Manufacturing
W.D.M. USA Limited’s parent company, W.D.M. Limited, has remained true to its engineering roots and is established as the UK’s leading manufacturer and provider of highway survey equipment, also exporting its machines around the world.
In the late ‘60’s the Company developed and built the first SCRIM® road survey vehicle, which has been used ever since by highway authorities to measure where skid resistance of roads falls below investigatory levels.
WDM USA is the sole licensed manufacturer worldwide of the SCRIM, working under license to the UK Transport Research Laboratory (TRL). The SCRIM® is manufactured in full compliance with the current British Standard BS 7941-1:2006.
More than 80 SCRIM® have rolled off the WDM USA production line and used in more than 18 countries worldwide, helping deliver reductions in skid-related fatalities of up to 40%.
WDM USA built a SCRIM® road survey vehicle for the Federal Highways Administration in the US, which involved using an American chassis, and another for the Italian company, Sineco.
WDM USA also operates its own fleet of SCRIM® machines to provide a survey service through the whole of the UK and in New Zealand.
The Company manufacturers a diverse range of survey vehicles, including the Road Assessment Vehicle (RAV), which has been used since the mid-80’s for high speed data acquisition. These vehicles have been the primary provider of scanner survey data throughout the UK.
The original Multi-function Road Monitor (MRM) is the forerunner of the RAV and records all scanner defects except road cracking. The new design for the MRM makes it ideal for undertaking objective, repeatable road condition surveys on minor narrow roads and in towns and cities.
The Deflectograph assesses the structural condition of pavements by measuring the transient deflection of the road surface under the action of a rolling wheel at standard loading conditions. The survey data is used together with a well-established design procedure to estimate structural residual lives and where necessary to design overlay thicknesses to extend the structural life.
The TM2 surface texture meter is the result of an extensive in-house research and development programme by WDM USA to provide all the functionality of a routine surface texture measurement instrument, coupled with extensive analytic tools.
The manually operated TM2 is recognized as delivering the definitive macro texture measurement standard and a viable and effective replacement for the traditional sand patch test. It uses laser technology to measures a broad swathe of the road profile transversely over a width of 100mm to build a detailed record of the road surface texture, with its average texture depth and delivers repeatable and reproducible results.
WDM USA has also developed a new machine to check the safety of cycle routes in the UK. The Cyclopath has just completed initial trials in London, where its lasers measured the surface of blue cycle routes for deterioration and cracking.
All of the Company’s machines come with training, technical support and servicing packages.
* Registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office
