As we reflect individually on this milestone, questions arise: Have we achieved our goals? Where do we stand? What does the future hold?
As a company, we celebrate the many individuals who have shaped our success:
- Our Employees
“We take care of things until everything is up and running smoothly on the construction site”. This unwavering commitment, inspired by our founder Manfred Messing, binds us as the VMT family. Together, we get through difficult situations, celebrate victories, and embody the typical VMT spirit that we hope will persist for the next 30 years! - Our Customers
In our 2,700 successful tunneling projects worldwide, our customers provide opportunities, challenges, and daily reliance on our equipment and services. Through collaborative partnerships globally, we strive to improve each day. - Our Group
As part of the Herrenknecht Group, our portfolio has expanded over 30 years, evolving from the first micromachine control system to a leading provider in navigation technology, production and logistics management, process monitoring, and data management in tunneling. - Our goals evolve with our tasks. Have we achieved them? Our customers are the true judges.
- Now, at a crucial juncture, we aim to create innovative underground structures for a sustainable future. With unshakeable commitment, we will continue to contribute to this mission.
- Advancing digitalisation in the field of pipe jacking.
- Increasing process reliability.
- Setting up a system that can easily be used for new projects with the same hardware, just matching the software.
- Significant reduction in costs and construction time: The number of intermediate shafts can be significantly reduced
- Considerable decrease in downtime for accessible direct pipe jobs: Automated control measurements take a maximum of 30 minutes instead of several hours.
- Increased daily output and maximum occupational safety
- Validation:
Counting among one of the largest uses of our ring convergence measuring system RCMS so far, it demonstrates the performance of the system, even under severe tunnelling conditions. - Optimisation:
Including 10 measuring cross-sections at a distance apart of 10 m and a span of at least 100 m, the project gave us the opportunity to optimise the sensor transmission rate. - Success:
Providing an automated system that eliminates the need for separate evaluation and documentation of the measurements, we are happy to contribute to the overall success of the project! - Young people expect AI applications in their work. We can’t change them, so the industry must change.
- If we stick to old patterns, young people will leave the industry or won’t even apply for jobs.
- A pioneer project in Switzerland deploys a camera as eyes to check on the quality of work done by robots in concrete segment production. An algorithm learns to spot specific features or items.
- On two TBMs constructing the London Tunnels for HS2, a computer vision system aims to spot and record any defects before a lining segment is installed.
- The algorithm of VMT’s TUnIS navigation software helps to improve the steering accuracy by analysing the TBM’s behaviour over the last 3 to 5 meters and comparing it to the design tunnel axis.
We also apply our expertise in industrial surveying: Our colleagues in Industrial Metrology, @VMT GmbH – Industrial Measurement Solution, are passionate about creating customised automation solutions and providing precision equipment for manufacturing processes in many exciting sectors.
Returning to our initial questions:
Cheers to the next 30 years of success!
What counts among the best ways to find out if a system is really smart? We know it from our maths lessons: Change the requirements or transfer it to another application.
This is exactly what we have done with our tried-and-tested SDS system:
Together with our ambitious, future-orientated customer Röser Firmengruppe – Betonfertigteile, we quickly turned the Segment Documentation System into a Pipe Documentation System
On their premises in Steißlingen (D) and the tunnelling site in Switzerland, the company applies SDS for documenting and steering the production and installation of DN 1,000/DN 1,200 mm pipe elements.
What was the purpose of this “switch”?
When adapting our SDS to pipe production, the main challenge was to understand the technical details and to reconcile these with the system. Thanks to our visits to the precast factory and the in-depth exchange of knowledge with the customer, this was surprisingly easy.
We are delighted to support our customers in the area of digitalisation and to expand the scope of our SDS.
What sounds like a science fiction movie is in fact a groundbreaking innovation for projects with small and even non-accessible diameters.
The pain point: precise navigation surveying of TBMs excavating longer or curved small-diameter drives.
So far, it has been necessary to calibrate the gyro navigation system through time-consuming manual measurements at frequent intervals. The most significant issue: very small diameters in direct pipe projects where an access of the pipe is impossible.
The solution: Camera-based next-level control survey automation.
For the first time, our recent development called TUnIS.pipelight makes it possible to carry out control surveys in non-accessible curved drives. The system’s mode of operation is based on a completely innovative technology using compact camera sensors to monitor LED light points – with impressing benefits:
We are looking forward to a new era in microtunnelling, and you?
Due to the special drainage requirement of the Ibbenbühren Mine Dewatering Tunnel (OD 4.7m) in the North of Germany, pea gravel instead of the usual cementitious grout is used to fill the annulus gap between the ring structure and the natural ground.
However, as pea gravel blinding is not as defined as filling under pressure with cementitious grout, it is all the more important to control the clean bedding of the ring indirectly through the minimal or non-existent convergences.
In this case, our Ring Convergence Measurement System is the perfect solution. The sensors are very helpful, especially as in the small and very compact TBM there is rarely a line of sight between the individual points.
Why is this project with our customer Wayss & Freytag and Züblin so important for us at VMT?
Learn more about our automated Ring Convergence Measurement System.
“We have to bring the knowledge to the systems to support the younger generation,”…
…says our Head of Sales Florian Werres, underlining the necessity of pushing automation and AI applications in tunnel construction.
What does he mean?
Florian compares the first steps that are currently taking place in tunnel construction with the development in the automotive industry: There was a learning curve for a decade, but now car manufacturing is fully automated.
How do these first steps in tunnel construction look like for example?
If you would like to know how AI shocked the operators and why there’s another change in mindset required, have a look at Tunnelling Journal’s “𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻”. Link in the first comment.
Learn how AI is improving the way we deliver and operate tunnels here.