BOMAG

BOMAG GmbH
Legal status Limited liability company
(Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung)
Founded 1957
Location Boppard, Germany
Employees About 1,800 employees worldwide
Balance sheet total 324 million Euro turnover by the BOMAG Group in 2009
Sector Mechanical engineering
Website www.bomag.com

BOMAG is a German company (Bopparder Maschinenbaugesellschaft) is global market leader in compaction technology and manufactures soil, asphalt and refuse compaction equipment, as well as stabilizers and recyclers[1]. In 2005 BOMAG was acquired by the Fayat Group and since then also sells asphalt pavers and cold planers under the BOMAG label.

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Company history

BOMAG was founded in 1957 by Karl Heinz Schwamborn in Boppard. In the same year he developed a new design for compaction technology for a model of a double vibratory roller with all drum drive.

In 1962 the first 7t double vibratory roller in the world was launched. The first BOMAG branch office abroad opened in 1961 in Austria, and was followed up to 2002 by branches in China, the USA, France, Italy, Great Britain, Canada, Japan and Hungary.

In 1970 Schwamborn sold the company to the American company Koehring.

The original site in Boppard was no longer adequate, so the company moved in1969 to the Hellerwald industrial estate in the district of Buchholz, where it remains today. A research centre was added seven years later. In 1982 production and steel engineering operations on the 7,000 m² site were expanded. Four years later a further 10,000 m² were developed for assembly, testing and painting heavy machinery. A powder coating plant was installed in 1997, and the site expanded again by 9,000 m² in 1998.

Koehring sold its interest in BOMAG in 2001 to the American company SPX Corporation, which in turn sold the company again in 2005 to the French corporate group Fayat. In July 2009, BOMAG shed around 320 jobs worldwide, 160 of which were in Boppard, due to an unprecedented 50 percent drop in turnover that year.

Innovations

BOMAG regularly launches innovations at the Construction Machinery Fair (bauma) which takes place every three years. Just one year after its foundation BOMAG showed at bauma the first ever BOMAG roller, the hand-guided double vibratory.

Other BOMAG innovations launched at bauma: An earlier light tandem roller with the operator's seat on the front frame was replaced with a seat on the rear frame. Over the next few years this became the standard worldwide for all manufacturers. Tandem rollers were the first with a vibration-insulated driver's station. The self-propelled PDH single drum rollers were introduced, handling inclines of up to 50% depending on the surface. A large reversible vibratory plate was also launched.

In 1995 bauma saw the launch of the BCM (BOMAG Compaction Measurement) which is a measuring system for large-scale projects based on the Terrameter which had been introduced in 1982. The Terrameter was a system used to control the compaction quality of soil during rolling operations. For the first time, contractors were informed if a layer was properly compacted and when further passes were unnecessary.

At bauma in 2007, BOMAG premièred a technological study of the most powerful single drum roller in the world.

Company information

BOMAG produces a range of 20 product groups and has 500 dealers in more than 120 countries. With around 1200 employees (as of 2010) in Boppard, the company is one of the largest employers in the region. The company has 65 trainees who are, for example, currently training as industrial administrators, industrial mechanics, mechatronics engineer for industry, professional warehouse logistics staff, electricians and technical draughtspeople.

BOMAG participates at numerous trade shows, including the world's largest construction machinery trade fair BAUMA, which takes place every 3 years in Munich, Germany. The company is also present at Conexpo in Las Vegas, which takes place every 3 years.

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