The Rotar Scrap Shear is a rock solid tool. They are available in six sizes. It processes tons of steel in a very short time. The design ensures materials are pressed deep into their jaws where cutting power is greatest. A “must-have” for every junkyard, advertises the manufacturer. The giant scissors – the smallest model weighs 2.5 tons – can be admired at Bauma 2022.
The trade fair for the construction, building materials and mining machinery industry opens this Monday in Riem for trade visitors. Anyone who is curious and has always wanted to see just how big a yellow Komatsu mining excavator really is is also invited.
More than 30 cranes soar majestically into the sky above the exhibition center in Riem. They have already been used by the high-altitude rescue service for a trial training session at dizzy heights.
(Photo: Catherine Hess)
Nicole Schmitt and most of her seven employees could easily fit in his shovel. Schmitt has been with Messe München for 26 years and is responsible for Bauma, the largest trade fair in the world with an area of 614,000 square meters. As the project manager, she pulls all the strings together: “We look after the exhibitors and rent out the space,” explains Schmitt. “Who is where? Can he enlarge it? Is it stuck somewhere? What do we do with the candidates on the waiting list?” says Schmitt. “Then the big jigsaw puzzle begins – the layout of the fair.” So that Bauma can open its turnstiles punctually this Monday at 9:30 a.m.
In the exhibition halls inside and outside on the open-air site, companies such as Doka, Komatsu, Liebherr, Peri, Putzmeister, Sennebogen, Wirtgen, Zeppelin and many more will show everything the industry has to offer: It starts with teeth for the excavator shovel. Continues with engines, formwork and scaffolding, underground drilling rigs, tippers and mining dumpers – these are very large dump trucks that are loaded with rubble and haul tons of material from mines. In addition, there are 34 cranes alone, which can be seen from afar, and boom boosters, which lift extremely heavy loads with their long boom systems. But it doesn’t stop there. No machine today can do without sensors that beep or honk – for example when reversing. There are digital innovations for remote maintenance and narrow excavators for gardening. In total, more than 3100 exhibitors from 60 countries are represented at Bauma.
Christian Lepp is Head of Technical Services: He makes sure that everything runs smoothly during the six months of construction on the outdoor area.
(Photo: Catherine Hess)
Christian Lepp’s golf cart jerks across the extensive grounds to a group of cranes. Lepp coordinates the construction of the Bauma in front of the halls and ensures, for example, that the monsters, which are up to 90 meters high and with their wide arms, do not get in each other’s enclosures – even when there is a storm. “Many cranes need a wind release, which means that above a certain wind force, the brake must be released so that the jib can face the wind,” he explains. “But there are also models that have a huge concrete weight at the bottom so that they can withstand the wind.” 100 tons of counterweight come together. At least three articulated lorries are needed just to bring the concrete parts here, and another four or five 40-ton trucks for the crane itself. An experienced team can erect such a church tower-high tubular steel construction in one day.
Fire expert Marco Spötzl and his team check escape and rescue routes at Bauma so that help can be provided quickly in an emergency.
(Photo: Catherine Hess)
At the Bauma, the cranes are not only an exhibition object, they also have a practical purpose: a few days ago, a team of men and women came to the exhibition center with the rescue helicopter Christoph 1 to practice on a construction crane how people save themselves from lofty heights to let. “The aim is to get used to the altitude,” says fire official Marco Spötzl, who is sitting next to Lepp in the golf cart. “It’s different going up a turntable ladder 30 meters or climbing a 70 or 80 meter construction crane.” In an emergency, the professional climbers rescue, for example, injured construction workers from shafts – or crane drivers with heart attacks. “Every two years in Munich, a crane driver has health problems and has to be brought down by helicopter or basket stretcher,” says Spötzl. Luckily, such an effort was not necessary at the Bauma.
Setting up the fair takes longer than setting up the festival tents and rides for the Wiesn. Large companies such as Liebherr, Peri and Wirtgen began setting up their multi-storey stands six months ago. They are so imposing that some have mistaken them for new trade fair buildings. Lepp and Spötzl and their experts are responsible for the safety of the stands. The fire department council examines escape and rescue routes and sees whether effective extinguishing work is possible. Up to 150,000 visitors can be present at the Bauma at the same time, far more than Rosenheim has residents, a good 60,000. So a lot of responsibility for the firefighters.
“Everything you drive, the driver must have sat on the box and said: That’s fine!” says Bauma boss Schmitt.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Since Corona, it has been difficult for trade fair organizers to estimate how many people will come. Bauma boss Schmitt is optimistic that the 18 halls and the outdoor area are almost fully booked. “People have realized that there is no substitute for physical meetings,” she says. “If they want to build trust and close deals, they need to look each other in the eye, not the hole in the laptop camera.” Just as important to the visitors as the human contact is a scrutinizing look at the brightly colored, shiny equipment. Do they keep their promises? This can be assessed much better at a trade fair than in the video.
“Everything you drive, the driver must have sat on the box and said: That’s fine!” says Schmitt. She knows from experience that a pump driver definitely influences the purchaser of a concrete pump in terms of which pump to buy. Of course, you can’t test drive a dump truck that easily weighs 500 tons at the trade fair, but you can test drive an excavator. The companies also demonstrate their machines themselves. “We want visitors to see the excavator in motion,” says Lepp. The performances regularly draw large crowds of people.
A scrutinizing look up: Big and small people are fascinated by the machine giants.
(Photo: Sina Schuldt/picture alliance/dpa)
They make a big impression on almost everyone who has nothing to do with the machine giants in everyday life. Even for many professionals, dump trucks in action are still exciting. The Bauma is above all a trade fair and not a playground for big and small children. But anyone who has children knows the fascination that large construction vehicles exert on small people. “Baggah!” they shout enthusiastically when you cross a construction site in the city. The enthusiasm often lives on in adults too. Bauma attracts many families from Munich and the surrounding area, especially on weekends.
Without Frank Pastior and his traffic control center there is a risk of traffic jams on Munich’s motorways: he controls visitor traffic and manages the parking spaces at the trade fair.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
More than half of the guests come by public transport, the subway sometimes runs every three minutes instead of every five. Nevertheless, bottlenecks are to be expected on the U 2, especially in the morning, warns the Munich transport company. If there is a risk of overload, individual stations could be temporarily closed. There will also be a rush on the streets and trade fair car parks. Frank Pastior makes sure that traffic flows as much as possible. He and his logistics team steer the articulated lorries for assembly and dismantling, regulate the traffic of exhibitors and visitors during the trade fair and guide them to parking spaces.
Pastior has set up a traffic control center in the West car park so that traffic jams don’t get too frustrating for those arriving. 14 people work here during Bauma, including police and highway company employees. Videos and traffic figures are running on their screens. “So that we can see what’s coming our way, we have access to the video cameras on the freeways,” says Pastior. This allows his team to decide how best to direct traffic. Dynamic text ads on the streets help with this. The weekend is a particular challenge: when the companies drive their employees to the Bauma, up to 900 coaches arrive every day. “As far as I know, there isn’t a single event in the world that has so many buses in one day,” says Pastior, “not even the Oktoberfest.”