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Dave Halbrook is no
pro at running a dozer. He prefers to handle his company’s
underground work, running his firm’s excavators to install
sewer mains, water mains, and storm sewers.
Today, though, Halbrook
can jump on his company’s dozers if needed and do a more than
serviceable job moving earth around the construction site. The reason?
Last spring, Halbrook Excavating, a family-owned construction company
based in Ankeny, IA, purchased and installed the Dozer System Five
blade control system from Topcon. System Five, like all blade control
systems, automatically sets the position of a machine’s blade
or bucket to the right grade, allowing workers to dig precise cuts
into the earth and to arrive at the proper level quickly and easily.
The emergence of blade
control systems has provided big boosts in productivity for construction
firms both large and small. Halbrook Excavating is no exception.
“The system makes
me look good running a dozer,” Halbrook says. “I didn’t
need a guy in front of me with a ruler and level. It took me half
the time, with what little experience I have on a dozer, to finish
the job. You can imagine what impact it would have with an experienced
dozer operator.”
Halbrook Excavating—one
of the first companies in central Iowa to turn to blade control
technology—is now using blade control systems on its dozers
as it performs contract work on housing subdivisions. As the company’s
dozer drivers get more familiar with the technology, Halbrook says
he is seeing grading work take up less of his crew’s time.
“We’re always
trying to stay ahead of the market,” Halbrook says. “To
do that, we wanted to increase our productivity. With the blade
control system I’d say we’ve increased our productivity
by a minimum of 25%. Our downtime is less. Everything is so busy
here that engineers can’t always get to you right away with
their stakes. Now we can jump right out there without waiting for
them.”
Halbrook is far from
the only construction pro who’s turned to blade or grade control
systems. Other operators also find that such systems—and there
are plenty to choose from—increase productivity and reduce
downtime on jobs.
This doesn’t mean
that blade control systems are perfect. The industry is still in
its infancy. But manufacturers around the country are constantly
introducing new products and refinements, advancements designed
to make blade control systems easier and more efficient to use.
Contractors, then, who
ignore these systems may find themselves losing business to their
more efficient competitors.
A Long History
Robert Studebaker could be called one of the founding fathers
of modern blade control systems. In 1965 he invented Laserplane,
a system that combined early lasers with spinning prisms. This device
gave engineers an electronically produced reference point to be
used in optical transits. Four years later, the company Laserplane
created the first laser-controlled guidance system for construction
and drainage machinery.
Laserplane today is part
of Trimble, a manufacturer of global positioning system (GPS) technology,
and one of the largest manufacturers of blade control systems. Pat
Bohle, division vice president of marketing for Trimble’s construction
division, says that today’s grade control systems are a far
cry from their predecessors.
“Initially very
high-cost investments, they were typically used only on larger projects,”
Bohle wrote in an e-mail interview. “Big changes in cheaper
battery power and servo control came later, but it still took another
20 years for price breaks to fall roughly 50 percent of the 1960s
numbers, and yet 10 more years for another 50 percent drop.”
These more affordable
prices have meant good news to construction companies. Contractors,
recognizing the increase in productivity they bring, now use laser-guided
systems on a wide range of both large and small commercial and residential
foundation-grading projects.
Blade control received
another big boost with the introduction in the late 1990s of 3D
grade control systems. Such systems use GPS technology to provide
even more precise control of a blade’s positioning. Trimble,
for instance, released its total station–based 3D grade control
systems in 1998, though back then the company manufacturing the
product was Spectra Precision, which is now part of Trimble. The
company released its GPS-based 3D grade control systems in 1999.
Blade control systems
are now more inexpensive, easier to use, and filled with more features.
This combination has led a growing number of contractors, both large
and small, to turn to the products.
“The price points
are getting lower on all of these products,” says Mike Bank,
sales and marketing manager with Apache Technologies, another manufacturer
of blade control systems. “They are becoming very affordable
for the smaller owner/operator contractor, the guy who has a dozer
and an excavator and has his wife answering the phone. That is a
huge market. There are lots of those guys in every city. With lower
pricing, these systems are the way for these guys to go.”
Making Life Easier
No contractor would invest in a blade control system, no matter
how inexpensive, if the product didn’t make construction projects
a bit less of a chore. Fortunately, that’s what blade control
systems do.
“The single main
benefit is that [blade control systems] offer productivity improvements,”
Bohle wrote. “They allow contractors to put more on their bottom
line. Operators have complete control in the field. They can finish
jobs faster, reduce earthwork and machine operation costs and reduce
material overages, all significantly reducing the cost of getting
the job done, allowing them to be more competitive and profitable.”
Here are some examples
of this from Bohle:
Blade control systems provide in-cab control, meaning that
operators can see site plans while working inside their cabs. This
reduces surveying and grade-checking costs. At the same time, operators
don’t have to wait for surveyors to stake or re-stake the job.
Operators instead can spend more time doing their jobs: moving dirt.
Blade control systems
allow operators to make fast decisions with little supervision,
Bohle says. Operators already know where the grade is and are then
able to move more dirt each day. They can work even in windy conditions,
at dusk, or in darkness. With less downtime, crews can complete
their jobs at a faster pace.
Bohle also credits blade
control systems with eliminating much of the correction work contractors
often have to do on projects. Because they don’t receive incorrect
information in the field, crews move dirt right the first time.
There is no need, then, for workers to jump back into their dozers
and graders to correct mistakes.
Operators, Bohle says,
also enjoy lower operating costs thanks to blade control.
“Accurately controlling
grade from within the cab means grade is achieved in fewer passes,”
Bohle wrote. “The result is better machine utilization and
fewer hours per volume of dirt moved, leading to lower fuel and
maintenance costs. And because you are not using stakes, hubs or
string lines, you are able to significantly reduce surveying and
engineering costs.”
Construction is by necessity
a labor-intensive business. Blade control systems, though, can even
help alleviate some of the struggles smaller to medium-size construction
firms have in retaining top crew members.
How does this work? Blade
control systems allow less experienced operators to run a dozer
or grader with great skill.
“People with less
experience can produce more accurate results with these systems,”
says Randy Noland, 3D machine control product sales manager for
the United States and Canada with Topcon. “This way a company
is not down when a good blade handler leaves.”
Because of these benefits,
proponents of blade control systems consider them a product that
is revolutionizing the construction industry. The products make
the process of moving dirt more efficient, which can only benefit
contractors and owner/operators, these proponents say.
“The construction
industry is the largest employer in the world and the least automated,”
Noland says. “That is now changing. Once owners and contractors
believe in a system, they are ordering 10 to 15 of them at a time.
I’m seeing even the smaller guys buying it. They need to be
more competitive, too. You will have a problem competing if you
are not as productive as a blade control system helps you to be.”
The key, though, is to
make sure that owner/operators and contractors know how to use their
blade control systems properly. Otherwise, the technology will be
wasted.
“These systems are
changing the entire construction process,” says Tom Bucklar,
regional manager for North America at Caterpillar Inc., which manufacturers
the AccuGrade blade control system. “It changes how crews move
dirt, how contractors interact with their survey crews and engineering
companies. It affects everyone, all the way up to the operator in
the cab. How is he going to manage his job and move the dirt?”
Caterpillar officials
are now creating their own training programs to help their dealers
understand exactly how AccuGrade works, Bucklar says. This is key:
Without proper training, operators will most likely become frustrated
with any blade control system. They may even be intimidated by the
high tech behind the products.
This will only slow the
industry’s growth, Bucklar says.
“In the past, the
training customers have had has been more on how to use GPS,”
Bucklar says. “Operators want to make sure they get a full
blade as fast as possible. That machine shouldn’t move 1 foot
without pushing the maximum amount of dirt. Otherwise you are wasting
fuel and impacting your undercarriage unnecessarily. How do you
doze with a dozer equipped with a blade control system? That’s
a totally different training that operators need. They don’t
want to know how to use a GPS; they want to know how you doze with
an automatic blade control system.”
The Future
When Bucklar looks to the future of blade control, he sees
this great need for training. But if manufacturers provide it to
dealers and end users, there’s no telling just how popular
blade control systems will become, he says.
“I would be surprised
if in two years everyone with a medium to large job is not using
some blade control system,” Bucklar says. “This year,
the medium to small guys are starting to do it. In the past you
had guys with 30, 40, 50 machines using it, a lot of big fleets.
They were putting in two, three, four, or five systems out there
and trying them all out. Now the manufacturers offer 40, 50 different
blade control systems. Now anyone who wants to get to the next level
and wants to get medium to big jobs can go with these. It is going
mainstream fast. This year has been better than last year. It’s
going to the medium and small guys now.”
The one potential roadblock?
A lack of education. Manufacturers and dealers still need to do
a better job of teaching contractors and operators how best to use
blade control systems.
Bank, from Apache, points
to dealers as the folks who will end up being the key providers
of information.
“We sell mainly
through dealer networks,” Bank says. “Our key is training
the dealers so they are fully aware of the product and its capabilities.”
Manufacturers can also
spread the word about their products, and how they work, through
the media, specifically through trade publications that serve construction
personnel.
Then there’s word-of-mouth
advertising. This form of advertising is more powerful than are
full-color glossy ads in a magazine. The reason? People trust their
friends and family members. When they hear from a friend that a
certain blade control system has boosted their efficiency, they’re
more likely to believe the statement.
“We are a relatively
small company,” Bank says. “One of our keys to success
is having our customers tell other customers when they’re happy
with our products. The term is ‘buzz marketing.’ One guy
buys a product, he’s happy with it, and he tells his buddy.
Nothing sells a piece of equipment faster.”
If Bank truly wants an
example of positive word-of-mouth advertising, he could always look
to Franklin, OH. This is where Scott DeHart, general manager of
AAA Wastewater Services, plies his trade, installing septic systems,
water lines, and gas lines. For the last nine months, DeHart has
used Apache’s BULLSEYE 6 Machine Mounted Laser Receiver to
give his crew members the ability to automatically move the blades
or buckets on his company’s dozers and excavators to reach
proper grade.
So far, DeHart has been
pleased by the efficiency boost.
“I can cut down
one day off the job by using the laser,” DeHart says. “I
cut off a whole day of labor. I can have my hoe operator running
while the other guy is putting in a ditch.”
DeHart’s crew recently
installed a 900-foot septic system, complete with tank and curtain
drain. That project would normally take three days. The crew was
able to finish it in just two days, though, thanks to the BULLSEYE
system.
This equals big savings.
DeHart estimates that he saved about $1,400 in labor costs by cutting
out that day.
Savings like that might
prove to be the best advertisement possible for blade control systems.
“Certainly productivity
is the biggie driving the growth of these products,” says Noland
from Topcon. “If crews are more efficient, that saves company
owners more dollars. Never have contractors had control over every
millimeter of their jobs like they do now. That’s what these
systems give them. They are laying down less material. That is costing
them fewer dollars.”
New Advancements
Technology changes rapidly in the blade control business. This
means that manufacturers are constantly offering new products. It
can be hard for contractors and owner/operators to keep pace with
the innovations. But it’s important to try.
Apache Technologies,
for instance, in October of last year introduced its new BULLSEYE
5+ Machine Mounted Laser Receiver. The receiver detects laser light
generated by rotating lasers and then sends a visual indication
to the machine’s operator. This indication tells operators
in which direction to move their blades or buckets to reach an “on
grade” position.
The product includes
several new features. It is the first laser receiver, for example,
to incorporate a blade tilt indicator in its display. Company officials
say this increases accuracy and productivity by showing operators
of grading machinery whether their machines’ blades are level
or tilted.
Trimble in the first
quarter of this year introduced a new family of grade control systems
designed for operators of varying sizes. The GCS300, which uses
Trimble’s LR410 Laser Receiver to control the lift of machine
blades, is designed primarily for use on dozer blades and was developed
for use in smaller construction projects, such as housing pads,
small building sites, tennis courts, sports fields, and finish grading.
Trimble markets the system as a low-cost way for contractors to
access grade control systems.
The other products recently
unveiled by Trimble—the GCS400, GCS500, GCS600, and GCS900—are
designed for more advanced work. Using different Trimble lasers,
the systems can guide machines in cutting road slopes, ditches,
and embankments.
Novariant, another manufacturer
of blade control systems, in March announced its new Logic7D Excavate
system to help operators better position excavators’ bucket
teeth. The system uses Novariant’s Logic 7DDuo GPS Receiver,
a dual antenna system that determines the machine’s position
and orientation and a touchscreen display. The system also links
a series of sensors through a controller area network-bus to compute
the position of the bucket teeth.
The engineers at Leica
Geosystems in May announced their company’s new MC1200 universal
machine control system for earthmoving machines. The system features
its own controller area network-bus and a range of machine slope
and grade sensors, features that Leica engineers say adapt the MC1200
to all types of equipment and applications. The goal here is to
allow operators to approach all projects in the same way, regardless
of machine type or brand. Operators can switch between sensors with
the touch of a button.
Not All Rosy
With the constant innovations, it’s clear that blade control
systems are making a big impact on the construction industry. That
doesn’t mean, though, that there isn’t room for improvement.
For one thing, the blade
control industry is still relatively young. End users, people like
Halbrook from Halbrook Excavating, would like to see systems become
easier to install.
“There are still
quite a few components involved,” Halbrook says. “You
have the control box, the night box, all the antennas. I’d
like to see the systems come in a more compact form, with fewer
individual parts and pieces.”
Bucklar, from Caterpillar,
has spent long hours analyzing the blade control market, looking
both at what end users like about the systems and what quirks give
them headaches.
The main cause of migraines?
The fact that the installation process of the systems is so inconsistent.
This isn’t surprising.
End users who have purchased blade control systems usually go to
their local dealers to have them installed. Users, then, may have
a fleet full of blade control systems with no two machines having
them installed in exactly the same way.
“The dealers plumb
the systems in,” Bucklar says. “They splice into the electronics,
cut into the hydraulics. They do what they have to do to get it
up and running. They’ve actually done a pretty tremendous job
of answering the needs of early adopters. They’ve done a good
job of getting progressive contractors up and going.”
One way to solve this
inconsistency problem, Bucklar says, is for the blade control business
to go the OEM, or original equipment manufacturer, route. Under
an OEM system, the manufacturers of the dozers and excavators themselves
will manufacture the blade control systems that boost the efficiency
of these machines.
Caterpillar, of course,
already does this with its AccuGrade product.
“The customers are
demanding that this industry go OEM,” Bucklar says. “Look
at the pressure the equipment manufacturers are having with emissions
rules and other updates. We are constantly updating our machines.
The aftermarket doesn’t find out about these changes as quickly
as they need to. The key to contractors is uptime. These contractors
that are using the blade control systems need to have uptime. This
is the main reason why blade control systems will be driven to an
OEM business.”
Still, even with the
inevitable hiccups, manufacturers are betting that blade control
systems will only increase in popularity in the coming years.
Bohle, from Trimble,
believes this can be proven simply by looking at how quickly both
users and manufacturers have already accepted blade control technology.
“Probably the most
significant and meaningful development is the fast acceptance of
this technology,” Bohle wrote. “This is demonstrated both
by customers purchasing systems and by the manufacturers. Today
it is possible for a contractor to buy the system as an aftermarket
installation or as a factory-fit installation.”
Dan Rafter is a technical
writer based in Chesterton, IN.
GEC
- September/October 2005
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