Some of the UAE’s top road-building contractors rolled into Dubai last week to attend Volvo Construction Equipment’s 2014 Road Machinery Seminar (RMS).
The educational event, held in conjunction with the Swedish manufacturer’s authorised UAE distributor, FAMCO, took place at the Volvo Central Distribution Centre (CDC) in Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza).
Speakers at the event included Daren Fitch, Volvo CE’s road machinery director in the EMEA sales region; Mohamed Jammoul, Volvo CE’s product manager in the EMEA sales region; and Ahmad Halwani, general manager of FAMCO’s Construction Equipment Division.
Speaking at the start of the day, Fitch said: “[Volvo CE] is a strong, global manufacturer that is very serious about this business. Quality, safety, and environmental care are at the heart of everything we do. This isn’t just a tagline; we are very heavily committed to the road machinery business.”
Those in attendance were treated to a full day of educational talks, not just in relation to Volvo’s range of road machinery, but with reference to the sector as a whole. During the course of the day, Jammoul delivered lectures on graders, pavers, and rollers.
Commenting on his firm’s long-standing relationship with Volvo CE, Wang Fei, deputy manager of China State Construction’s Paving Team, said: “We established our infrastructure division in 2008, and we’ve been using Volvo machinery since the beginning. These units have helped us to finish a number of large projects.”
Deryck Allison, asphalt and road marking manager at Al Marwan General Contracting’s Asphalt Division, praised the usefulness educational seminars such as this.
“It keeps us up to date with what companies are doing to improve their products,” he told PMV.
“Contractors are working to tougher and tougher specifications, so machines have to be up to the job. We have a multi-brand fleet, but our last two acquisitions were Volvo. We’re very pleased with them; they’re performing extremely well and giving a high degree of finish,” Allison concluded.
