Earth Movers - Some Challenges Ahead

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Plant hire

SOME OF THE CHALLENGES AHEAD Graham Black provides his observations on the current trends in the UK plant hire market. am getting very few positive vibes from UK manufacturers and distributors of construction equipment at the moment. Yes, they are selling machines, but not in the numbers that they had budgeted for. This is a little surprising, given the generous tax treatment of capital allowances, which is particularly attractive for smaller contractors running their own fleet of machinery.

However, the industry has not yet seen significant amounts of Government cash injected into construction that will really get the UK economy moving in the right direction. Coupled with the introduction of more complex and expensive emissions-compliant Stage 3B machinery, private buyers are tending to keep their cheque books closed until there is more light at the end of the tunnel.

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On the other hand, the plant hire sector of the market seems to be buoyant at the moment and both small and large firms report near empty yards. Such mixed messages are also reflected in the national media, which continues to report doom and gloom within the construction industry as a whole. But there is work out there and muck-shifting firms are shifting muck. The projects they are working on may not be huge and may not provide generous returns, but cash is beginning to circulate within the industry.

The UK plant hire industry has a reputation for buying low-spec machinery at low prices and then being forced by an ultra competitive marketplace to charge low hire rates. But this equation is slowly changing.

With every man and his dog willing to undercut

their rivals and put men and machinery on site for near national minimum wages and at or less than the true total cost of ownership, at the bottom end of the market there is little that can be done in the short term to raise hire rates.

The larger UK hire companies have the ability to buy machinery at the lowest cost anywhere in the world. Among global manufacturers the UK is generally regarded as a low price market. With the prospect of large multiple orders in a subdued economy, salesmen come to the negotiating table with even sharper pencils.

So with continuing low hire rates and low purchase prices, what is changing? The surprising answer is that the typical specification of machinery is getting higher. Plant hire firms are buying higher Progressive plant hire companies, such as Wembley-based Flannery, are increasingly looking at high-tech solutions to meet the more sophisticated demands of main contractors.

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In the UK the first to take up a TCC licence is WM Donald, a Scottish civil engineering and construction services company based in Aberdeen.

Although WM Donald was an early adopter of Robotic Total Station technology and a long-term user of Trimble systems, up until a year ago the company had never used machine control on any of its projects.

Keen to change this situation was Mike Meldrum, who runs the site engineering side of operations.

Although there were mixed reactions both from the company’s operators and management, some sceptical, some keen, Mike was convinced that a Trimble GCS900 3D GPS machine control system was the way forward.

Mike said, “We’ve been loyal to Trimble since our days of using Geodimeter total stations and were aware of many companies in Scotland successfully using machine control. This is current, tried and tested technology and it definitely felt like the time was right for us to investigate further.”

An initial system was purchased for muckshifting duties on house foundations and was fitted on to one of the firm’s Volvo EC240 excavators.

Mike reports that following some brief training, even the biggest sceptics among the operators were won over as the time and cost savings became apparent. spec machinery for two reasons: to differentiate their offering from their competitors and to satisfy the increasing safety, environmental and increasingly technological demands made by main contractors.

If we look at safety concerns first, a serious site accident does significant reputational damage to the main contractor, even if the man and machine involved are hired in by a sub-contractor of a subcontractor of a sub-contractor. At the very basic level, in the last 18 months we have seen the widespread adoption of guard rails around the upper-structure of construction excavators, a system pioneered by the UK mining industry.

If we look back at last year’s Construction Equipment Technology Alliance (CETA) show, the most surprising machine on display was Wembleybased Flannery’s technology demonstrator excavator. This was packed with additional safety systems, including proximity warning devices and a cable detector mounted on the bottom of the dipper.

This was no mere marketing exercise, but is in direct response to main contractors demanding improved safety on their construction sites.

Main contractors are also demanding increased environmental responsibility from their supply chain.

Being green does not matter to most in the industry from a moral perspective, but there are financial benefits to take into consideration. Those early adopters of emissions-compliant Stage 3B machinery are reporting significant fuel savings from the new engine technology, perhaps as much as two or three pounds an hour. Some are even achieving an increased hire rate for such modern machinery, as there are real cost benefits for their clients.

Taking this to the extreme, the first hybrid-drive excavators earning a living in the UK are five Komatsu machines on the Ridgway Rental fleet. These are not cheap – neither to buy nor hire – but are cutting fuel bills by at least 25% and sometimes up to 33%. At the forthcoming BAUMA exhibition, expect a wave of announcements across the industry of the imminent availability of hybrid-drive machinery.

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SMARTER WORKING Upper-structure guard rails through Stage 3B engines to hybrid-drive machinery are merely a reflection on the continued fast pace of development of machinery. In my view, what is really going to change the hire market is future public sector construction projects that are designed, built, maintained and demolished using a Building Information Modelling (BIM) system. If main contractors are forced to use such a system for public sector work it will not be long before the private sector also adopts this method of working.

BIM is a digital representation of a construction project from pre-cut and fill stage. If architects and developers design projects using digital media it is a short and natural step to do away with paper plans, wooden batters and surveyors on a construction site and move to GPS machine guidance systems.

The UK has lagged behind its near neighbours in adopting GPS machine control systems, although this situation is slowly changing. The next challenge for the plant hire industry is to match the demands of main contractors by providing far more sophisticated machinery that can work in this new digital age.

Those plant hirers that are still focused on providing low-spec machinery for low hire rates are in for a rude awakening when the UK economy really starts to get moving. As an example of what is already happening, let’s look at a contractor who is an early adopter of high-end machine control systems.

Trimble’s SNM940 Connected Site Gateway radio is the first communications system that integrates grade control with satellite navigation correction signals and an asset management system into a single device. It works by receiving correction data broadcast over the internet, with the addition of a Trimble Connected Community (TCC) licence or via a local WiFi network. It can also utilise the Trimble Virtual Reference Station (VRS) network to receive correction signals.

Above and Above Right: Ridgway Rentals is the first UK company to offer hybrid excavators in the UK, shown here on a McGovern job on the Crossrail Project and with the Minister of Environment Owen Paterson in the seat.

Main Picture: Early adopters of Stage 3B machinery are reporting significant fuel savings from the new technology, translating to improving hire rates.

He continued, “The systems are pretty intuitive to use and an additional bonus for the operators was the new CB460 control box, which is Trimble’s premium in-cab display. Once they saw that they didn’t need an engineer to reposition a knocked-out peg and that things were going in the right place at the right height, they stopped regarding the system as a gimmick to lay on them and now I don’t think they’d like it I took it off them!

“They now ask for things – new drawings, new designs – and are more involved than ever, which means there is always something for them to do whereas in the past work would have come to a halt.

“Mistakes have been learnt from and the operators have been able to see clear benefits as their proficiency increases. For example, they are no longer over-breaking rock on sewers and plot platforms or over-digging. We can now break down straight to formation on sewer tracks and by keeping tracks tighter to the line, we can also save on pipe bedding.

“On the housing foundation side we can pretty well leave an operator to dig out the whole foundation area on his own and the work will be spot on, which is a big time saving for us. This is especially so on deep excavations and on poor ground, where lines would normally have been lost and require remarking. We’re learning all the time.”

Two months later, another two systems were purchased to coincide with a fleet upgrade of their Volvo EC220 and EC240 excavators. The company also opted to use Trimble’s VRS Now Service for its real-time GPS corrections rather than a base station – a key decision in preparation for its move towards becoming the UK’s first company to take up a Trimble Connected Community Licence.

Trimble’s VRS Now Service was an obvious choice for WM Donald who tend to move their machines regularly around a number of sites within a 30-mile radius of their office in Stonehaven. Often the machines are moved in to muck-shift and do the sewers before a site’s infrastructure has been established, which means there is no site cabin and no secure area to set up a base station. With VRS Now, there is no base station hardware involved to

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lose or damage, no engineer required to set up and take down the base station and no time wasted recharging its batteries.

“If someone says right, we’re moving the machine to the next site, you’ve got an hour to get it ready, I can go to the site, do the site calibration, log into TCC, send it to the machine and when the machine arrives, it’s ready to start. That’s a fantastic way for a system to work,” explains Mike.

All Trimble GCS900 systems now come with an SNM940 Connected Site Gateway included as part of the installation process. For WM Donald having the SNM940 and having a subscription to VRS Now meant that Mike Meldrum was just one step away from achieving the two-way data sync that would

enable him to send and receive information directly to and from the machines and his site engineer’s loggers. Following a demonstration, Mike took the final step and purchased three Trimble TCC licences at £20 each per month.

“If you’re running VRS, a TCC licence is a nobrainer and for us it was always something we were going to do after we were bedded in with the three machines with the GCS900 systems,” explains Mike. “Of course I understand that VRS isn’t the perfect solution for everyone, but here in Aberdeen our mobile phone coverage is excellent, especially so now we are using the roaming T-mobile SIM cards, which cover several networks seamlessly, and although the machines have radios in their base kits in case there is no phone signal, we’ve never had to use them. If you’ve got the connection, you may as well use it!

“Our set-up is now completely fluid and using the SNM940 and TCC licences has become part of our day-to day-process. With four machines on different sites, the amount of time I save is considerable, roughly 1.5 hours for each change to the design. For example, if I receive a new sewer or levels layout, which can often change throughout This Page: The use of GPS machine guidance systems places far more responsibility on the operator and the virtual elimination on on-site surveyors during a project.

the project, then I can make the changes from wherever I am, even on holiday, as long as there is an internet connection.

“The whole process can take less than 10 minutes. I can even be on another site and use the internet sharing option on my Trimble TSC3 logger, log in, make the changes and send a new drawing without being anywhere near the office. There’s no need to get a surveyor into the office, I’m saving on fuel and am far more in contact with what’s happening with the machines.”

The system offers two-way data and Mike has also been taking data off the machine to assist with general site planning and decision-making.

Information such as gully and plot tail positions in drainage tracks, soft spots, branches and rock head levels can all be stored with exact 3D co-ordinates allowing the engineering team to pinpoint them again months down the line without the need for drawings or measuring. The data from the cabs also enables WM Donald to update as built drawings on a daily basis rather than monthly as previously.

Mike has his own theory on why the take-up of this technology is lower in the UK. In Europe, there is a prevalence for VRS, as favoured by Mike, rather than fixed bases. For him VRS was an easy decision to make. However, for many UK users, he believes that the decision to pay for VRS may not be so clear cut and contractors are wary in case the phone signal is insufficient.

“If you’re not using VRS then contractors may see the additional cost of a SIM card for cellular connection on the machine as a barrier, particularly when significant time and cost savings are already being made simply by using a system like the GCS900. However, for anyone with VRS, paying for a TCC licence really is a no-brainer – it’s an obvious next step.”

Mike concludes, “Everything with machine control is quicker because we’re never waiting for an engineer and we don’t have to stop when it gets dark, and of course the biggest benefit of all is the safety element; we don’t need someone out there boxing out muck-shifts or doing profiles. Ultimately I see WM Donald investing in more machines and more TCC licences. I’ve been very impressed with the whole set-up and it’s been money well spent.”

If small regional contractors are seeing the time and cost benefits of using such high-end systems – even before BIM is introduced – this provides a good indication of the widening gap between plant hire companies offering cheap men and machines to what is undoubtedly the future of muck-shifting.