Final of the Tyrolit's international concrete cutting competition

Published 18/4, 2024 at 13:37

The final of the international Tyrolit Cutting Pro Competition was arranged for the fifth time in February this year. First prize went to Lithuania, second to Switzerland and third to Austria.

On 22 February, it was time once again time for the finals of the international Tyrolit Cutting Pro Competition. The final was held in the Salzlager centre in the pretty town of Hall in the Tirol, a few kilometres from Innsbruck in Austria. The competition was organised for the fifth time, with the final having been preceded by national competitions held around Europe. A couple of dozen concrete cutters from 13 different nations qualified for the final (the results are shown at the foot of this article). The welcome address was given by Wolfgang Wiefler, Tyrolit’s head of global sales and marketing for the Construction Division.

24 competitors

The final itself was held on the evening of 22 February. A total of around 500 guests from all over the world attended with, as usual, a very cheerful atmosphere, with PDi Magazine having the privilege of covering the event. The competition consists of each participant competing in three disciplines, aiming to complete set work at the fastest possible time, to a set of parameters. The first discipline was concrete cutting with a Tyrolit HRE 410, which is a high cycle powered electric hand cutter. The second discipline was to wall saw a section using Tyrolit’s high frequency wall saw WSE 1621. The third discipline was to apply the Tyrolit DME 32 core drilling system to a concrete wall using the three speed drill motor to drill through a concrete slab in the fastest possible time. The diamond tools used in all cases naturally came from Tyrolit.

It was a tight and nerve wracking battle between the participating concrete cutters. Water and concrete sludge occasionally swirled from the stage, and the competitors did their utmost to achieve the shortest total time. This year the victory went to Arnoldas Grigonis from the company Technominas in Lithuania, who won the wall saw Tyrolit WSE 1621 and €,3000 in prize money. Second place was won by Gaetano Casale from the company Ediltaglio in Switzerland. He won the Tyrolit DME 32 drilling system and €2,000 in prize money. Third place went to Arnold Ortner from the company Ortner Bohr-Schneidetechnik in Austria. He won the Tyrolit HBE 400 ring saw and €1,000 in prize money. But in general, it was very tight in terms of scores and times with all the competitors performing magnificently.

Interesting show with lots of news

Before the competition began, the day had already started around started at 10.00am with the opening of a Tyrolit trade show which was open throughout the day. The manufacturer introduced many interesting new products, including Tyrolit’s investment in products for grinding and polishing concrete surfaces. For the past few months, Paulo Bergstrand, who previously worked as CEO of Scanmaskin and owned his own company, has been employed by Tyrolit in this area. Paulo, with many years of experience in the segment, now plays a key role in Tyrolit’s investment and is sales and marketing director for Europe and the Middle East (Paulo’s appointment is covered in another article in this magazine).

It can be said that everything that Tyrolit showed in the field of grinding and polishing are new products, including five new floor grinders with grinding diameters from 28cm to 78cm, with the largest models, FGE515 and FGE780, being able to be remotely controlled. All machines can be used for both grinding and polishing. To this can be added a wide assortment of grinding and polishing tools, as well as a wide range of chemicals.

Tyrolit has also launched two new floor strippers, three floor cutters, three shot blasters and seven dust handlers for absorbing sanding dust. At the event, the new VCE1200D, VCE2400D and VCE3600 were also shown (there is more information on these in separate releases). It was further announced that Tyrolit has acquired a major stake in the German manufacturer Contec to strengthen its presence in machinery and equipment for processing concrete surfaces. Contec is a well-known developer and manufacturer of a range of machines and tools for treating concrete and other floor surfaces (more about this in a future article).

Perhaps the biggest news was Tyrolit’s smart digital asset management tool, ‘MoveSmart’, which is a digital tool for the entire construction site (more information on this is provided in a future article). Tyrolit also released three new drill motors, the DME20, DME26 and DME32; the vacuum pump VPE600 and the floor saw FSE808. On the tool side, a new core drill was released as well as two new diamond wires, the electroplated DM-CG and sintered DWB-C.

All together the event in Hall in Tirol was a real success for the manufacturer, with interest in the next concrete cutting exhibition being shown already.

www.tyrolit.com

The results from the Tyrolit Cutting Pro Competition 2024:

1. Arnoldas Grigonis, Technominas, Lithuania

2. Gaetano Casale, Ediltaglio, Switzerland

3. Arnold Ortner, Ortner Bohr-Schneidetechnik, Austria

4. Albert Waldefors, Borrmästarn, Sweden

5. Thomas Simayr, Wolfthaler, Austria

6. Roman Milkowski, Rtech, Poland

7. Lucas Gautier, Scidiam, France

8. Patryk Sylwester Kos, Moby Entreprenør, Norway

9. Peter Bierfeld, Bierfeld Bau, Germany

10. Rob McCarthy, LDD Construction, Great Britain