Business performance
Schäfer Consult was founded 2001. Through the last 10 years Schäfer Consult consulted many customers like the Federal Road Administration, the road administration of the federal countries of Germany, cities, harbour administrations or companies of the asphalt industry.
The owner, Dipl.-Ing. Volker Schäfer, is Consulting Engineer and since 2003 expert for asphalt construction in road and traffic infrastructure construction officially appointed and sworn by the Oldenburg Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
Volker Schäfer is a recognised expert in the field of structural/civil engineering and quality control. From mid-May 1993 until the end of 2000, he worked as a manager of the Civil Engineering Quality Control Department in a larger medium-sized company of road construction and the production of road materials with registered office in Northern Germany. From there, he co-ordinated all the nation-wide development and marketing activities in the sector of asphalt road construction and was responsible for consulting tasks for affiliated building/construction companies and asphalt production plants focusing on solutions beyond daily routine.
This included the implementation and application of new construction methods and the elaboration of specific technical solutions with the acquisition of orders, the realisation of supplementary claims and the overriding maintenance of contacts as well as activities in associations/panels. In addition, he was entrusted with the organisation and implementation of a quality management system for building/construction companies, asphalt/concrete production plants and, at the same time, with the review of the entire documentation of contracts and agreements.
A further focal point of his activities in recent years was the provision of consulting services for construction enterprises in the course of the extension of the six-lane BAB A 2 (German Federal Autobahn) between Hannover and Helmstedt, concerning engineering problems of asphalt and the further development/application of asphalt surface courses in connection with the establishment of high polymer-modified bitumen. Due to his intensive discussions held with the Lower Saxony road construction administration, he contributed considerably to the fact that polymer-modified bitumen PmB 45 is now used as standard binder course in asphalt surface courses/binder courses for heaviest load conditions.
An additional task was to look after the production of polymer-modified bitumen for a renowned bitumen manufacturer and the group‘s own requirements. Currently he is still engaged in the implementation of asphalt in cold construction methods using foamed bitumen and bitumen emulsions.
From 1987 until the middle of 1993, Mr Schäfer worked with a company specialised in maintenance construction methods of asphalt structures. Here he was responsibel for the further development and national-wide marketing of construction methods, such as surface dressing and thin asphalt layers.
Mr. Schäfer is member of various expert panels of the „Forschungsgesellschaft für Straßen- und Verkehrswesen“ (research association for roads and traffic) and in the „Deutscher Asphaltverband“ (German Asphalt Producers Association). In this capacity he represents the experience and interests of the ultimate consumers with respect to updates of technical rules and regulations, in order to have an influence on the marketing of the asphalt product.