Unless you consider reaching the 50-year milestone in the United States, going public, and merging with Neuson Kramer Baumaschinen newsworthy, the past year has been uneventful for Wacker Corp. And if that isn't enough, the company introduced no fewer than 50 new products in 2007 and has plans to introduce even more in 2008, in the earth-moving, concrete, climate-control, and generator categories, among others.
With all that in mind, RER journeyed to Wacker's Menomonee Falls, Wis., headquarters for its recent editors' day, when the company showed off a number of its product offerings. Wacker also invited distributors from around the world to its 336,500-square-foot manufacturing and research and development facility, which also houses a 41,500-square-foot corporate headquarters and a 63,500-square-foot visitor and training center.
Wacker continues to expand its mobile generator line and has developed a number of factory-installed options that offer customers about 15 distinct options to be installed when the machine is constructed, rather than added after the machine is built and then torn apart to accommodate the customer request. For example, one popular factory-installed option is the fluid-containment system, which creates an environmentally safe machine, capturing overspills and leaks and able to hold up to 120 percent of the fluid contained in the unit.
Wacker's newest factory-installed option for its G 25 mobile generator is an extended-run fuel tank, a 135-gallon fuel tank that provides a 72-hour run time at full load, eliminating the need for daily refueling. Other options include an exclusive cold-weather package, built for northern Canada, Alaska and Arctic temperatures, which includes temperature-activated shutters, block heater, electronic governor, LCD strip heater, lube-level maintainer and low-coolant shutdown.
Wacker also introduced its new CRT ride-on trowel line. The CRT 36 series has two engine options and a patent-pending integrated wheel kit to facilitate transportation of the unit around the jobsite and shop floor. The CRT 48 ride-on trowel series offers improved steering and additional engine options, as well as a patent-pending torsion-assist steering system, designed to reduce operator fatigue. Wacker also is adding a new 24-inch edging trowel to its stable of walk-behind trowels, designed for power finishing concrete along walls or other edges, eliminating or greatly reducing the need for troweling by hand along wall lines and other obstructions.
In the portable cut-off saw category, Wacker's new BTS 1140L3 16-inch unit offers a 5.7-inch cutting depth. Also, its new EH 27 Low Vib electric breaker offers 18-percent more power with less hand-arm vibration, using a leaf-spring dampening system to reduce vibration 28 percent from previous models.
In the rammer department, Wacker introduced a new carburetor to its two-cycle rammers to facilitate faster starting. The carburetor features a purge bulb that allows the operator to purge air out of the carburetor and replace it with fuel. Because the fuel is pulled through rather than forced into the carburetor, over-priming is not an issue, and the carburetor improves high-temperature performance.
Wacker's 2006 acquisition of Ground Heaters Inc. has given the company a variety of new products in the climate-control area. A variety of new products and the investment in a 151,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Norton Shores, Mich., which will be completed next year, are evidence of Wacker's serious interest in pioneering new developments in this rapidly growing product arena.
Ground Heaters' new CH5000 Cross Heater is a portable and flexible hydronic heater for thawing, frost prevention, curing and air-heating applications. The company's most versatile unit yet, the CH5000 provides safe, clean, indirect-fired air heat, with the unit remaining outside the structure. It can thaw frozen ground at 1 foot per day, and up to 15,000 square feet of ground can be heated to prevent frost or pre-heat ground in preparation for curing. Contractors can increase ground coverage up to 45,000 square feet with additional hose. The unit is available with an on-board, self-contained genset.
Also GHI's Dryvex MC5200 drying system is designed to restore flooded buildings and structure with a convection-based drying system that utilizes heat and air movement.
Visitors were afforded the opportunity to sneak-preview these and other products, all of which will be on view, in varying combinations, at the World of Concrete, The Rental Show and ConExpo.
