According to this article, there will be 4 B&M coasters in the US for 2006: Patriot, Tatsu, Goliath and ????

- For some reason, I cannot paste the link. -

[Steel plant's business on fast track
Roller coaster manufacturer keeps innovating

By Anna Guido
Enquirer contributor

The Enquirer/Steven M. Herppich

Documentary makers for Indigo Films interview Robert Mampe, a liaison for the B&M design firm of Switzerland, at Clermont Steel Fabricators. The Batavia company has made roller coasters since 1990.


ABOUT CLERMONT STEEL FABRICATORS LLC
Where its roller coasters are sold: Around the world.

Interesting fact: It takes about 2,000 tons of steel to make one roller coaster.

Some history: National Geographic Television interviewed Clermont Steel in September as part of a TV documentary to be aired in 2006 on the history of roller coasters. Many of the Bolliger & Mabillard coaster designs that Clermont Steel makes have been landmark achievements in the industry.

Number of employees: 50 union, 10 non-union.

Address and information: 2565 Old State Route 32, Batavia. (513) 732-6033.

BATAVIA - In the history of roller coasters, a small steel plant just east of Cincinnati plays a big role.

Clermont Steel Fabricators on Old State Route 32 has been the sole manufacturer since 1990 of world-renowned, Swiss-engineered Bolliger & Mabillard roller coasters.

B&M coasters are known for their smooth and comfortable rides and are in amusement parks in the United States, Canada, Asia, the Middle East and other parts of the world.

The secret to the smooth B&M coaster ride is precision engineering matched by precision manufacturing, according to industry experts.

"It's Swiss engineering," Clermont Steel Vice President Ken Miller said matter-of-factly but also giving his own workers credit. "We follow along and fabricate precisely. And we do a lot of testing."

Neither Clermont Steel nor B&M allow much tolerance for error in the drawings - plus or minus 1 millimeter - which is why B&M coasters are considered tops in the industry, Miller said.

"If you're a general manager of an amusement park, and you're putting together a Christmas list, a B&M coaster will be on it," said Jack Falfas, chief operating officer for Cedar Fair LP, parent company of more than a dozen U.S. amusement parks and water parks with B&M coasters.

"Everybody wants a B&M - that's our standard of quality. They're just great coasters."

Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, and Dorney Park in Allentown, Pa., are among Cedar Fair parks with B&M coasters.

Paramount's Kings Island does not have a B&M coaster, mostly due to the non-compete rights of other B&M coaster buyers, according to Miller.

Clermont Steel has manufactured several roller coaster "firsts" for B&M, including floorless models such as "Hydra The Revenge" at Dorney Park. This coaster was unveiled in May and features seven twists, rolls, drops and spirals.

One 95-foot-high lift hill is followed by a 53-mile-per-hour plunge.

Another first for B&M and Clermont Steel was the SheiKra "dive coaster" at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in Florida.

This coaster features a record-breaking 90-degree vertical dive from 200 feet and is the only dive coaster in the U.S. SheiKra also is the tallest of only three dive coasters in the world and the first to incorporate an Immelmann loop (a rolling maneuver named for a World War I flying ace), a second dive from 138 feet into an underground tunnel and a water-feature finale.

"Part of the magic in these roller coasters is B&M's ability to design a very smooth roller coaster and Clermont Steel's ability to fabricate it in that exact alignment," said Mark Rose, vice president of design and engineering for Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. "Other manufacturers don't have the ability to fabricate exactly as it is on paper - it's a real trick," Rose said.

U.S. manufacturing of B&M coasters happened by chance. "B&M wanted to manufacture in the United States - that's what drew us here in the first place," said Robert Mampe, U.S. rep for the Monthey, Switzerland, company.

But what kept B&M with Clermont Steel is the "real story," Mampe said. "It's the expertise and craftsmanship of the employees. Building a roller coaster is no easy task - it's very important to execute the design."

Many workers at Clermont Steel have been there for years, including Miller, who started with the company as a laborer in 1973, the same year he graduated from Colerain High School.

At the time, Clermont Steel was known as Southern Ohio Fabricators, and its focus was industrial and commercial buildings.

Roller coasters became the company's manufacturing focus when Miller and "a small group of investors" bought the assets of Southern Ohio Fabricators in July 2004.

The decision to switch from building steel structures to steel roller coasters wasn't difficult, Miller said, because roller coaster work is "unique, so precise and fun."

Clermont Steel makes several roller coasters a year. The company fabricates the entire coaster - everything from the supports and track to the cars - and it takes four to six months to complete one.

Clermont Steel currently is working on four new coasters for U.S. amusement parks. All Miller could say is that the four new rides will be in parks in 2006 that currently have B&M coasters.

Miller said the company has remained profitable since it was purchased last year and is continuing - although on a limited basis - its work on steel structures.

E-mail [email]aguido@fuse.net[/email]

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page is not found can you see if the site is spelt correct.i really want to see this

Cedar Point???? just kidding, but it is a possibility.

I also heard that Islands of Adventure is getting something for 2006. I am not keeping up will florida parks but could they (IoA) be a possibility?

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^I can telll you right now that the new attraction at IOA will not be a B & M.

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The artical also wrote that the 4 coasters are coming to US parks that currently have a B&M coaster. What doesn't make sense is that World's of Fun has not B&M coaster.

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Its going to SFFT....

The flyer for SFFT (still just a rumor) is for 2007, not for 2006.

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If you look it up on google earth you can see track behind the building

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Isn't La Ronde's coaster a B&M?

Katie

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[QUOTE=CoastinKatie]Isn't La Ronde's coaster a B&M?

Katie[/QUOTE]

The article states, "Clermont Steel currently is working on four new coasters for U.S. amusement parks. All Miller could say is that the four new rides will be in parks in 2006 that currently have B&M coasters." La Ronde is in Canada which is not in the US (unless I missed a news).
The person may have meant North America or may be not.

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The OCT Beijing Flier perhaps, it was manufactured at that plant.

Isn't Phantasialand getting a B&M invert? I do not know the specific but I have seen the thread on the homepage under construction.

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maybe gadv will get 2 coasters
lol
ya right

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Look, it's 4 coasters at [B]U.S.[/B] parks, not Canada, Germany, or OCT Beijing.

Patriot
Tatsu
Goliath
??????

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Well, Six Flags announced they were getting three B&Ms for the 2006, Tatsue, Goliath and Goliath (correct me if I'm missing one). So that means that only 1/3 B&M coasters are getting aren't in the US. So, ultimately that means that the third coaster can't be going to a Six Flags park. That eliminates a hand full of parks right there. Now, as much as people want to deny it, there are a ton of parks out there that could be getting a new coaster, such as Cedar Point (not saying that it will happen). You'd think that if one of the smaller parks out there wanted to get some publicity, they'd already have this thing announced. I doubt any of the Busch parks are getting it, so right there that eliminates most of the major companies except Cedar Fair.

I really have no clue where that 4th B&M will go, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I'm going to laugh if it's Cedar Point. :D

[QUOTE=Sarmad]The flyer for SFFT (still just a rumor) is for 2007, not for 2006.[/QUOTE]

And 2003, and 2004, and 2005, and 2006, 2007, as stated, and every year from now until the park is either destroyed or SF finally decides to build one there.

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.. and I'm going to laugh if its yet another reporting error. Stupid media ;)

The Ohio facility covers the Americas and the Far East, correct? I mean, the Beijing one was supposed to go in this year according to the rcdb so that leaves the 4 B&Ms we know about that are being build in their "jurisdiction" so to say. I wouldn't read too far into this, if there [i]was[/i] a new B&M coming for 06 I'm sure we would have at least gotten a hint of it by now ;)

[quote=sfft_2108]Its going to SFFT....[/quote]

1 we already have a B&M.
2 I heard that we are getting Serrial thriller from astroworld R.I.P.


[URL="http://database.thrillnetwork.com/ride_view.php/4562/unknown.html"]http://database.thrillnetwork.com/ride_view.php/4562/unknown.html[/URL]

Is a B&M really that smooth? I've never riden a B&M,Woodie,Intamin, Arrow etc. All i've ridden is a Giovonala(closest i'll ever get to B&M), Vekoma, and the rest i'm not sure?

anywho! I hope Cedar Point gets the coaster becuase they are going to lose their record for most coasters by SFMM with Tatsu

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Yes, they are that smooth. I would say probably the smoothest.

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Very Very smooth!

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Some don't age very well I have found, I know Air is starting to get a bit rough, and Dragon Khan was very rough towards the end of the ride when I went to Port Aventura.
But Nemesis is still as smooth as the day it was built, just very forceful.

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Kumba hasn't lost its touch either. It has aged so well and yet still as forceful as the first day it opened. And it isn't over-braked either!

Katie, who loves non-braked coasters!

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Guess what: They easily *could* refer to La Ronde's 'nother Goliath as the fourth [I]"US-B&M"[/I], since Six Flags is an US company anyway.

It's a [I]news article[/I] at last, so why take it all too serious?

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