Spread better to spread less

Spread better to spread less This is the concept behind the highly advanced technology that distinguishes the salt-spreading vehicles set up by Bucher Municipal for Amiat (Iren Group), a company that is responsible for municipal and environmental services in the city of Turin. A particular city the first capital of Italy, whose territorial versatility (ranging from 230 to more than 700 meters in altitude, going from the riverbanks of the Po to the hills) means that those in charge of maintaining its road network must be equipped with the best equipment available on the market. For this reason, too, the marriage between Amiat and Bucher Municipal, which has its roots in a decades-long relationship, is now renewed with this new supply, the first five vehicles of which were delivered last March, while the remainder will arrive in the Piedmont capital in early 2023.

These are newer, four-wheel-drive Iveco Eurocargo 150s equipped with the latest generation of salt spreaders, equipped with the most modern, state-of-the-art systems in the field of winter road maintenance. The advantages resulting from this are innumerable, both in terms of economic savings (approximately 35% less salt is used than is normally spread), and in terms of effectiveness since, combined with the salt solution injected inside the spreading disc, the salt is able to act immediately, avoiding the very sad scenes seen so often with salt piled up on the sides of a frozen road with the surface completely bare. Thanks to the technology with which Bucher Municipal spreaders are equipped, this phenomenon does not occur because the previously humidified salt, depositing on the road surface, immediately begins its melting action without being moved to the sides of the road by passing vehicles.

Snowplow are also a strength of the vehicles supplied by Bucher Municipal to Amiat, which, on the majority of the vehicles in the first batch and in the entirety of those in the second batch, chose the "Unix" model. This is a piece of equipment that combines the advantages of a classic blade with the versatility of a plowshare. The strengths that characterize this variable geometry blade are its clearing speed, high safety and extraordinary versatility, making it the ideal tool for both urban areas and mountain roads. Unix can be used as a classic plow to move snow to the sides of the road, in the wedge position when substantial amounts of snow need to be removed, or in the shovel position to push and pile snow.

The main scraper blade made of neoprene allows a quick work phase, in total safety, without noise disturbing the public peace, all distinguished by reduced consumption compared to traditional scraper knives used during snow clearing phases. Unix, as well as Polyx, the snow plow blade with a polyethylene wheel from the Bucher Municipal range (featured on two of the ten vehicles purchased by Amiat), has integrated the MBS system. This patented technology allows the injection of saline solution directly from inside the neoprene blade. At the same time as the mechanical removal of the layer of snow deposited on the ground, the injection of the saline solution takes place through holes in the central part of the knife; while the rear part proceeds to compress the solution inside the 'road surface.

But Bucher Municipal knows that it would be completely useless to provide its partners with the most advanced technologies without having first verified that the operators who will have to use and maintain them are fully trained in this regard. For this reason, too, the Bucher Winter Academy was born, whose highly trained operators are in charge of training personnel, also issuing certificates and "licenses" useful for proper use of the equipment and proper winter maintenance procedures. Training activities, which together with an always effective and punctual after-sales service, represent the ideal completion of a high quality product and make Bucher Municipal the ideal interlocutor for those who, like Amiat, have chosen to rely on a reality capable of satisfying their needs at 360 degrees, without the slightest detail ever being overlooked.

Read the article on Lavori Pubblici n. 117 settembre - ottobre 2022 https://www.lavoripubblici.net/riviste-2021-2023/soluzioni-lavori-pubblici-117/