29. Micro chip in construction plant

Advances and applications

The micro chip revolution has been slow to enter the field of construction plant, hardly surprising when one considers the disastrous down-turn in plant equipment orders experienced in the industry. It requires a great deal of courage and funds for an equipment manufacturer to invest in very costly R&D, especially when any advance made in new developments may be difficult to translate into orders and can all too easily be copied by the opposition.

It also has to be appreciated that construction, with its infinite variances in terrain, requirements and design, is less easily programmed than some industries. Furthermore, different countries - and few manufacturers can design on a national basis only - make different demands on the acceptability of sophisticated advances, quite apart from the very real problems of a reduced labour content, in areas where the supply of manpower is plentiful and many would otherwise be unemployed..