, a new access platform fitted to a remote-controlled track truck, to be presented by Italian company Oil & Steel.

Excavators & cranes
bauma once again promises to be a giant shop window for new models of earthmoving and materials handling equipment, excavators and loaders, with innovations including:
• The ZX16-3 and ZX18-3 mini excavators from Hitachi Construction Machinery, which offer high working speed and precision control;
• The smallest mini telescopic loader, the 515-40 Miniscopic, by British manufacturer JCB;
• The 9 series excavators from Hyundai Heavy Industries Europe (Belgium), with operating weights of 1.6 to 50 tonnes.
• The nine-axle all-terrain crane AC 1000 from the American manufacturer Terex. At 163.3 m high, this crane has a lifting power of up to 1,000 tonnes;
• German manufacturer Sennebogen’s 7700 Star Lifter, which has a maximum boom length of 148 m and a carrying capacity of 300 tonnes;
• The telescopic crawler crane GTC-700EX presented by Tadano, Japan, along with its new US-based subsidiary, Tadano Mantis Corporation;
• The PK 22002 EH high Performance crane from Austrian manufacturer Palfinger.

Tunnel construction
Many new developments and innovations await visitors at the stands of manufacturers of machinery for mining, tunnel and gallery construction and special foundation engineering, some of which are:
• A crawler excavator R 954 C SHD, from Liebherr, which achieves a digging force of up to 435 kN/44.3 tonnes and breakout forces of up to 355 kN/36.2 tonne.
• A new impact crusher QI 240 from Sandvik Mining and Construction;
• The 4200 SM surface miner, produced by Wirtgen, which is fitted with a cutting module of 4.20 m working width with a larger diameter cutting circle;
• A ‘down-the-hole flushing head for dry-drilling rods’ from Bauer Maschinen, which has been nominated for the bauma Innovation Award 2010, in the 'machine component' category;
• A new hydraulic hammer by Atlas Copco is fitted with PowerAdapt, a system which automatically switches the machine off when the oil pressure becomes too high.