Get FinancingHamm On A Roll: A Look Back At The Manufacturer’s Many Innovations
Tirschenreuth, Germany-based Hamm is a well-known manufacturer of rollers and compactors for soil and asphalt compaction. But you don’t get a reputation for quality, reliability, and innovation like Hamm’s overnight. It should come as no surprise, then, to learn that the company has been designing and building complex, in-demand products for the better part of 140 years.
The Seeds Of Innovation
It all started in 1878 when two brothers, who were gunsmiths by trade, decided to go into business together to build agricultural equipment. Anton and Franz Hamm’s company Maschinenfabrik Gebr started off modestly, selling threshing machines to local farmers in the northeast region of the state of Bavaria. In 1911, however, a second-generation Hamm named Hans designed the first diesel-powered roller for use in road construction. Until this point, a vast majority of these machines were driven by steam engines. The innovation created a new market for Hamm, and in 1928 the company decided to cease manufacturing agriculture equipment, such as stationary traction engines and motorized plows and threshers, and began iterating on its road rollers.
In 1932, Alois Hamm created the first all-wheel-drive, all-wheel-steering double-drum roller, which was able to increase the roller’s coverage area by 50%. The company introduced a rubber-wheeled roller in 1963, based on the designs of Hamm’s Hermann Feistenauer, an engineer who had joined the company merely a year prior. This new type of roller, with its hydraulic wheel suspension system, proved adept at compacting ground even on uneven terrain, which had proved unsafe and difficult for traditional rollers.
One Step Back, Two Steps Forward
Hamm fell on hard times during the ‘70s and was sold to IBH Group, one of the world’s largest construction machinery conglomerates at the time. However, a prolonged slump in the construction industry kept Hamm’s parent company from turning the struggling business around, and IBH was ultimately forced to file for bankruptcy in 1983. In 1984, Umberto Draghi took the reins, and in 1987 he moved Hamm into a large, modern production facility in Tirschenreuth Germany. He was instrumental in the hiring of professional industrial designers to overhaul the look of Hamm’s rollers, resulting in numerous design awards. But Draghi’s influence was much more than skin deep. Under his guidance, Hamm’s technical prowess also continued to raise the bar across the industry. For instance, Hamm’s oscillating vibratory roller went into production in 1989 and was notable for producing better compaction results than traditional vibrating-drum rollers.
Acquisition & Autonomy
A decade later, Hamm became a subsidiary of the Wirtgen Group GmbH, which includes well-known road-paver manufacturer Vögele and road milling machine maker Wirtgen. With the addition of Hamm, the new organization boasts machines and technology designed to handle every nuance of road building, from processing to mixing, paving, compaction, and rehabilitation. Hamm has retained its signature branding and orange livery for its family of soil compactors, tandem rollers, and static rollers. Most recently, Hamm has been making headlines for pioneering the design of autonomous rollers, which will help propel the road construction industry into the future.
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