Profiling with an eye for precision

State-of-the-art graders are used to profile the lower runways with millimeter precision. The machinery of the nearly 100-year old family business can therefore regularly be found at Schiphol and is making a substantial contribution to Heijmans' VDR project.

"We have been called in by Heijmans for many years for work at Schiphol Airport and have also been involved in the VDR project in that capacity," begins Janneke van Donkersgoed. "We profile rubble runways and sand runways, basically any mixture that occurs. At the airport it's mainly about profiling stabilization. In this, we follow Heijmans' schedule. In many cases that means varying working hours. After all, we usually start a little later, only after the mixture has been driven in, and continue until it is finished."

Making meters

At the airport, Van Donkersgoed B.V. deploys mainly large Caterpillar graders of the type 120 M. "The machines are equipped with Trimble-3D controls and can handle Total Stations as well as GPS. They are multifunctional in that respect.

We make special use of the machines because of their heavy own weight, thus achieving higher accuracy and faster production. Profiling is done using the model supplied by Heijmans, which is read into the machine. Generally, we can keep up well with one machine. Some days we will make slightly more meters than others, depending on the 'bed' that is prepared for us. That means at peak times we can profile as much as 12,000 meters a day. Especially since these are long 'rags' and wide lanes, we can do our thing."

Varied grain fleet

Founded in 1924, Van Donkersgoed B.V. was originally active in agricultural farming. "From the 1960s we started to focus more and more on the gww, and to specialize in profiling. At that time still using tractors and road planers. Nowadays this is done with self-propelled graders in various shapes and sizes. At Schiphol Airport we use our large equipment, but we also have more compact models for profiling bicycle paths or smaller (road construction) projects. Our strength lies in thinking along with the customer in terms of solutions. We always think in terms of solutions, even in seemingly impossible cases. For example, a former Heijmans excavator operator recently manned our machine for a few days to be able to complete an urgent job after all."

Van Donkersgoed B.V.'s graders operate throughout the Netherlands. "We also make regular trips abroad. We are broadly oriented and work not only for infrastructure contractors but also for municipalities and provinces. A nice bonus is that with our graders we can also do quite a bit of earthmoving on top of that, such as building in and processing rubble and sand tracks and then immediately levelling them. It is precisely this versatility that makes us unique."