AGGREGATES & QUARRIES
UPDATED WHEEL LOADERS COMBINE WITH TECHNOLOGY FOR GREATER EFFICIENCY SOFTWARE AND STANDARD TOOLS ALLOW FOR FINE-TUNING OF TRUCK LOADS, EQUIPMENT AND PROCESSES BY LEE TOOP, EDITOR
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uarry operations have often faced challenges when it comes to managing material moving around and out of the pit. Tracking equipment at work, monitoring trucks being loaded, and keeping a tally of product sold has often been done by eyeball, leading to a variety of potential challenges. As technology continues to make inroads into the aggregates industry, skilled managers are finding out how much of a benefit precision can bring to the bottom line. Better tracking of truck loads, equipment management and other factors means better data – and that means greater efficiency improvements. A focus on integrating technology has been put into Caterpillar’s new wheel loaders, the 980 and 982. Both are also available in XE models that feature a parallel path continuous variable transmission (CVT) that helps reduce fuel use and operating costs, and the new machines come with a variety of tools to improve overall site efficiency. All 980 and 982 loaders come with Cat Payload with Assist standard. This tool offers accurate weighing of bucket payloads that help operators load to target the first time; it includes low-liftweigh and manual tip-off functions. Advanced Payload, available as an option, adds to that functionality, and it can be combined with other software to increase efficiency even further. That added efficiency is where Cat Productivity comes in. As an umbrella that encompasses a variety of measurement and efficiency tools, the software collects data to help managers and operators improve the flow of work and reduce inefficiency in their quarries as a whole. The company’s Advanced Productivity offering was a step forward on that when it was released several years ago, according to Global Marketing Consultant Kit Kyarsgaard, but today’s tools are designed to manage much more.
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heavyequipmentguide.ca | JUNE 2021
Customers want to know how much rock they produced across all their machines – they want to take a step back and look at this site holistically, how they can make the whole site more efficient. Kit Kyarsgaard
“That was really focused on individual machine data, where with Cat Productivity we’re pulling in the whole site,” Kyarsgaard said. “Customers want to know how much rock they produced across all their machines – they want to take a step back and look at this site holistically, how they can make the whole site more efficient, compared to just ‘I have to make my wheel loader or truck better.’”
DATA-RICH ENVIRONMENT
Quarries are a data-rich environment: every piece of equipment moving on the site can generate data about productivity, volume, efficiency and more. The trick is figuring out how to gather that data so it can be analyzed and put to work. “What we find is most operators today still do a manual checklist of how many trucks they loaded. . . you have to add all those up and put them all together, and you don’t get that report until two or three days later,” Kyarsgaard said. “Now you don’t know if you need to work on Saturday or not, or if you just need to work a few extra hours Friday. It’s much better for planning and efficiency; it really helps meet your demands as well as adds understanding of what’s going on, not two or three days of guesswork.” Cat Productivity provides an easier approach to data collection for quarry operators. A cloud-based system, it offers a
