New technologies in the paving process need to be based on 'common practice' and 'operator's heuristics'

This paper describes an initiative that aims to integrate process mod-eling with the tacit knowledge of site personnel in order to accelerate profes-sionalism and widen the application of technology in the asphalt paving proc-ess. A preparatory study was conducted to gain insight into operational strate-gies from operators' perspectives. Interviews and observations confirmed that operational choices in the asphalt paving process depend heavily on craftsman-ship, and that the work methods and equipment are mainly selected based on tradition and custom. Furthermore the operators were reluctant to use new (available) technologies. Since improving the paving process requires integrat-ing new technologies with the learning of new work methods. For that task the paper proposes an action research strategy