expert opinion: - OPERC - Off-highway Plant and Equipment ...

JcB torquelock
innovation
honoured with
Queen’s award
A product innovation that reduces fuel
usage on JCB diggers, and allows
operators to get to site more quickly, has
been recognised with one of the highest
honours in the UK – a Queen’s Award.
The Queen’s Award for Innovation
has been handed to JCB for developing
a product called TorqueLock which
is fitted to the company’s biggest
selling product, the backhoe loader.
The patented TorqueLock system
eliminates torque convertor slippage
on JCB backhoes and significantly
increases the on-road efficiency of the
digger by reducing fuel consumption
and exhaust emissions by up to
25%. It also enables JCB backhoes
to be driven at higher speeds uphill,
eliminating the need for transporters.
The Queen’s Award is the 26th to
be won by the JCB Group since
the first one was granted in 1969
– a record for a UK company.
JCB Chairman Sir Anthony Bamford
said: “JCB’s success over the past 65
years has been built on developing
machines that are innovative and
which enable our customers all
over the world to do their job more
productively and at less cost.
“JCB TorqueLock is just one innovation
among many that we’ve produced
with our customers’ needs in mind
and I’m delighted for the whole team
at JCB that its development has been
recognised with a Queen’s Award.”
June 2011
AwARDS
ice award success for Birse
civils south’s Western region
More than 350 engineering
professionals attended the ICE West
Midlands Awards in Birmingham
on 19 May 2011 and were treated
to a master class in design,
project management, construction
and delivery to exacting safety,
programme and quality standards.
The awards, which were this year
hosted by Professor Carl Chinn and
presented by Peter Hansford, ICE
President 2010-11, celebrate the
best in civil engineering projects
across the West Midlands. In 2011
they were dominated by the Birse
South’s Western Region and Birse
Rail led team who are delivering the
£16m Selly Oak New Road Phase 2
scheme for Birmingham City Council.
The team behind the design of
phase two of the road won the
Innovation Award and the Overall
Award for the imaginative way in
which they developed alternative
proposals to enable the road to
pass the embankment which carries
the Birmingham to Gloucester
Railway and Birmingham Canal.
The team that delivered the construction
of the underbridges as part of the same
project won the Construction Award and
the project was also highly commended
for the Sustainability Award.
The Selly Oak New Road is part of the
highway works undertaken to enable
access to the £500m Queen Elizabeth
Hospital. Birmingham City Council
awarded Birse Civils and its partners the
contract to construct Phase 2 in 2009.
The professionalism and
teamwork demonstrated by
the project team has taken
a project from a proposed
tender alternative to the
complete and successful
delivery. The successful
bridge lift over Christmas
and New Year 2010/2011
saw the heaviest concrete
structure moved in Europe
last year. The 4,026 tonne
Railway Underbridge 18a,
was tracked into place to carry
the Birmingham to Gloucester
railway with hours to spare of the
designated 101 hour closure period.
Damian McGettrick, Chairman
of ICE West Midlands said:
“Birmingham has seen some major
civil engineering projects coming to
fruition this year which is reflected
in the winners at the awards.The
Selly Oak New Road Phase 2 has
required a huge amount of planning
and design and delivery in order
to deliver a vital scheme without
significant disruption to commuters
and local communities. Such
challenges are faced every day by
civil engineers and the awards have
been an opportunity to recognise
the contribution they make to
society. I want to congratulate all of
the winners and highly commended
projects for the manner in which,
in a number of ways, they showed
excellence in civil engineering.”
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