KOMATSU’S VISION FOR
SMART CONSTRUCTION ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE CATCHES UP WITH KOMATSU AUSTRALIA’S NATIONAL PRODUCT AND SOLUTION MANAGER AARON MARSH TO DISCUSS HOW KOMATSU’S SMART CONSTRUCTION SOLUTIONS ARE ADDRESSING THE CIVIL CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY’S PAIN POINTS.
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hen Komatsu launched its new Wacol Distribution Centre in Queensland in March 2022, there was more to the project than being the largest building ever constructed by Komatsu in Australia. While the 17,500 square metre site is impressive in scale and what it signifies for Komatsu’s customers in aftermarket support, helping the construction process run smoothly were a suite of Komatsu Smart Construction tools giving insight to project managers, engineers, surveyor teams and operators. Smart Construction encompasses a range of smart solutions developed by Komatsu to help contractors and machine operators analyse data throughout each phase of a project, from tracking production and material movement to billing and payload reporting. The tools in Komatsu’s Smart Construction suite are designed to connect humans, machines and materials on site with hardware and software. They cover everything from intelligent machines and semi-autonomous excavators and dozers to drone data, fleet management solutions and a range of aftermarket solutions. While the complete package of intelligent tools is not yet available in Australia, according to Komatsu National Product and Solution Manager Aaron Marsh, the civil construction and quarry industries have already embraced the ones that are. “The current Smart Construction portfolio includes around 15 solutions, some of which are specifically targeted at the civil construction industry,” Marsh tells Roads & Infrastructure. “Our customers are each using elements of our Smart Construction suite on their various projects, from mass earthmoving to tailing dams and other civil construction projects. 44
ROADS MAY 2022
The Smart Construction automating tools are available on Komatsu’s intelligent dozers, including the newly released D61EXi/PXi-24.
The tools adopted on each project depend on the pain points for each customer.” ABOUT SMART CONSTRUCTION One of Komatsu’s first Smart Construction solutions launched in Australia was an intelligent machine control system known as iMC. The automating tools are available on Komatsu’s latest model “intelligent” dozers and excavators, including the newly released D61EXi/PXi-24, D65EXi/PXi-18, D71EXi/PXi-24, D85EXi/PXi-18 and D155AXi-8 dozers and the PC210LCi-11, PC290LCi-11 and PC360LCi-11 excavators. The iMC 2.0-enabled intelligent excavators help operators automate a range of functions, from auto stop control to grading, tilting and bucket movements. The intelligent dozers feature proactive dozing control, lift layer control, tilt steering control and quick surface creation – all facilitated by intelligent data for added efficiency. Komatsu’s Smart Construction Drone and Edge solutions were also launched in Australia in 2022. Together, the tools help conduct drone surveys up to 50 per cent faster than ground walking surveys, where Drone mapping helps with planning and Edge processing provides faster data availability. The Smart Construction Retrofit Kit (RFK)
provides information and communication capabilities to existing hydraulic excavators. It’s a Three-Dimensional Machine Guidance (3DMG) and Payload solution for excavators ranging from 13 tonnes through to 36 tonnes. Data from iMC, RFK, Drone and Edge directly connect to the Smart Construction ECO System and are visualised through the Smart Construction Dashboard. The Smart Construction Dashboard is where all construction information from the jobsite is integrated and can be visualised by either surveyors, engineers, supervisors or executives on or off site. The Dashboard also combines 3D design data with aerial mapping and intelligent machine data to confirm quantities and material moved on site. Currently, some of the functionalities within the Smart Construction suite are ‘agnostic’, meaning they are not limited to Komatsu machinery. The philosophy behind this, Marsh says, is to allow everyone to benefit from the tools, without having to invest heavily on modernising their fleet. “The idea is to make more and more of the Komatsu aftermarket machine tools agnostic so they can be retrofitted to existing machinery and supported through Komatsu’s experts,” he explains. “The Smart Construction Drone and Edge
