THE SED WINNERS OF 1995

This year our judging panel was made up of industry professionals with an extremely broad spectrum of experience and were well known to virtually every medal entrant. Keith Lawson, Chris Wood, Ray Hughes, Paul Savage and Eugene Lee bore the brunt of 23 finalists with fortitude and never lost their sense of humour - all of which made my task easy and very enjoyable.

I end up saying this every year but that does not alter the fact that all of us at Contract Journal and PMJ are truly appreciative of the time, effort and dedication that judges put into what is a fairly thankless task. One of the interesting points to emerge from the final tallying of marks was the closeness of the end results. There were less than 68 marks between the highest and lowest scores.

Each of our judges marked according to his own assessment of every product and at the end of the day one judge was heard to murmur of another that he would never work for him because he was so hard on all the entrants. Yet in the final analysis, the ratios across the scores turned out to be remarkably consistent.

In the main, our judges agreed that the level of presentation was above average. The presenters has obviously done their homework and knew their products and answered all the questions - some of which were designed to throw them off balance - positively and with confidence.

For those who may wish to face the inquisitors next year, let me say it is not a task to be undertaken lightly. Face to face selling is not easy at the best of times and over the years professional salespeople have said that being put through the hoop by SED judges is a real ordeal.

'The atmosphere is almost too rigid. You have less than 15 minutes to present the product and, even if you have done business in the past with the judges, it is still the most difficult task I can think of,' said a recent past winner.

'I am not paranoid, but it is like taking an exam. You know the judges are there to examine the product and find any possible weaknesses both in it and in your presentation. The year I did my stint the weather was freezing. Yet within seconds of their arrival I was sweating.'

Judging takes place on the first day and the four silver medals are presented that evening. In times past there have been one or two anxious moments as presentation time drew near and still no puff of white smoke emerged from the judging room chimney.

'This year there were no problems. Each check sheet scores were added, then totalled and that was it. Four clear medal winners were named.

In no particular order the SED '95 silver medal winners are ... Bomag, DDT Engineering, Rotocut, and Wacker.

Bomag's aptly named Comfort Tamper was, every judge agreed, a real breakthrough for operators. In the past it has been said you cannot sell safety in the construction industry. With some clever engineering and lateral thinking, Bomag r&d team has produced a handle system that independent tests have proved will absorb 75% of all vibrations generated by the tamper.

There is growing awareness and demand for safer hand-held equipment within the industry. It was not that long ago that white finger was accepted as part of the job. Current legislation dictates that all manufacturers fit vibration damping systems to the handles of all hand-held equipment.

Bomag's latest offering, which employs the same type of super rubber used in those balls that bounce twice as high as the drop distance, has made a significant advance in vibration suppression.

DDT Engineering, headed up by Gordon Brown, entered the DDT 630 articulated dump truck. According to Brown, the concept of an articulated dump truck that does not tip stemmed from the fact that these vehicles, when the body is raised, are inherently unstable.

As liability law suites in some countries are showing disturbing increases both in numbers and the size of pay-outs, the DDT system offers a positive answer to the stability problem.

The 630, powered by Cummins with ZF power shift transmission and running gear, ejects its full 30t payload over the rear using a hydraulically powered ejector plate.

During loading the ejector plate is retracted against the headboard and the truck is loaded in the conventional way. There is no scow end to the body, material is retained by a top hinged hydraulically operated tail gate.

Brown adds that dumping time is faster than conventional tipping methods. Various materials from free flowing sand, plastic clays, and slurry have all been tested and in each case clean ejection has been achieved.

Safety, however, is the major feature of the concept. The unit can dump on cross batters or, in fact, anywhere. If it is stable with the body down, dumping actually increases the stability.

Rotocut, a family-run company, was so confident of its double cut road saw that it issued a challenge to all manufacturers to a sawing race.

The company says that its new saw is a world-first which will accurately cut twin trench opening slots down to 100mm at rates of up to 1.0m per minute. The secret is not only in the way the blades are adjustable in 25mm increments from 250mm to 400mm widths, but also because the blade rotation provides an upcut action. This not only eliminates grabbing, it increases accuracy and certainly makes life easier for the operator.

The cutting action means that dust is blown away from the operator and, no less importantly, the engine. Rotocut says it is one of the very few portable saw manufacturers to have a full warranty from Honda because of this.

But it was Wacker which pulled off the SED '95 medals' double. The company entered the new RT560 articulated steer double drum vibratory trench roller and scooped the pool by winning silver and then going on to take gold.

The judges chose the Wacker for its four drum with articulation steer which allows completely smooth turns without scuffing. The fact that both vibrators and motors are situated in each drum giving a significant reduction in overall machine stress also impressed the judges.

The layout is particularly clean and tidy with easy access to all major components and at the same time still allowing excellent vandal-proofing. Power is supplied by a twin cylinder air cooled Lombardini electric start diesel driving both transmission and vibrator circuits. Frequency is set to 40Hz while centrifugal force can be changed quickly and simply from 31kn to 62kn at the flick of a switch on the control panel.

The aspects of safety and security finally won the day for Wacker and, in the opinion of the judges, deserved the gold medal. Just one footnote: there were exactly 9 marks differentiating the four medal winners.

The Newcomer Award for the best presented stand and exhibition area went to first-time Austrian exhibitor, Neuson. The stand was well laid out with the company's mini excavators and dumpers, while on the demo area the company showed to full advantage its unique levelling undercarriage system.

The Show Stoppers went to Pel-Job and was, said the judges, also very well deserved. The stand was very professionally presented and the staff obviously knew their products. The demonstration area was particularly well organised with regular demonstrations being conducted throughout the day.

Finally, Doug Potter, demonstrating Hyundai excavators on Ernest Doe's stand, scooped the Plant Operator award. The award was presented by CJ and backed by site safety officer Trevor Anderson, from the Association of Plant Training.