Abstract
The transport infrastructure’s pavement is made of asphalt layers, placed and compacted. The asphalt mixture is produced in an asphalt mixing plant (AMP) using expensive technological equipment which, when it becomes obsolete and worn out, is replaced with new equipment. One of the main problems related to the replacement process is that when it comes to purchasing new AMPs, the decision making involved is, in most cases, highly intuitive due to a lack of clearly defined criteria. In order to remedy this situation, this work presents an analysis of the correlation between the number of AMPs and the production of asphalt mixtures. Firstly, a correlation analysis was performed based on the European Asphalt Pavement Association (EAPA) data. Secondly, the current situation with the AMPs in European countries was analysed. Furthermore, a case study was performed and a system of nine criteria was created to identify why/when road construction companies operating in the Baltic States buy new AMPs. The weights of the criteria have been established by applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. It was found that the most important criterion during the decision-making process for road construction companies is increased requirements for improving the quality of the asphalt mixture produced (criteria weight 25.0%). With a weight of 20.6%, the second vital criterion is the possibility of receiving support from European funds. The third criterion is the expectation of having a sizeable asphalt-paving site (weight 20.4%). The other six criteria are also significant, their weights varying between 1.6% and 13.5%. The industrial companies can use the obtained results for designing, producing and selling AMPs and adjusting strategic business plans.
Highlights
Roads, streets and airfields are constructed using an asphalt mixture produced in an asphalt mixing plant (AMP)
If there is no demand for asphalt mixtures in specific countries, the AMPs are going to be in downtime, which can cause a significant difference in the Mixing capacity (MC) of the AMPs of the European countries
If the newly installed asphalt mixing plant is not going to produce asphalt mixture most of the time, the renewal of the fleet can lead to significant long-term financial losses or other undesirable consequences
Summary
Streets and airfields are constructed using an asphalt mixture produced in an AMP. An AMP consists of a set of related equipment that performs the operations of the technological process of asphalt mixture production. Detailed analyses based on the developed model and the statistical data from the EAPA about asphalt mixtures and the number of AMPs in different European countries, were performed for European countries and the Baltic States. The most important part is the third step—the proposition of the nine criteria system and the determination of the significance of those criteria These nine criteria and their significance, which were defined on the basis of a consideration of the Baltic States, is the main result of this study and can serve as a set of guidelines for the AMPs’ fleet renewal strategy planning and decision-making process.
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