RER Names MBW and National Trench Safety Grand Winners in its 2012 Innovative Product Awards

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Congratulations to new CRA member MBW for being named by RER magazine, along with National Trench Safety’s Work Zone Safety System, as recipients of the 2012 Grand Award in the 10th anniversary of its Innovative Product Awards competition. The awards competition was established in 2003 to honor excellence in new product development for the equipment rental industry. The 2012 RER Innovative Product Award showcases the most innovative products introduced between Aug. 1, 2011 and July 31, 2012. A panel of industry judges narrowed the pool of entries to one winner in each of eight categories. Then, the judges selected the product they felt displayed the most innovation in respect to the rental business from those eight category winners. This year, the panel was deadlocked on two significant industry innovations and a tie was declared for the Grand Award recipients. 

Using polyethylene slide bearings, new MBW rammers generate less internal friction, which enables more efficient transmission of energy to soil during the compaction process.

MBW’s new line of rammers is now completely free of metal-on-metal reciprocating components in their percussion systems. A major step forward in rammer design, all reciprocating surfaces of MBW rammers are now bushed with Ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene slide bearings, or UHMWPE for short, which, the manufacturer says, will result in up to 700-percent longer life. 

"As these surfaces wear, the rammer’s tolerances become progressively sloppier; operation becomes more difficult until the rammer is worn out," said MBW Inc. president Frank Multerer. "Replacement of worn wear components is prohibitive typically approaching the cost of a new rammer. The MBW design differs in that spring box, guide cylinder, spring separator and ram shaft are never exposed to metal-on-metal contact. They never wear. This is accomplished by use of thin UHMWPE slide bearings sandwiched between the reciprocating metal components. This material wears at a fraction the rate of steel-on-cast iron wear surfaces. When eventually called for, replacement of UHMWPE bearings is easy and economical. 

"Perhaps the single-largest benefit of our new design is that overall life expectancy is extended to a point where a paradigm shift is warranted in terms of rental fleet turnover," Multerer added. "Many rental operators are conditioned to turn rammer fleets between 12 and 18 months of use before their rammers are too far into their life expectancy. By extending life expectancy, it now makes sense to replace worn engines, shoes, springs, shock mounts, etc., because the basic rammer is sound." 

RER named winners in a total of eight categories. Following are all of the 2012 RER Innovative Product Award category winners: 

Category: Compaction – MBW Rammers

Category: Computer software – Alert Management Systems Mobile Inventory Manager

Category: Cutting/drilling – Hilti DD 150-U Diamond Coring System

Category: Earthmoving equipment – Terex Construction TA400 Generation 9 articulated truck

Category: Generators/welders – Honda Power Equipment EB10000 Industrial Series generator

Category: Lifts – Terex Aerial Work Platforms Genie GS-2646 AV scissorlift

Category: Material handling equipment – JCB 512-56 Loadall telescopic handler with Tier 4i Ecomax Engine

Category: Miscellaneous – National Trench Safety Work Zone Safety System