Bouygues TP
Bouygues Travaux Publics purchased a “bridge launcher” from an Italian manufacturer for the site of a highway bridge being built in Hong Kong. Bouygues Travaux Publics is the chief contractor and the project is scheduled for completion in 2008. The launcher is an enormous mobile gantry crane that will sit on the structure’s bridge piers, to lay and assemble the concrete segments (the components of the bridge under construction).
"Our Apave contacts have shown an unusual aptitude for dealing with the complexity of the project and getting to the bottom of things, down to the machine’s smallest detail. They went through every item that required the manufacturer to push its analyses further -- even conduct additional tests – in order to meet all specifications."
Apave had two tasks. First, it had to validate the machine’s design (that is, its suitability for the structure to be built), its operating principles, the manufacturer’s design calculations and drawings and the entire instrumentation and control system. Second, it had to verify the plans’ compliance with European safety regulations (EC marking) and once again, when the machine was assembled and installed on site.