News from BFT International

“All Quiet on the Western Front” is the title of a famous motion picture that, in 1930, was awarded two Oscars. We could have titled our last three editorials much like that, dear readers – owing to the corona crisis 90 years after the movie.

Now, also encouraged by the partial lifting of lockdown measures worldwide, fresh impetus once again enters business life. This is reflected not least by the wide variety of topics in this current issue of BFT: a report on the Italian system providers Progress and Marcantonini, for example, describes the successful equipping of precast plants in the USA and in South Korea. In addition, the companies C&G and Lanxess as well as our external technical author Claudia El-Ahwany share interesting news on various aspects of concrete and color. From the mixing technology sector, the company Kniele informed about a successful conversion of a mixing plant in Biberach, Germany, while the Russian scientist Dr. Yuri Sakunenko presents a new system for moisture measurement in concrete construction. Not least, after an enforced hiatus of several weeks, I was able to once again personally visit a precast plant: the company Claus Pfeifenbring Bausysteme, which is also presented in this issue with its remarkable concrete products for hydraulic engineering. This issue is further supplemented with additional brief notes, reports on time-tested patents and the program review for the BIBM Congress in November 2020.

There is also news to report on personal matters: our colleague Karla Knitter is expecting and has already left on maternity leave. She does expect, though, to return to the BFT editorial office already in autumn.