VOLVO CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2005 ISSUE 14

MAKING THE GRADE in VOLVO CE a race against time AD

PLUS

Inside Track: We meet Chris Wilmot on a different kind of driving range in Florida Safety: Part three: the workplace Globetrotting: We visit San Francisco Also: Product information, job reports and much more… CONTENTS VOLVO SPIRIT

VOLVO CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT MAGAZINE 7 Inside Track Volvo Spirit’s Editor met ‘It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game’. In our competitive world, how Chris Wilmot in Florida many of us live by these values? This issue of Volvo Spirit explores the often conflicting relationships between competing, winning – and doing the right thing.

There will be plenty of competition at CONEXPO and it won’t be restricted to the poker tables of Las Vegas where the show is held. This year’s biggest construction show, CONEXPO, will resemble an American Football match, with all the major manufacturers 11 flexing their muscles. Extreme Volvo Talking of American football, Dan Waddell unravels the mysteries of the sport; the origins Going the distance of which he calls ‘muddy’. That’s not the only thing muddy: when the rainy season arrives in Goa in Goa, over 4m of water can fall, turning the land into a quagmire. Niall Edworthy – umbrella in hand – reports how after years of halting production, miners in Goa are now singing in the rain, having invested in go-anywhere-in-any-weather Volvo articulated haulers. VOLVO The same all-weather attributes are being used to lighten the load of flood victims in Haiti, 20 whose lives have been devastated by Hurricane Jeanne. A Red Cross Volvo L30B has Gridiron Man helped build an emergency field hospital – and although not sport related, this is winning Dan Waddell looks at on a different scale. the world of American Sport is used as an allegory on life: vision, ambitious goal setting and commitment are Football mixed with fair play, humility and team spirit. As a keen golfer, Chris Wilmot uses these MERCH AD attributes at Flagler Construction Equipment, in Florida, where he says he built his team by: “Hiring quality people – people better than me.” As this issue demonstrates, the goal is to win – but it is the goal that’s important, not 29 winning itself. Champion golfer Rick Gibson sums it up when talking about Volvo’s Life Through a Lens sponsorship of the China Open: “You’ve got to invest, not just financially, but emotionally We meet Rick Gibson. too – and put players at the heart of everything.” One of Canada’s most successful golfers

36 Beatrice Cardon Operator Corner Editor Mikael Karlsson met Jaime Santos in Lisbon

VOLVO S P IRIT

PUBLISHED BY Volvo Construction Equipment EDITOR IN CHIEF Klas Magnusson EDITOR Beatrice Cardon CONTRIBUTORS Niall Edworthy, Lyn Ibson, Mikael Karlsson, Brian O’Sullivan, Dan Waddell, Mike Wilson PHOTOGRAPHY Julian Cornish Trestrail, John Fleck, Paul Lakatos, Olav A. Saltbones, Johann Grand Please send your editorial correspondence to Volvo Spirit, Volvo Construction Equipment, Hunderenveld 10 – 1082 Brussels, Belgium or by e-mail to [email protected] Cover picture: G780B motor grader All rights reserved. No part of this publication (text, data or graphic) may be reproduced, stored in a data retrieval system or transmitted, in any form whatsoever or by any means, without obtaining Volvo CE’s prior written consent. Volvo Construction Equipment does not necessarily endorse the views or factual accuracy of the articles in this issue. Four issues per year – printed on environmentally friendly paper. www.volvoce.com And much more…

VOLVO SPIRIT 1 ADVERTORIAL

Making the Grade In a Race Against Time

LYN IBSON went to investigate making light work of a tight site Photography by John Fleck

The uniquely designed short swing radius on the newly launched The wide windshield with large windows on the other three sides, Volvo compact excavators makes them ideal for work in very narrow cab pillars and a neat, compact cover for the engine restricted spaces. allow for outstanding 360° visibility, while the addition of exterior rear view mirrors further improves safety. Each of the four models, ECR28, ECR38, ECR58 and ECR88 offers a surprisingly spacious operator environment, an uncluttered floor and a very comfortable, adjustable suspension Find out more about these new compact excavators: contact your local seat with a high back and armrest to maximize comfort. dealer or visit www.volvoce.com.

2 VOLVO SPIRIT VOLVO SPIRIT 3 ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS BEHIND THEIR SUCCESS HAS BEEN THE DETERMINATION NEVER TO FALL BEHIND SCHEDULE

Randy Stalhood and JR Collard

“THE FEW MINUTES I’VE BEEN TALKING HERE IS THE andy and his colleagues have Walsh Construction, a Chicago- is great; it’s quiet in the cab – and I love conditions to meet the new deadlines been involved in a race against based firm with 100 years of experience my stereo!” that have been set. “We’ve been glad LONGEST I’VE BEEN OUT OF THE CAB IN DAYS,” SAYS R time on a stretch of the I-69 behind it, is ranked among America's to have that extra weight and power,” highway in Fort Wayne, Indiana, after top 30 contractors with $2.5 billion in "In other graders I've had, the seat says site supervisor Matt Shepherd. RANDY STALHOOD AFTER STEPPING DOWN FROM HIS an unusually wet summer put the projects currently in progress. One of you get is more like a bench to sit on. “Especially when you get it on an open VOLVO G780B MOTOR GRADER. “WE’RE PUTTING IN brakes on their good progress. The the main reasons behind their success You see guys standing up in the cab, stretch, it can dig in and put that power crew has since started working every has been the determination never to fall partly so they can see what they’re to work.” 15 TO 16 HOUR DAYS HERE AND WE WORK RIGHT available hour in an effort to prevent behind schedule – an attitude ingrained doing and partly because it’s more their employers, Walsh Construction, in the work ethic of their employees. comfortable than sitting. With the Volvo Randy and Matt are scoring even THROUGH. IT MEANS A LOT TO HAVE SOME COMFORT being hit by the penalty clauses in the But Walsh understands that if they are cab, you can sit and work all day. I’ve higher levels of productivity with the contract. Thanks to their tireless to ask their employees to work beyond seen how some of the newer graders Volvo grader, thanks to a new Trimble® IN THERE.” efforts – and with a little help from the call of duty, it is imperative that the from other companies have changed BladePro® 3D blade control system their machines – they have been working conditions are as favorable and a few things to try and catch up with using the ATS (Advanced Tracking making such rapid progress that they stress-free as possible. The Volvo motor Volvo in this area. But I think Volvo has Sensor) total station. The system is are closing in on the contract bonuses grader has certainly been a welcome really gone the extra mile to make an similar to the GPS-based blade control offered by the Indiana Department of addition to the Walsh fleet in that operator-friendly cab.” systems, but the BladePro 3D device Transportation (INDOT) for opening respect. features a robotic survey instrument the lanes early. Soil conditions on the I-69 project that lets the G780B cut accurately “When you spend that kind of time have been a challenge from the outset. within 0.4in (10mm) of the grade The Volvo G780B has been Randy’s working, you expect to be tired at the Underneath the clay soil there is specification on the first pass – an second home since April 2004 when end of the day,” says Randy. “But you limestone and when the heavy rains improvement of roughly 0.8in (20mm) Walsh Construction purchased the shouldn’t be hurting! With the Volvo came in the summer, the site became on the GPS system. The benefits of the grader to help in the construction of five cab, everything can be adjusted to fit especially wet, heavy and slippery. The new system have been enormous, miles (8 km) of interstate highway and the operator – the controls, the seat crew has been impressed by the ease according to Randy. “These jobs are sound wall to be completed by position and height, the armrests. The with which the 43,000lb (19.5t) Volvo quoted so tight today, the margin of September 2005. seat itself is very comfortable. The AC grader has coped with the tough error with GPS can cost a lot of stone.”

4 VOLVO SPIRIT VOLVO SPIRIT 5 “I THINK VOLVO HAS REALLY In fact, an inch of difference in the from Rudd Equipment, the Volvo dealer amount of stone translates into an extra in Fort Wayne. Mark is checking in on GONE THE EXTRA MILE TO 100 trucks full of gravel over just a the grader’s service schedule and takes single mile of a six-lane highway. pride in the job the G780B is doing. MAKE AN OPERATOR- “Mark and the people at Rudd take As Randy was speaking, Matt good care of us here,” J.R. says. “When FRIENDLY CAB” reappeared with a fresh demand for the we started this job, we knew we would grader. “The paving company has been need another grader for this and some asking us to lay down an extra inch of other projects coming up. Walsh has a stone so their trimmer can bring it down lot of Volvo wheel loaders in its fleet, to spec,” he explains. “But on this short and the company likes them. Rudd had section, and with all the traffic coming this grader available for us; they got it by the ramp, we don’t have much room ready and it’s been on the job for us any to move the trimmer in. So they asked if time we need it since then. That’s what we can have the grader do the trim!” I like!” INSIDE

Some of the paving crew questioned whether the motor grader was up to the task, but just a few minutes later their skepticism had been banished. To their surprise, the gravel bed was right on the numbers.

As the grader finished the section, TRACK the manager for the project – J.R. Collard – is talking with Mark Jarosz VOLVO SPIRIT’S EDITOR met Chris Wilmot on A Different Kind of Driving Range Photography by Julian Cornish Trestrail

6 VOLVO SPIRIT VOLVO SPIRIT 7 FOR A MAN WHO TURNED UP FOR HIS FIRST DAY OF “OUR SUCCESS DEPENDS ON WORK IN THE CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT INDUSTRY THE CONTRIBUTIONS WE’RE WEARING A NATTY CASHMERE SWEATER AND A PAIR WILLING TO ACCEPT FROM OF SOFT SHOES WHILE DREAMING ABOUT A CAREER OTHER PEOPLE” AS A GOLFER, CHRIS WILMOT HAS COME A VERY LONG WAY IN HIS PROFESSIONAL LIFE.

hris was born in Florida in 1952, of their new division in Florida. the youngest of three sons “I rented a room in a Holiday Inn, got C whose parents earned their a 1-800 number in Pennsylvania and living as music professors at a local started selling parts while setting up the college. He was so consumed by his office. It took me 63 days to purchase a ambition of becoming a leading golfer building, set up a parts department and that he did not even finish his studies hire staff, and in early July, we opened at school. However, his passion for for business.” golf brought Chris in contact with Tammy when they were both students How did he cope with the daunting at the University of Florida. “Tammy task of getting the enterprise off the was, and still is, a champion golfer”, ground from a standing start? “I prayed Chris says with admiration. “I became a lot!” he says with a smile, before reaquainted with her many years later, adding modestly: “I knew I needed at a University of Florida football party quality people, people that were better in Orlando”. Today she is his wife. than me. Our success depends on the contributions we’re willing to accept If someone had told him back in from other people.” the mid-1970s that he would end up owning a highly successful “I made mistakes, of course, but construction equipment distributorship, we’ve had very little turnover (of staff), he would probably have burst out particularly in the last 12 years. When laughing. Nothing could have been you hire people, you have to look at further from his mind – until 1977 whether they have energy and focus and when his then father-in-law arranged whether they’re willing to grow – for him to take a job with a firm called and then you need to make the LB Smith at their parts warehouse in opportunities for them to grow. Before I Charlotte, North Carolina. (Volvo CE hire my people I want to know whether later purchased the assets associated they care about their family because if with LB Smith’s construction they don’t care about their family, how equipment distribution business in could they care about a customer?” May 2003.) In May 2004 Chris put together “I showed up on day one wearing a the team that purchased the LB Smith cashmere sweater and white shoes, but dealership in Florida from Volvo CE, quickly realized this was going to be a and renamed it Flagler Construction radical change in lifestyle!” Chris recalls. Equipment. “It was never my dream After four and a half years there, Chris to own a business. I have two wonderful left to take up a fresh challenge with partners. Mark McDonell was head of another company. LB Smith, however, Mergers and Acquisitions at Bank of had not forgotten the good work he had America in Florida and Tom Holmes is performed for them and in April 1988, my largest equity partner.” Holmes is they invited him to oversee the opening Flagler’s chairman and chief executive

8 VOLVO SPIRIT VOLVO SPIRIT 9 “TECHNICALAND FIELD PEOPLE ARE HARD TO FIND SO YOU HAVE TO CREATE A BETTER PLACE FOR THEM TO WORK”

officer while McDonell is executive vice myself,” he says and adds “I don’t take to build a relationship with the president of finance and administration the credit for our success: the market customers and show willingness to of the new company, which has become grew, we were positioned right, Volvo support them. I can be pleased with our Volvo CE’s authorized dealership for CE expanded their product line – all we results, but I’m a long way from being the Florida area. did was tell a story.” satisfied. Our market share is growing every day but as our success grows, it “Volvo was our best account so we For Chris, good, reliable service for becomes harder to remain invisible gave up conflicting brands,” says Chris. his customers and dynamic working though I would have liked to keep “Our success is closely tied to the conditions for his employees are the ‘flying under the radar’.” success of Volvo and we spend a lot of keys to success. At Flagler, they have set time and effort to keep that relationship up a classification system of master good. It has to come from both sides guilds and each time a mechanic reaches because for Volvo to be successful, a higher level of expertise he receives a the distributors need to be profitable bonus on top of his hourly wage. as well.” “Technical and field people are hard to find so you have to create a better Today Flagler CE has six branches place for them to work. We try to be and a corporate office in Florida and a creative in our compensation system. payroll of 148 people. Chris is Compensation is tied to training and constantly at pains to deflect any competence.” personal praise for the achievements of LB Smith and Flagler. “Tammy is much Chris believes that Volvo products E TREME VOLVO smarter and brighter than me and gives are better than those of the competition, X me good advice. She keeps me grounded which makes his life easier, but he whenever I start to think to highly of cannot tolerate complacency. “You need NIALL EDWORTHY discovered Volvo Going the Distance in Goa

10 VOLVO SPIRIT VOLVO SPIRIT 11 BEAUTIFUL SANDY BEACHES, BRILLIANT SUNSHINE, SWAYING PALM TREES, DELICIOUS SEAFOOD, FRIENDLY LOCALS, FISHING BOATS AND CHARMING HOTELS – THESE ARE THE IMAGES THAT SPRING TO MIND AT THE MENTION OF THE WORD GOA. TOURISM ALONG THE 65-MILE COAST OF THE WESTERN INDIAN t is not uncommon for up to four Dempo. Every last detail of the Volvo STATE HAS BOOMED OVER THE meters of rain to fall on Goa machine’s performance capabilities was I between June and September, scrutinized down: fuel consumption, LAST TWO DECADES, BUT IT IS causing major problems for anyone maintenance costs, equipment SURPRISING TO LEARN THAT trying to ply a trade outdoors. For capabilities, tire wear, operator fatigue, years Goa’s mining companies have serviceability... THE HIGHEST REVENUE been struggling to operate in the rainy season and their productions figures “In 1998, we were the laughing EARNER FOR THE REGION IS plummet sharply. Sesa Goa, who have stock of the local industry as we NOT THE HOLIDAY INDUSTRY, been mining and exporting iron ore in attempted to introduce the never- the region for over 50 years, recently before-seen A35C, especially as the BUT THE MINING SECTOR. IT decided to address the problem – with price of an A35C was almost four times IS ALSO DIFFICULT FOR stunning results. Sesa’s mines are that of the conventional rigid haulers in located 30 meters below sea level and use at the time,” says Mr. Jay Singh, Vice VISITORS TO TAKE ON the surrounding surface is turned into President of Volvo Construction a quagmire of sticky clay and ore once Equipment in India. “But even then we BOARD THAT FOR OVER the rains come, making it difficult for were convinced that the cost of FOUR MONTHS OF THE their heavy equipment to operate investing in these new machines would efficiently. The company’s machines soon appear to be very small as long as YEAR THIS IDYLL IS regularly sank as deep as half the we could prove that production would height of their tires, and the company continue during the four months of SWAMPED BY THE HEAVY spent considerable amounts of time monsoon.” RAINS OF THE and money pumping out vast quantities of rainwater each season. In 1999, Sesa Goa became the first MONSOON SEASON, of the Goa companies to take the AND THE ECONOMIC In 1998, Sesa turned to Volvo plunge when they decided to buy the Construction Equipment in search of a two machines used during the LIFE OF THE FORMER solution to this annual headache. Volvo demonstrations together with three EVERY LAST DETAIL OF THE teams had arrived from Sweden at the brand new ones. Chowgule & Company PORTUGUESE start of the rainy season in order to quickly followed suit with an order for COLONY GRINDS TO VOLVO MACHINE’S stage some intensive and exhaustive six machines and Sesa have since placed demonstrations of Volvo articulated repeat orders every year to build up a A MUDDY HALT. PERFORMANCE CAPABILITIES haulers for Goa’s biggest mining fleet of fourteen articulated haulers in concerns, including Sesa Goa, Chowgule total. In 2003, Sesa expanded their WAS SCRUTINIZED & Company, Sociedade de Fomento and range with the purchase of a Volvo

12 VOLVO SPIRIT VOLVO SPIRIT 13 EC290B excavator and in 2004 they according to Mr. A.K. Rai, the articulated hauler clocks an average of introduced two Volvo L120E loaders. company’s director of Production & over 5,500 working hours per calendar Logistics. “It took time and training for year, which is more than double that of Production at Sesa Goa has jumped our drivers to get used to working the European or American average by between 15 to 25 percent; thanks Volvos, but now they are really up to operating hours. The first two A35Cs almost entirely to the fact that the speed,” he explains. “The best part is the company bought have clocked Volvo machines can continue to operate that we have attracted drivers who are almost 19,000 hours and are well into during the rainy monsoon season when young and well educated, with some their second life cycle. Most of the time all other machines are standing idle. even holding diplomas in technology. the articulated haulers are deployed The company calculated that they This is quite unique in a profession only during the harshest working saved over ten million Indian rupees where the drivers are generally expected conditions. Continuous operation in (220,000 US$) in the first year alone, to have no education.” deep water and mud at first caused as a result of their investment. some difficulties with brake liners and Today, Volvo operators at Sesa are with disc wear but the application of “We always wanted such machines, paid higher wages than other hauler Volvo’s wet disc brakes soon resolved but were never quite certain about the operators and they have reported a the problem. In fact, Sesa has the cost and suitability for our industry,” dramatic improvement in their working distinction of owning the first Volvo Christopher Brown, former managing conditions. “I like the air-conditioning A35D fitted with wet disc brakes. director at Sesa Goa explains. “However, the most – that’s the best thing for us this all changed after the demonstration workers,” says operator Krishna G. In short, the conditions under which initiative when Volvo undertook risky Gaonkar. “Working for eight hours can the Volvo machines have been asked to out of harm’s way trials to showcase the capabilities of be truly exhausting in the viciously hot work are often punishing in the their equipment. Without such trials it summer months. But inside a Volvo it’s extreme, but they have stood up to the is possible we would still be undecided. hardly an issue anymore. In fact, I’d pressure and have been well supported CREATING A SAFER WORK ENVIRONMENT INVOLVES MORE THAN PUTTING UP We now use Volvo articulated haulers in much rather keep working than take a by the local back-up teams. “Volvo almost all our operations - stopping just break when the summers are at their customer support is of a much higher WARNING SIGNS. IN THE THIRD OF A SERIES OF ARTICLES ON MAKING short of using them as submarines!” peak!” standard than any other Indian company I know,” says Mr.B.R.Rao, maintenance CONSTRUCTION SITES SAFER, VOLVO CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT SAFETY Recruiting and training the best Work at the Sesa mines is around manager at Sesa Goa. operators has also been a factor in the the clock: twenty-four hours a day, COUNCIL’S JAN MIMER EXPLAINS HOW ACCIDENTS CAN BE PREVENTED BY success of the Volvo machines at Sesa, seven days a week. Each Volvo EFFECTIVE PLANNING AND SUPERVISION.

14 VOLVO SPIRIT VOLVO SPIRIT 15 Safety roadmap THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IS he first thing to consider, before any work begins on FEW HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO site, is the relationship between materials, equipment Much of foundation of creating safe sites is the LARGELY NOMADIC, TRAVELING THE T and processes. It has been reported that of all fatal coordination and rule setting regarding the movement of MAKE SAFETY AN ISSUE OR accidents on construction sites, 60% could be attributed to people, materials and machinery around the site. A large part WORLD LIKE PERIPATETIC GYPSIES. choices made before the work on site even began. Poor of this is establishing a traffic management plan. The basic idea MAP OUT THE BEST WAY OF planning, lack of building materials and especially late is to design routes that give the safest passage between places THEY SET UP CAMP FOR A WHILE, changes to the design all contribute to confusion and where equipment and people have to call. These routes need IDENTIFYING AND BUILD WHATEVER IS NEEDED, AND increased exposure to risk. The answer to these four simple to be wide enough to take the largest machine permitted to MINIMIZING RISKS questions could save lives: use them and take into account likely obstructions. Use a one- THEN MOVE OFF TO THE NEXT way system if you can, as they are much safer and are easier to • What could go wrong? signpost and enforce. PROJECT. THIS IS PART OF THE REASON • How bad could it be? • How likely is it likely to happen? Try to avoid traffic routes passing close to vulnerable things WHY CONSTRUCTION HAS SUCH A • What do we need to do about it? (like fuel tanks or pipes) or anything that might collapse if hit POOR SAFETY RECORD. PROCEDURES (e.g. a wall held up by raking shoring). Safety banks may be The above questions form the basis of a risk assessment. needed on some routes to prevent equipment running over DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO BECOME They are not difficult to do; every day site workers everywhere open edges, or to indicate a safe route. They should be high undertake many risk analyses, most of them subconsciously, and wide enough to stop a machine – and to absorb its impact, ESTABLISHED AND MORE OFTEN THAN which tell them how risky a particular activity is. This is based should it run into the barrier. NOT THERE IS A DEADLINE TO HIT – on many factors, including their experience and knowledge of a particular situation. Even when a contractor does an It is a good idea to avoid sharp or blind bends and set MEANING FEW HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO extensive formal risk analysis – it will still be up to the sensible speed limits and clearly signpost them. Also give individual workers to do the final risk assessment. It is prominent warning of any height restrictions – preferably well MAKE SAFETY AN ISSUE OR MAP OUT important to recognize that there is likely to be more than one in advance. Any potentially dangerous obstruction, such as contributing factor to an accident, so rather than just looking overhead power lines or cables, need to be identified and taken THE BEST WAY OF IDENTIFYING AND at what caused the accident – ask instead how the work could into account when creating traffic routes. MINIMIZING RISKS. THIS SERIES OF have been done in a different way. ARTICLES HAS HIGHLIGHTED EASY-TO- IMPLEMENT SUGGESTIONS FOR RAISING THE SAFETY STANDARDS WITHIN CONSTRUCTION AS A WHOLE. THIS ARTICLE DISCUSSES HOW THE WORK ENVIRONMENT CAN BE MADE SAFER, USING BOTH PRACTICAL MEASURES AND CULTURAL CHANGE.

16 VOLVO SPIRIT VOLVO SPIRIT 17 EVERYONE, FROM THE AUTHORITIES DOWN TO THE LAST WORKER, MUST ADOPT THE CORRECT ATTITUDE

A signaler, or banks man, may be needed to supervise It may be a good idea to provide a plan of the work site at areas should be clearly marked. Likewise, and encourage more cooperation in the vehicle and people movements. Reversing should be its entrance, and any other appropriate points, indicating where pedestrian and machine routes fight against the causes of accidents. minimized and tightly controlled, and reversing alarms used machine routes, one-way systems etc. – this is especially useful intersect, appropriate crossing points Governments too need to adopt both a where applicable. when you have visiting drivers and operators. Good signage is should be provided – clearly marked and ‘carrot’ and a ‘stick’ approach with their always a smart idea, particularly at hazards such as sharp protected. site inspections; lending advice on good on- Where direct visibility is considered inadequate, additional bends, junctions, blind corners or steep gradients. Signs should site safety practice and punishing those that devices for indirect visibility (mirrors), or closed circuit also inform pedestrians of the hazards and which routes they Cultural shift flout those practices. television cameras (CCTV) sited on the rear of the machines should use. All signs should be clean and well maintained to All of these suggestions for making sites can be used to improve visibility. keep them visible, and where activities will be conducted at safer will prove ultimately ineffective if the Safety on site needs greater visibility, with night, reflective and ideally illuminated. Maneuvering rules are not enforced and adhered to by records displayed prominently on sites (and in annual Pedestrian walkways should be protected by screens where areas/loading yards should also be well lit. Conversely, too those on the site. Everyone, from the authori- reports). By improving data on the causes and effects of they pass close to machine routes, to protect people from much light can be a problem – with glare from the sun ties down to the last worker, must adopt the accidents, including near misses, the safe site planning anything that might fall from a machine. In general, pedestrian requiring the use of sun visors. The combination of the two correct attitude, with stern consequences if process can be consistently improved, reducing the access to equipment should be restricted where they are being can be equally dangerous, e.g., coming out of a dark tunnel there are any lapses. This is because there is a incidents of accidents and improving the long term refueled and vice versa, machine access must be restricted to into brilliant sunlight can dangerously disconcert operators. danger that apathy among those on site could health of the industry. necessary movements only, where people are working on the impede the development of a good safety ground. This is particularly important on construction sites, as Construction equipment accidents are second only to falls culture in the construction industry. But that is routes for machines and pedestrians often change as the work and falling objects – and pedestrians are particularly exposed not to say that safety issues should become progresses, adding confusion. The quality of the roads should to danger. When planning the site, provide separate routes or associated with punishment. Rather, a ‘no blame/no fault’ be suitable for the equipment intending to use them; they pavements for pedestrians to keep them away from plant and culture should be encouraged whereby everyone on site feels should be firm, even and properly drained; and steep slopes equipment. The inclusion of barriers or guard rails reinforces able to contribute good ideas on how to improve safety – should be avoided. However, where potential hazards cannot this further. Such measures aren’t always possible, so if rather than hush up minor accidents or ‘near misses’. ‘Tool be removed in the site design stage, operators should be aware construction equipment and pedestrians have to share routes, box’ meetings with operators and tradesmen on ways to of the site map (where these must be highlighted) so that they should be wide enough to allow machines to pass improve site safety invariably unearth good ideas. This will extra care can be taken at these points. pedestrians safely – and any pedestrian-only (or vehicle-only) help to defuse the confrontational relationship in the industry

18 VOLVO SPIRIT VOLVO SPIRIT 19 THE ORIGINS OF AMERICAN FOOTBALL ARE SOMEWHAT MUDDY. HOWEVER, WHAT IS CLEAR IS THAT IT HAS BECOME ONE OF THE MOST LUCRATIVE AND GLAMOROUS SPORTS IN THE WORLD, LOVED BY HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS ACROSS THE GLOBE Gridiron DESPITE IT BEING AN EXCLUSIVELY AMERICAN SPORT.

or the person watching a game Despite the enormous amounts of for the first time, it can be money involved in the sport, great care DAN WADDELL looks at the F bewildering, akin to an organized is taken to ensure that the richest teams MAN gladiator contest. Two teams of heavily do not use their wealth to buy success world of American Football armored men face each other, engage every season. Fairness has been built in in wince- to the sport: in 1994 a salary cap was inducing brought in to limit the amount each tackles and team could spend on playing and collisions, and coaching staff; and the teams that finish somewhere, with the worst records in one season are either beneath or awarded the pick of the best players sailing above the graduating from the colleges for the melee, is the ball. The next season. game is intensely tactical and has its own esoteric But then American Football has language: references to blitzes, always evolved and adapted in search of bombs and rushing can often flummox improvement. Most historians believe it the novice. has its origins in the English game of rugby, which dates back to the early Once you are familiar with the game 19th century. At the same time students resistance is futile. In terms of at Princeton were playing a game in combining outright power with which they used their fists and feet to athleticism and skill, few sports match advance a ball past their opponents. it. That is why it is one of the richest on The theory is that in some way the two the planet. Indeed, the sums are combined to form an early version of dizzying. In 1922 owning a franchise – American Football. one of the teams that compete in the National Football League (NFL) – In the second half of the 19th cost $100; in 1960 it had increased to century, several American colleges began $2 million; by 1993, when the League organizing games of football and expanded and teams were sold to establishing some rudimentary rules. Charlotte, North Carolina and The game continued until the turn of Jacksonville, Florida the asking price was the 20th century when it had developed $140 million per franchise. into a violent, extremely physical sport.

20 VOLVO SPIRIT VOLVO SPIRIT 21 GLOBETROTTING

It was once said that people should feel pity for the children of San Francisco because ‘they will probably grow up thinking all cities are so wonderful’. NIALL EDWORTHY went to see what it was all about.

ONCE PROFESSIONAL It was often a mass free-for-all, and more keenly than they might follow a injuries were common – 18 players had professional team. FOOTBALL WAS FOUNDED even died on the pitch by 1905. Once professional football was AND THE GAME’S It was in that year that President founded, and as the game’s popularity POPULARITY SOARED, Theodore Roosevelt intervened and soared, steps were taken to make the asked the Ivy League Colleges to amend game safer. It became compulsory for STEPS WERE TAKEN TO the game. One of the resulting rules was players to wear shoulder pads and the legalization of the forward pass: helmets to protect their bodies from MAKE THE GAME SAFER a move that altered the whole harm during contact. American football complexion of the sport, and cemented remains as physical as ever, players are the importance of the team’s playmaker fitter, but serious injuries are rare. and glamour boy, the quarterback. Some of these men are now capable of The professional season, which throwing the ball huge distances with begins in the autumn, culminates in the unerring accuracy. Superbowl, one of the grandest and most spectacular sporting events on the American Football began as a college planet. Almost the whole of the United game – the NFL did not come into States comes to a standstill to watch: being until 1922 – and college football last years’ dramatic final between New to this day still remains immensely England Patriots and Carolina Panthers, popular, to the puzzlement of some in which the former snatched victory outsiders who cannot understand why with only four seconds left on the clock, crowds of 60 or 70,000 would want to was watched by around 80 million watch students play. But even those who Americans. never attended university support and watch their local college team, often

22 VOLVO SPIRIT VOLVO SPIRIT 23 estled on the hills of a peninsula on the North century there were over 600 of them criss-crossing almost 120 THE DIVERSITY OF ITS One company with a significant foothold in the area is California coast, this cosmopolitan city with its miles (190km) of the city and the surrounding area. the energy giant Conoco, which is involved in every aspect of N breathtaking views of San Francisco Bay is arguably INHABITANTS IS MATCHED the oil and natural gas industry. Conoco, founded in 1875, one of the most beautiful and cultured places to live in The 1906 earthquake – the worst in American history – employs over 20,000 people and has ventures in over 40 North America. It is also a busy port, the financial center of and the inferno it sparked, devastated much of the cable car BY THE VARIETY OF ITS countries. Its crude oil Rodeo refinery in the Bay area that is the western United States and a haven for artists, writers, system and the areas it served, and it has never been restored. linked to another facility by a 200-mile long pipeline, has a musicians and lovers of good food and wine. Much of the On that dreadful morning of April 18, four square miles NUMEROUS WORLD-FAMOUS processing capacity of 109,000 barrels per day. Conoco city’s color and vibrancy derives from the great melting pot (10.3km2) of the city center were wiped out, taking with it LANDMARKS currently has two Volvo L180 loaders working 24 hours a day of its ethnic communities. Today every other San Franciscan 27,000 buildings, while roughly 700 people died; and 250,000 at a carbon plant in the Rodeo facility, with an impressive is a “non-white” – African American, Asian, Latin American were left homeless by its mighty power. As the fire spread into total of 56,000 operating hours on the clock between them. or Native American – and the city also has a great the Telegraph Hill area, it is said that the Italian community The main task of the machines is to load carbon dust into Mediterranean influence, with Italians the dominant threw wine at the flames in a vain effort to save their houses. ships before it is transported to manufacturers using it for European minority. example to make solvents to filter pollutants. While earthquakes have been a constant source of anxiety The diversity of its inhabitants is matched by the variety of for San Francisco’s inhabitants, its mild climate has always Don Chapin Co., a general engineering contractor based its numerous world-famous landmarks such as the magnificent been one of its principal attractions. The sunniest and warmest in Salinas, California, specializing in underground projects, Golden Gate Bridge, whose 4200-feet (1,280-meter) clear time of year is autumn, while the summer is remarkable for earthwork and paving, is another local business using Volvo span stretching out across the bay remains one of the longest the thick fogs which drape the city’s hills until the early machinery. Their ever-expanding fleet of Volvo machines in the world. The island of Alcatraz, clearly visible from the afternoon. includes two A30C articulated haulers, 13 wheel loaders city, once housed the world’s most notorious and ‘escape (two L90C, six L120C, two L120E, one L150C and two proof’ prison and today remains a popular tourist attraction for Many of the city’s workers are employed in the financial L180C). the hundreds of thousands of visitors who flock to the city sector and business services and a number of leading each year. But it is perhaps the dozens of cable cars, ferrying companies, such as jeans manufacturers Levi Strauss & Co., passengers up and down the city’s steeping hills, that has have made the San Francisco Bay area the home for their become San Francisco’s most recognizable symbol. The cable national headquarters. cars have been running since 1873 and by the turn of the 20th

24 VOLVO SPIRIT VOLVO SPIRIT 25 Rock Solid Investments

NIALL EDWORTHY found out how a Czech company is going from strength to strength

Photography: Johann Grand THE CZECH-AUSTRIAN COMPANY KÁMEN A PÍSEK,ˆ BASED IN THE BEAUTIFUL MEDIEVAL TOWN OF CESKY´ KRUMLOV IN THE SOUTH WEST OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC, IS A RAPIDLY EXPANDING COMPANY INVOLVED IN THE QUARRYING AND PROCESSING OF ROCK. ORIGINALLY KNOWN AS ‘KAMENOMOLY’, THE COMPANY WAS PRIVATIZED IN 1992, THREE YEARS AFTER COMMUNIST RULE CAME TO AN END IN THE COUNTRY. SINCE THEN KÁMEN, WHO PRODUCE BOTH STONE AND GRAVEL, HAS GONE FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH. THE COMPANY NOW EMPLOYS 130 PEOPLE AND IT RECENTLY ACQUIRED ANOTHER QUARRY TO TAKE ITS TOTAL OF SITES TO SEVEN.

26 VOLVO SPIRIT VOLVO SPIRIT 27 he company’s growth curve over the past 10 years tells its own T story. Between 1994 and 1996 Kámen a písek produced about 800,000 tons of material per year. In 2002 the figure had increased to 1.4 million tons, and it is estimated that in 2004 they will have processed 1.6 million tons. Most of the material is sold to general construction companies, concrete producers and tarmacadam plants.

Three years ago the company purchased its first Volvo wheel loader, the L150D, which quickly proved to be a reliable and strong performer when put through its paces on the double- shift operation at one of Kámen a písek’s quarries. After comparing and contrasting the Volvo equipment with that of other manufacturers, Kámen invested in five further machines: L150D, L150E, L120C, EC240 and EC290. Most recently, an L110E was delivered to a stone quarry in Bulgaria in which Kámen a písek holds a stake, “AT VOLVO THEY and it has plans to purchase two Volvo EC290 excavators in the near future. SIMPLY UNDERSTAND THE CUSTOMER” One of the attractions of the Volvo machines for Kámen has been their fuel efficiency, particularly after fuel prices started to rise sharply in the Czech Republic in 2004. The differences LIFE THROUGH A between success and failure often lie in the margins of an operation, and since Volvo was prepared to guarantee certain Two of Kamen’s quarries operate for consumption levels for specific wheel two shifts a day, but the other five loader uses for a number of years, the operate single shifts, which are extended decision to invest was made even easier when the company receives a for Pavol Haviar, the Technical Director particularly large order. The operators at Kámen a písek. have been impressed by the new Volvo Pavol Haviar machines which represent a huge step- Volvo CE has its Czech head- up in quality when compared to the quarters in the capital Prague, and Czech-produced equipment used Haviar has also been impressed by the before. “When the company decided to LENS tireless and attentive customer service buy a new loader, I was very happy they have provided for his company. about it,” says operator Jan Novotny´. “At Volvo, they simply understand the “We tested three wheeled loaders: customers’ worries and problems,” says Volvo, Komatsu and CAT. The Volvo In the highly unlikely event that Rick Gibson has ever Haviar. “Reliable maintenance at agreed loader made a good impression from the had to place a job application advert in a newspaper, rates is the same as absolute cost beginning. The operating environment is transparency in the after-sales area, and very well organized and efficient, and I it probably would have read: “Have golf clubs, will travel.” that means no surprises in our cost am grateful for both the air-conditioning MIKE WILSON talked to the man himself. accounting.” and the heated seat.” Photography by Paul Lakatos.

28 VOLVO SPIRIT VOLVO SPIRIT 29 GIBSON HAS BECOME ONE OF THE BEST-KNOWN AND WELL-LIKED FIGURES ON THE ASIAN TOUR OVER THE PAST 15 YEARS, BUT HIS DAYS OF CRISS-CROSSING THE GLOBE TO THE EXCLUSION OF ALL ELSE ARE OVER. TODAY, FAMILY COMES FIRST, GOLF SECOND. CANADA’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GOLFER IN THE 1990s HAS VISITED SOME OF THE MOST EXOTIC CORNERS ON THE PLANET TO PURSUE HIS TRADE, BUT HE IS AT HIS HAPPIEST IN HIS MANILA HOME WITH HIS PHILIPPINE WIFE JOSEPHINE AND HIS TWO CHILDREN KATHERINE AND KARL. “HAVING A FAMILY PUTS EVERYTHING INTO PERSPECTIVE AND WHILST MY GOLF IS IMPORTANT, THE WELLBEING OF MY WIFE AND KIDS IS PARAMOUNT,” SAYS THE 43-YEAR-OLD. “HAVING A FAMILY PUTS EVERYTHING INTO PERSPECTIVE AND WHILST MY GOLF IS IMPORTANT, THE WELLBEING OF MY WIFE AND KIDS IS PARAMOUNT”

o why is a man from Calgary, Alberta with a degree in and the Philippines PGA Championship to secure the Asian Gibson has been impressed by Volvo’s contribution to golf given that Mel Pyatt (Volvo Event Management President finance earning a living playing golf thousands of Order of Merit that year. both in Europe and Asia. “Volvo has been in the vanguard of & CEO) is an ex-professional, he understands the players, Skilometers from home on the Asian Tour? taking the European Tour from a fledgling circuit to the understands golf, and blends all that together with the Golf’s nomadic community is a burgeoning tribe today, but phenomenon it is today and I am delighted, as are my commercial needs of his company – a real partnership.” “I’ve always had a bit of wanderlust,” says Gibson, whose Gibson was one of the first to pack up his clubs and head to colleagues on the Asian Tour, that Volvo’s redefined golf first significant success came when he won the Canadian PGA the airport to pursue his career on foreign fields. “Those were strategy puts Asia center stage,” he reflected during the Volvo Gibson believes Volvo’s contribution to Asian golf has been Championship in 1990. Shortly after that triumph, Gibson set great days back then as we were all pioneering. There were no China Open in November last year. crucial, and will become even more so in years to come. “What off on a global odyssey that makes the Volvo Ocean Race look precedents, not even any defending champions,” he says. you get at a Volvo-sponsored championship is class, from the like a local regatta. But it was not just a living he went in “Starting off the European Tour here in China is fantastic, personal handshake on the first tee from the sponsors, which is search of. “Golf is very much a global phenomenon nowadays,” Gibson, who has represented Canada in six World Cups, and it sure raises the bar for the Asian Tour players, who have quite unique, to the subtle corporate messages. It’s not in-your- he adds. “I firmly believe that travel broadens the mind, gravitated towards the Philippines after marrying one of the responded really well, showing their European counterparts face promotion, but it is equally effective.” creating a greater understanding of cultures, whilst golf itself is country’s top actresses, Josephine Garcia, who he met at the that we can play a bit out here too. The Volvo secret of success a worldwide language with a spirit that, despite its fierce Philippines Open Championship. “I live there now with my in golf is relatively simple; they have a vision, and invest in it, competitive edge, draws people together.” wife of 15 years. We have two children, a 14-year-old daughter not just financially but emotionally too; and they put the and a 13-year-old son, who is more into soccer than golf, but players at the heart of everything, which is just great.” Gibson followed his Canadian PGA title with three further he is showing a bit more interest in swinging a club now,” victories in 1991, winning the Tokyo Sapporo Open on the he adds. “Too often at some championships all over the world, the highly-competitive Japan Tour, and then the Malaysian Open players are something of a bolt-on to the corporate stuff, but

30 VOLVO SPIRIT VOLVO SPIRIT 31 Lightening the load in Haiti

NIALL EDWORTHY took a look at the relief effort taking place in the country Photography: Olav A. Saltbones

As the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with 80 percent of its population living in abject poverty, the last thing Haiti needed was to suffer one of the worst floods in its history. But that’s exactly what happened at the height of the 2004 hurricane season when the Tropical Storm Jeanne swept a deadly swathe through the Caribbean and triggered a major humanitarian catastrophe from which it will take Haiti years to recover. The worst hit area was the northern coastal city of Gonaïves and the surrounding communities where 1,500 people died, 2,500 were injured and another 1,000 remain unaccounted for. Many more thousands saw their homes reduced to debris, and those lucky enough to have had livelihoods before the storm, no longer had jobs to return to. It is estimated that close to a quarter of a million people were adversely affected by the deluge in one way or another.

32 VOLVO SPIRIT VOLVO SPIRIT 33 “THE WHEEL LOADER WAS INDISPENSABLE WHEN LOADING AND UNLOADING THE FIELD HOSPITAL”

Gonaïves’ main hospital was totally scale of the disaster is so great that of a 100-bed field hospital, complete compact wheel loader, which has Using local operators, the relief team Kjell Engkrog, a nurse with the destroyed in the flood, and horrifying emergency relief will be required for with medical health personnel, to help proved to be invaluable throughout the has put the wheel loader to a variety of Norwegian Red Cross, says the wheel reports told of the water coming in so several months to come. The people in alleviate some of the suffering. The relief effort, according to the Norwegian uses, including clearing away piles of loader has played a very important role suddenly and overwhelmingly that Haiti need adequate shelter, food, health hospital includes a polyclinic where both Red Cross workers. rubble and heaps of mud. “We have in clearing the routes to and from the many patients drowned in their beds. At services and sanitation for the general and specialist medical care is been using it for all kinds of work in the hospital, working tough shifts from least half the city’s population was still foreseeable future,” said Santiago Gil, available, two surgeries, three separate There was over 90 tonnes of cargo hospital area,” says Terje, who has been seven in the morning till six in the in urgent need of food, water and head of the Federation's Americas wards for women, children and births, a to be unloaded from the plane when it impressed by the machine’s versatility evening. “Many buildings and walls had shelter several weeks after the storm department. To deal with the urgent radiotherapy department and a laboratory. arrived in Haiti before it was trans- and durability. collapsed and blocked the streets, but had passed through. Aid agencies issue of clean water, the French and ported up country by a combination of we have been able to clear them with reported a serious risk of epidemics as Spanish Red Cross have sent in two To prepare, transport and then trucks and cargo boats. Many of the “The compact wheel loader is much the wheel loader, making the roads the region’s sanitation facilities had been specialized emergency response units construct a hospital of this size on the cases and crates containing heavy canvas better than a fork lift truck because it passable for the humanitarian flooded and there was virtually no (ERU). By October, the French Red other side of the globe in an area with a tenting and other bulky equipment has wide tires and four-wheel drive. organizations,” says Kjell. access to clean drinking water. Cross unit was producing 52,800 gallons wrecked infrastructure is a massive weighed several hundred kilos. “The I remember last year when we were (200,000 liters) of treated water a day – logistical operation. It began at wheel loader was indispensable when putting up the field hospital in Bam in The response of the International a fabulous effort, but it was still only Gardermoen airport in Oslo where a loading and unloading the field Iran after the earthquake there, we Federation, an umbrella organization for one third of the actual needs. Russian-owned aircraft, an Antonov hospital,” says Terje Paulsen, a volunteer brought a forklift truck with us but we National Red Cross and Red Crescent 124-100, the second largest transport with the Norwegian Red Cross. “It had difficulties operating it in the sand. Societies, was swift and professional but A joint initiative by the Norwegian plane in the world, was loaded up with would have been impossible to have The wheel loader here has been a great the magnitude of the task facing them and Canadian Red Cross, meanwhile, all the equipment for the field hospital. done many of the tasks manually.” help in the cleaning up process.” has been almost overwhelming. “The has been responsible for the deployment Amongst the equipment was a Volvo

34 VOLVO SPIRIT VOLVO SPIRIT 35 OPERATORS CORNER

Jaime Santos is a familiar face in the dockyards of Setúbal, just south of Lisbon. MIKAEL KARLSSON went to visit him. WHEN THE 53-YEAR-OLD STARTED WORKING FOR A Photography Julian Cornish Trestrail COMPANY CALLED SAPEC AGRO IN THE EARLY 1970s HIS JOB WAS TO COUPLE AND DECOUPLE THE TRAIN WAGONS SHUNTING IN AND OUT OF PORTUGAL’S THIRD LARGEST PORT. SAPEC SPECIALIZE IN HANDLING AGROCHEMICAL PRODUCTS IMPORTED FROM ABROAD – MAINLY FROM THE UNITED STATES – WHICH ARE THEN TRANSPORTED AND DELIVERED TO VARIOUS LOCATIONS THROUGHOUT THE IBERIAN PENINSULA. JAIME DROVE THE TRAINS HIMSELF FOR A LONG PERIOD OF HIS CAREER, BUT AT THE END OF THE 1980s HE DECIDED TO SWAP THE CAB OF THE LOCOMOTIVE FOR THE CAB OF A VOLVO WHEEL LOADER, WORKING BACK IN THE HARBOR AREA.

e was immediately impressed Automatic Power Shift was a new by the comfort of his new thing on the market.” H working environment and the effortlessness of the newly introduced Two years ago Sapec bought a new HE WAS PARTICULARLY Automatic Power Shift. “When I started wheel loader, a Volvo L120E, and with IMPRESSED BY to operate the Volvo L90 some 15 over a decade of experience under his years ago I actually thought this was belt Jaime was the obvious candidate to THE LOADER’S the best wheel loader on the market in operate it. It did not take many hours of Portugal,” recalls the 53-year-old, who operation to convince Jaime that the MANEUVERABILITY, has also had the experience of Volvo wheel loader remained the operating other wheel loaders. “It had superior machine on the market. He was SAFETY AND STABILITY a very comfortable cab and the particularly impressed by the loader’s

36 VOLVO SPIRIT VOLVO SPIRIT 37 WORLDVOLVO AROUND THE

Volvo Maroc has received its largest have to pay a fee. These charges are being The first order for 30 bi-articulated individual order to date in Morocco. introduced for environmental reasons and buses has been received from the bus Last July, it concluded an agreement it is hoped that a lot of people will park operator Viação Campo Belo of Brazil. with Planum Construction Co their cars and travel by public transport The company is one of the largest comprising 50 trucks, 21 pieces of instead. Around 200 more buses will be operators in the São Paolo region, with a construction equipment and 6 buses. needed to handle these extra passengers. fleet of over 4,000 buses. The bus bodies Planum was founded in 1948 and is are built by Induscar/Caio. Volvo Buses will supply nearly all of based in Serbia-Montenegro. The company these new buses. The 184 articulated bus The buses get a lot of attention, and developed into a modern and efficient order is Volvo Buses’ largest ever order in not just because of their length. The driver enterprise, with a wide range of Sweden for deliveries in a single year. sits in the middle and not to the side, as construction activities. Planum has usual. This gives the driver a very good managed projects in Eastern Europe, The order is for 175 18.7m-long view of other traffic and also provides a Middle-East and Africa, and has further articulated low-entry Volvo 8500 LEAs roomy, comfortable driver environment ambitions for participation in additional buses. These are easy to use by disabled with less passenger distraction, which infrastructure projects in Morocco. passengers and passengers with pushchairs. means better traffic safety. The remaining nine buses will also be The delivery is planned from October “GOOD PRODUCTIVITYIS articulated, but will be the Volvo 7700 Volvo Penta started wholly owned to December 2004. The truck order model with a natural gas engine. operations in Poland through the ALLABOUT A HEALTHY includes 41 rigid trucks and 9 tractors. The acquisition of its independent trucks all have FM cabs and D12D380 Delivery will be between February and importer, Marco Motors. INTERACTION” engines and will be delivered fully August 2005. Volvo Penta had operations in Poland equipped (tipper, water tank, semi-trailer, Volvo Buses is launching the world’s for nearly 50 years, with sales of marine as concrete mixer, etc.). maneuverability, safety and stability, products, Jaime normally uses a 12.4yd3 river. His lifestyle has helped him stay in longest bus. This is a bi-articulated, well as industrial engines. Since 1990 which are the most significant features (9.5m3) bucket on the Volvo loader to first-rate physical condition, which he The order also involves 7 wheel 26.8-meter bus with room for 300 Volvo Penta was represented by the when you work in a port where there move the stock from one place to thinks is a key factor in helping him to loaders L120E, 5 motor graders (G710B, passengers. The bus has been independent importer Marco Motors, are a lot of workers and machines another, but he equips the machine carry out his duties at work efficiently G740 and G746), 7 crawler excavators designed for dedicated bus lanes that which strengthened Volvo Penta’s position moving around all the time in a with a 29ft (9m) long rake when he has and comfortably. Good productivity is (EC 210B, EC240B, EC360B) and are a cost-effective alternative to the in Poland, particularly as a result of the relatively restricted space. to store the materials up to 23ft (7m) all about a healthy interaction between 2 backhoe loaders BL71. metro. build-out of a large service and dealer network. above the ground in the stock area. In the operator and his loader, according to 6 Volvo buses B7R285 with a local Volvo Buses in Brazil is manufacturing “I still think that our new Volvo is theory, this can be a precarious Jaime. Moroccan body will also be delivered for the new B12M bus chassis built on the TX Many of the world’s largest boat the best machine on the market because operation, but Jaime has total staff transport. platform. The chassis is available as an builders have started production of boats of the great comfort in the cab and the confidence in the Volvo machine. “For me it is important to spend my articulated bus and bi-articulated bus of in Poland in recent years, partly for export Volvo Buses has received an order for good visibility,” he adds. “The machine leisure time in a way that allows me to different lengths with the longest at 26.8 and to meet domestic demand. This places 184 articulated buses from Stockholm, is also very stable and easy to maneuver, Jaime lives with his wife in Setúbal relax and keep myself in good physical meters. The horizontal 12-liter 340bhp new requirements on Volvo Penta’s Sweden. The buses will be used for which are very important features when itself, and one of the reasons he shape. That’s the way I recharge my engine is situated between the two front presence in the country. passengers expected to park their cars you work with a big bucket and a long continues to love his job after so many batteries and feel motivated for a new axles. The engine meets Euro 3 emission outside the city when Stockholm Volvo Penta acquired Marco Motors rake in such a busy port.” years working in the port is that his working week in the cab,” he says. requirements and can be equipped with a introduces environmental charges next and established the wholly owned fixed working hours enable him to particle filter. Jaime and his colleagues at Sapec enjoy a full social life. He believes it is summer. company Volvo Penta Polska sp. z o.o., work five days a week on 8 to 10 hour vital that he has regular leisure time to A trial will be held from late summer Buses with greater passenger capacity with head office in Szczecin (Stettin) in shifts, and they handle between 200,000 spend at home, or to go and pursue his next year for so-called environmental mean fewer buses on the roads, thereby northwest Poland. and 250,000 tons of agrochemical hobbies of watching and playing soccer, charges, or congestion charges. Drivers producing less exhaust emissions and products per year. Owing to the low walking in the forests on the outskirts of who want to drive in or out of Stockholm lower fuel consumption. density of most of the agrochemical the industrial city or fishing in the Sado during working hours on weekdays will

38 VOLVO SPIRIT VOLVO SPIRIT 39 YOUR VIEW

Hello friends, Dear Sirs, First of all I want to thank you very much for the Volvo Spirit I am very grateful for receiving issues of your magazine. It which has just arrived on my desk. I was glad to find much increases my knowledge about new counterpart technologies information about other countries and also about the future of and shows how the company treats its people in a responsible Volvo CE. way. This magazine can increase my spirit to be better and better in Here in Brazil we attend some common fairs, where Volvo’s my job. I work as a trainer for Volvo articulated haulers and I product demonstrations are always among the most sought was glad to find information that I can use in my class. after. I hope the Volvo Spirit magazine will continue to be published. Very kind regards to everyone in the magazine. Best regards, C. Soares VOLVO E. Yusup Atlas Copco, Brazil Indonesia Hello Spirit, Hello, I would like to thank you for your magazine. I am presently an For the second time, I have received an issue of Spirit magazine instructor at Louisiana Technical College Avoyelles’ TRUCK AD from a friend and was very happy about it. The first one Correctional Institution Campus, teaching inmates how to showed interesting subjects, but this edition 12 is simply work on various diesel engines along with the other equipment fabulous. The report on security shows the real situation for used in the industry. machines and operators. The students get in line to read up on the latest Volvo Here, in our country, your machines are getting more and more Equipment and the other fine articles. space in several segments. I visited M&T Expo for the last two Keep up the good work. As a school we are always looking for years and discovered the performance of Volvo equipment. any up to date information to help in the education process. I assure you that everyone there was very impressed with what Some of the former inmates who have graduated the course we saw. and have been released are now working for construction I am just beginning my career as a machine operator and have companies around the state and some even have the worked with Cat and Michigan 125C equipment and I can say opportunity to operate Volvo equipment. that yours is a complete machine, which needs no additional Again thanks, comments. Any operator would like the opportunity to operate A.A. Lemoine it. Cottonport, LA I would be very grateful for an answer. Regards,

L.F. dos Santos Please continue to send us Your View... we’re always glad Brasil to hear from you. Send your mail to: Volvo Spirit, Volvo Construction Equipment, Hunderenveld 10, 1082 Brussels, Belgium or by e-mail to [email protected] Thank you. The editor.

Volvo Spirit reserves the right to publish mails or letters received.

40 VOLVO SPIRIT VOLVO SPIRIT 41 VOLVO CE AD