Leica Geosystems: Enhancing road building machinery with Swiss technology straight out of “Precision Valley”

Leica Geosystems, part of Hexagon, is a progressive company from Switzerland that provides many smart solutions for construction machinery. Patrik Eder, editor at LECTURA, had the opportunity to interview Juergen Seemann, Business Development Manager Road & Compaction at Leica Geosystems, and Rainer Bippen, OEM Director at Leica Geosystems, and discuss the specific solutions, the products’ background, the advantages of 3D control systems for road construction, the highlights of pave milling technology or the importance of digitalizing and sustainability within the company’s concept. Last but not least, representatives of Leica Geosystems outlined, what the visitors can expect at bauma. 

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PE: Firstly, could you briefly introduce your company? What solutions do you offer?

BR: Hexagon is a global leader in sensor, software and autonomous solutions. We are putting data to work to boost efficiency, productivity, and quality across industrial, manufacturing, infrastructure, safety, and mobility applications. Our technologies are shaping urban and production ecosystems to become increasingly connected and autonomous – ensuring a scalable, sustainable future.

Hexagon offers an array of solutions for heavy construction through its brands such as Leica Geosystems and AGTEK. From bidding, to planning, to construction and maintenance, we empower companies to master their project timelines and costs with dependable solutions that ensure productivity, safety and sustainability. To fulfil our mission, Hexagon provides simple-to-use technologies, seamless workflows, collaborative deployments and digital solutions that enable data-driven transformation.

Among others, our heavy construction portfolio consists of:

• Machine control and positioning solutions

• Data capturing for digital reality

• Cloud enablement & connectivity

• Office solutions for construction management

• Safety awareness systems

PE: Where are the Leica Geosystem products designed and manufactured?

BR: Leica Geosystem is one of Hexagon’s leading brands of positioning and measurement solutions. At Leica Geosystems, we are proud of our history of creating solutions with Swiss Technology, representing precision, reliability, quality and sustainability -  important aspects of our company worldwide. Regardless of where our instruments are developed and produced, they are manufactured with Swiss Technology. This translates into wide-ranging expertise and a global understanding of the needs and requirements of our customers.

For instance, the 3D paving and milling solutions are developed at Leica Geosystems’ headquarter, Heerbrug in Switzerland. This so-called “Precision Valley” is also where the journey for a disruptive new 3D technology for paving applications started 25 years ago. Leica Geosystems is the global pioneer in stringless paving solutions. Besides the long-lasting experience and expertise, we know that global support and ease of use are critical success factors for our clients worldwide apart from the highly renowned Swiss accuracy.  

The courage to be innovative, trust in research and development, and the experience of our dedicated employees create values that we live daily in each of our branches worldwide. That is why Leica Geosystems represents the highest technology and quality.

Wherever Leica Geosystems is, Swiss Technology is there.

PE: What is the impact of 3D control systems on road construction processes?

JS: Firstly, technology needs to be ‘effortless’ for contractors to get started and scale. Making it easy fosters workforce acceptance, facilitates compatibility with existing investments, lowers complexity for all stakeholders and ultimately is fast to deploy.

Secondly, technology needs to be ‘impactful’ on the jobsite and in the office. Impactful means getting the job done right with fewer hours, with better quality, with the right resources and with the lowest risk to all parties.

Based on these two core principles, Hexagon develops solutions that are easy to use, easy to adopt and easy to deploy to increase productivity and make operations safer and sustainable.

Specifically for road construction, using 3D machine control systems requires a workflow change to maximise the benefits. In the past, the road paving teams must wait for the surveyors to stake out the project. If last-minute project changes happened or the stringline was damaged overnight, another unexpected delay may occur.

Nowadays with the use of machine control for paving asphalt or concrete, the 3D project files are prepared upfront in the office ready for use on the jobsite. The key advantage is that the workflow from earthmoving to paving applications is seamless. Apart from the ease of use and easy technology adoption, the seamless workflow among applications, field and office crews, offers enormous opportunities to shorten the overall project time and reduce costs.

For road construction projects, to enjoy the benefits of 3D machine control technology to the fullest, digital solutions should be utilised throughout the whole road building process from A to Z. Starting with preparing an even ground with 3D solutions, ensures a correct slope and grade for RCC (cement concrete road) or CTB (cement treated base) pavements. This will save more of the expensive hot mix asphalt or concrete in the later process, and it provides even higher quality with other positive long-term effects. The same is of course also valid for renovation projects where already the milling process shall include 3D technology for the same reason. It is all about using 3D machine control solutions in road construction from the bottom up to utilise the maximum benefit.

A synonym for 3D machine control systems for the paving process is called the “Stringless Paving”. And going stringless refers of course to the benefits of lower costs and less time needed, but it also increases the safety of the road construction job substantially. When there is no stringline needed to set anymore due to the use of 3D technology for placing asphalt or concrete, no one can humble over it anymore and hurt him- or herself. Nowadays, because of the safety aspects, on some projects like in tunnels or in city centres, where there is limited space, 3D technology for paving is already mandatory.

PE: What are the main highlights of the Leica iCON pave milling solution?

JS: It is important to mention here that Leica Geosystems offers two different 3D technology methods for milling. It is the differential milling solution, Leica iCON site milling pilot and secondly, the profile milling solution, the Leica MC1 iCON pave. Both methods provide bottom line higher accuracy on the milled surface, avoiding copy effects and thereby preparing a better ground for the following placement process. But it also increases the safety of the overall process as no one needs to spray upfront the depth/slope on the road anymore. With these two 3D milling solutions Leica Geosystems covers the whole application range from standard mill & fill jobs to complete road renovation projects to highly advanced projects on racetracks or airport runways.

It is not just about the milling accuracy, but how the machine guidance solution integrates with the different manufacturers’ machines, off-machine solutions such as total stations, smart antennas as well cloud connectivity and office applications.

Good examples of these highlights include the ongoing effort of the Leica Geosystems team to support more OEM (original equipment manufacturer) partners to provide 3D solutions to customers. For Bauma we add the support of the new Bomag BM2000/65 in our iCON pave milling solution as well as the XCMG cold planer and asphalt paver models. We believe customers shall make their choice about their preferred 3D technology provider regardless of which machine brand they want to use.

PE: Do you notice that more and more roadbuilding projects are being executed purely digitally? What are the main obstacles that the contractors face?

JS: Four key obstacles shape the digital transformation of the construction business:

1. Workforce acceptance

2. Strategic priority

3. IT integration

4. Deployment effort

Let’s start with workforce acceptance. Investing in new technology is not just about transforming processes, but also the workforce. As our lives are influenced more and more by technology, and for younger generations, it is less problem to adopt digital technologies. When contractors choose a technology provider, it is essential to consider how that partner, helps you to transform, and train your employees to accept and enjoy using the new technology.

Strategic priority. Equipping entire fleets with 3D machine control solutions is not just a decision to invest in digital technology, but in a long-term strategy that affects the entire road construction workflow.

IT Integration. Data formats and interfaces are often complex and multiple. This means it’s a struggle to know where to begin if you’re just starting out as well as how and where to expand your technology investment. Because of the different data formats road contractors are using today, Leica Geosystems 3D solution for asphalt paving and milling supports stringline models as well as terrain models. This is to make life easier to change to 3D technology.

Finally, deployment efforts. Finding skilled resources to manage technology is not easy. I would recommend contractors choose a technology that is easy to use and integrated to help get the job done right, once.

This clearly shows that success is not just a purchase decision, but a strategic choice of a technology partner, that can support the product, the people and the transformation. Our experience has been that when the crew get used to this new technology and the management understands that the use of 3D technology requires a change of the entire workflow to utilise all benefits from this and give the team time to adopt, then 3D machine control technology acceptance is not an issue anymore.

People simple see that this is the way to go moving forward if they experience the ease of use and the improvements of their own job. And this closes the loop by itself!

PE: Sustainability is nowadays a frequently mentioned topic. Do you also focus on the environmental impact within the business?

JS: Sustainability is an extremely important element of our strategy. We see that the industry is plagued by overcapacity, and many inefficient processes and methodologies, contribute to the 38% of global CO2 emissions generated by the construction industry. Technology-enabled workflows not only optimise the quantity of material being used in the construction process, but they also ensure that machines and other resources do the work right the first time. This means less time, fuel, machine hours and other capacities are wasted inefficiently and unsustainably.

Sustainability is also about people. We made significant investments in developing safety awareness solutions and are rapidly accelerating the deployment of various solutions that allow people always to see their families after a hard day’s work.

Lastly, we see paving as an outstanding example of a circular economy. Machine control technology in road construction helps to control not to mill too much off and, in the following, not to fill too much new hot mix asphalt or concrete material again. The production of new hot mix asphalt and new concrete mixes requires a huge amount of energy, and it uses new natural resources. If the new pavement volume is needed for a project, that amount can be reduced with the help of 3D technology. Even by some percentage only, the effect will be impressive.  So, this material saving potential using 3D technology in road construction helps to reduce the CO2 footprint substantially apart from the quality increase and the time-saving aspect and all other sustainable effects as outlined before.

PE: What can the visitors of bauma 2022 expect and see at the Hexagon stand?

BR: Visitors can first-hand experience the power of smart digital reality on the Hexagon booth #137 in hall A2. We will showcase a wide range of simple-to-use technologies, seamless workflows, collaborative deployments and digital solutions that enable data-driven transformation for safer and more sustainable operations.

We are also excited to showcase our machine control technology on our OEM tech partners’ concrete pavers, asphalt pavers and cold planers and to run our solution in a simulation mode so that our clients see the “real integration” of 3D technology on different machines “live”.

Hence, Leica Geosystems 3D paving and milling solutions will not only be presented at the Hexagon booth but everywhere in the outdoor exhibition area installed on machines where they be installed also in real projects.

Interviewees

Juergen Seemann
Business Development Manager Road & Compaction, Leica Geosystems, part of Hexagon
juergen.seemann@hexagon.com

As Business Development Manager Road & Compaction within Leica Geosystems Machine Control division, Juergen is working in the exciting triangle between sales regions and customers globally, OEM tech partners and the internal product management teams across the entire portfolio. His 25 years of experience and background in the OEM road construction world helps him understand the applications and the customers’ needs to contribute to future growth and to support the digital transformation in the road construction industry.

Rainer Bippen
OEM Director, Leica Geosystems, part of Hexagon
rainer.bippen@leica-geosystems.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rainer-bippen-82946989/

As OEM Director, by leading Leica Geosystems’ Technology OEM department, Rainer helps transform the heavy construction industry by supporting Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM’s) with advanced digital technology, tailormade GNSS and sensor solutions. Rainer and his team work closely with manufacturers, R&D departments on a worldwide basis developing future solutions and serving existing OEM customers handling the high requirements from this segment.