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Contractors are often
looking for that one super-specialized attachment that will unleash
new market potential or significantly streamline current operations.
So it's no surprise that the specialized-attachment market is booming
with units touted as the latest, greatest, biggest, and best. Many
attachments are positioned as multi-purpose machines that "slice,
dice, screen, and clean," while delivering flexibility and versatility
to service offerings. Excavators, loaders, and backhoes have become
tool carriers, providing an attachment arsenal that can quickly
adapt machines for land clearance and forestry work, demolition,
scrap- and waste-materials processing, soil remediation, utility
work, concrete pulverizing, asphalt milling, and more—propelling
contractors into market areas far beyond that of basic earthmoving.
Attachment Inventions
Driven by End-User Need
The specialized-attachment
manufacturing landscape includes a variety of players—the small,
independent manufacturer who has patented one to several models;
the midsize to large manufacturer who focuses on attachments as
a core business; and the excavator and/or loader manufacturer with
an ever-expanding attachment division.
Importantly, specialized
attachments are driven by end-user need. Most manufacturers will
agree that their new product ideas are inspired by a contractor's
challenge for which no attachment solution exists. For example,
Bobcat cites that its cold planer attachment, which removes thin
surface features from asphalt pavement, was designed when a customer's
job required just the removal of painted road stripes. Another example
is the LTC Rock Saw attachment from Lang Tool Company. Approached
by a Florida contractor who needed to deepen a canal that had a
limestone bottom—blasting was not allowed on the project—Lang
Tool Company designed the rock saw to cut 4 inches wide and a little
over 2 feet deep. The contractor made cuts in the stone about 2
feet apart. A 450 excavator was used to pull out the sections between
the cuts. The LTC Rock Saw has since been used to cut reinforced
concrete. Its saw drive assembly is designed so that varying blades
can be installed.
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But aside from specific
applications, there are a number of additional issues that drive
the customer's demand for more and more specialty-attachment options,
each of which allows the contractor to strengthen his competitive
edge. They include:
- Cutting capital equipment
outlays by using one excavator/loader for a number of jobs
- Minimizing labor costs
by decreasing the number of tasks completed by hand
- Having the right tool
immediately on hand if needed, thereby minimizing downtime
- Decreasing the use
of sub-contracted labor
- Developing the capability
to diversify
Diversification is an
imperative for many of today's contractors. The 2004 Construction
Industry Forecast (sponsored by CIT Equipment Finance) reports that
16% of non-building contractors say that excavation and clearing
is their top business area, but that their other primary business
areas include reclamation, water and sewer projects, and logging.
Likewise, 32% of distributors and rental outlets cite diversification
as their top marketing strategy. Everyone—from the manufacturer
to the end user—wants to address new markets. And, increasing
the usage of specialized attachments is a cost-efficient and profitable
plan of attack. With that said, let's examine a number of highly
specialized attachments along with the markets and applications
they serve.
New Land-Clearing
Applications
One of the newest additions
to Bobcat Company's attachment line is the Bobcat Brush Saw, for
use on midsize and larger skid-steer loaders, compact track loaders,
and all-wheel loaders. Engineered to clear pastures, grasslands,
firebreaks, and road and utility rights of way, the attachment is
designed to remove brush and small trees (up to 15 feet tall), while
cutting below the ground surface to minimize stumps. "It's capable
of cutting smaller trees and brush that had typically required the
use of tree shears," says Gloria Palm, Bobcat attachment marketing
manager. "It also efficiently discharges clippings to the left,
away from the loader."
Next, the new Rockland
XL25 Tree Saw from Rockland Manufacturing is the first felling head
designed for a dozer, says the company. It's designed to easily
handle steep, rough terrain and can get into tight places where
larger, more expensive machines just can't go. The XL25 can cut
trees up to 25 inches in diameter and features a patented tower
that can be tilted independently of the base. This feature eliminates
bar pinch and, if desired, allows the operator to cut stumps parallel
to the hillside—producing a safer working environment and generating
more wood per acre. When used with Rockland's DZ Dozer Coupler,
the XL25 gives dozer operators the ability to cut and bunch trees,
then quickly change attachments to make roads, grade, skid, or clear
land. Rockland also offers stump splitters and beach-cleaning attachments.
Lastly, the All-Pro Clearing
Grapple from Bodine Manufacturing is a half-rake and half-stiff-leg
thumb that is said to be ideal for land-clearing operations, raking,
and gathering of everything from brush to large trees and stumps.
By shaking out and separating soil and rock from woodwaste, this
grapple and thumb attachment is marketed as a way to reduce trucking
and disposal costs by lowering waste volume and tonnage. After excavator
shears and pulverizers have processed sorted wood, the clearing
grapple can be used to feed material into tub grinders, or to load
into trucks or trailers. Termed by its engineers as a "three-in-one,"
each side can be utilized separately—the thumb with a bucket,
the rake alone, or both combined as a clearing or light-demolition
grapple.
Total Road Solutions
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Field-tested by the US
Forest Service, the new Fahr Roadcrusher (model Forester C-2000)
is targeted toward cost-effective road development, construction,
maintenance, and repairs. A specialized loader attachment that can
be quickly mounted on most front-end wheeled loaders, the crusher's
unique ability is continuously processing rocks, concrete, and asphalt—on
the road surface—without having to remove the material from
the roadbed. The Forester C-2000 is manufactured by New Brunswick,
Canada–based Fahr Industries who brought the design from Europe.
The US Forest Service contracted the unit to crush a section of
road in central Arizona as a test program. When the project came
in at $2.7 million under budget, the Forest Service purchased the
first crusher from Fahr and has since purchased additional units.
Presently, Fahr Industries is marketing the unit for use on forest
roads or low-volume roads, or for converting railroad beds into
walking paths, and in smaller asphalt and concrete crushing applications.
An All-in-One Attachment
for Solid-Waste and Material Processing
The Allu SM screener/crusher
is an attachment that scoops, screens, blends, mixes, pulverizes
and loads a wide range of materials from waste soil to peat, coal,
glass, clay, and bark. Manufactured by New Jersey–based Allu
Group, the Allu SM is said to save time and increase productivity
by crushing, mixing, and loading in one step. The unit not only
screens soil, it also pulverizes lumps of hardened soil and clay
in the material as it acts as a screen as well as a crusher. With
traditional machinery, these lumps would only be screened out and
the amount of waste material would be greater. Additionally, the
Allu SM handles wet, tough materials such as sludge and clay without
difficulty, eliminating the blinding and plugging seen in typical
trommel and vibrating screens, says the company.
A Remediation Blender
Attachment for Contaminated Slurry or Soil
D&M Machine Division
was asked to design, develop, and manufacture the Slashbuster LW
362 insitu remediation blender in response to waste-cell management
issues. These cells may hold a variety of contaminants, from petroleum
to hazardous man-made chemicals. The LW 362M effectively stirs the
slurry, causing oils to rise to the surface where they are skimmed
and recycled. Also, waste-liquid solidification is as simple as
injecting powdered cement near the LW 362M's rotating blade. As
the cement cures, it solidifies the slurry and prevents the contaminants
from polluting groundwater and air. The unit's design can be custom
modified for soil bioremediation. It's adaptable from 25,000- to
100,000-pound excavators. D&M Machine Division also manufactures
mulching disk attachments for right-of-way vegetation management,
flood control attachments that dredge debris from channels and waterways,
and extreme-service brush cutters for tough land-clearing applications.
Getting Hitched, the
Easy Way
Most attachment manufacturers
offer some form of quick hitch or coupling device for the easy,
fast mounting of specialty attachments to the machine. In fact,
attachment manufacturer Kenco Corporation recently introduced its
new Kenco Universal Connector, which is attached to the excavator
stick and allows for a quick change between any and all attachments.
Existing attachments can be adapted to work with the system. Unlike
pin-grabbing couplers, says Kenco, the universal attachment system
maintains excavator breakout force and bucket tip radius. The Kenco
Universal Connector is said to work with all buckets, rippers, thumbs,
rakes, hammers, grapples, and crushers.
But even with the variety
of coupling systems available, attachment engineers stress that
contractors should always verify that any specialized attachment
will operate safely and efficiently when mounted. Check the lift
capacity and hydraulic capabilities of the host machine. And, with
all the different options available on today's market, make sure
that parts and service support for a given attachment is readily
available from the factory or from a local, authorized dealer.
Renting Versus Purching
In the specialty-attachment
market, renting is big business. A recent survey conducted by Merrill
Lynch addressed the most popular reasons that contractors rent any
piece of equipment:
- To provide supplemental
capacity during peak activity;
- To provide additional
capacity for a specific job;
- To avoid capital outlays
for equipment.
Renting also allows
contractors to access newer equipment items, minimizing the hassles
from downtime and scheduled maintenance. And certainly, rental can
be accomplished for a fraction of the purchase price.
Obviously utilization
must be considered, as well as the cost of ownership, which includes
financing, maintenance, operators, training, breakdowns and service,
and the cost of transporting the unit to a job site. Bottom line,
equipment that you use less often—particularly that which is
more expensive or more specialized—may be more cost-effective
to rent.
Construction-industry
writer Carol Wasson owns JCL Marketing & Communications Inc.
GEC
- November/December 2004
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