Ew0118 combined

2017 YEAR IN REVIEW: TOP NEWS AND NEWSMAKERS P.17

equipmentworld.com | January 2018

®

P.

26

SKID STEERS:

For speed, spin and snow removal, these machines are hard to beat

37

P. THE FUTURE OF CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY EW0118_Cover.indd 1

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Fuel efficiency is the number one thing I look for during a demo.

Burning one-third less fuel than the competition —

That’s our Ex Factor.

– Stoney Welch, director of HSE, Triple B Services

Becoming one of the most successful site prep, excavation, and paving contractors in the state of Texas requires a keen eye on the financials. There’s a reason Stoney has decided to cycle 11 new Volvo excavators into his fleet over the last two years — they burn a lot less fuel, the financing is predictable and flexible, and they hold their value incredibly well.

Find tips to get the most from your excavator at volvoce.com/ExFactor.

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.

Push Boundaries.

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Cover Story

Vol. 30 Number 1 |

table of contents | January 2018

Machine Matters: STILL ALIVE AND KICKING Skid steers prove their resilience even when compared to CTLs

P.

Equipment 13

Marketplace

From excavators to trailers, new products unveiled by Volvo, Gradall, Felling, McLaughlin, Pengo and Talbert.

26

37 Maintenance/Management

59 Landscaping Attachments

Telematics will spur the biggest changes construction has seen in decades.

Grind stumps, drive posts, clear brush and trees, and perform other jobs with these attachments.

EquipmentWorld.com | January 2018

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table of contents | continued

Features 17 Year in Review

2017 turned out to be an exceptional year for equipment buyers and makers. Check out our quick overview and timeline of what happened in the construction industry, and our predictions for 2018.

42 Highway Contractor

Curb-and-gutter manufacturers focus on keeping it simple.

of the Year Finalist 49 Contractor Kerry and Belinda Trest, KAT Excavation and Construction, Sour Lake Texas

®

equipmentworld.com facebook.com/EquipmentWorld twitter.com/Equipment_World Editorial Director: Marcia Gruver Doyle Executive Editor: Tom Jackson Online Editor: Wayne Grayson Senior Editor: Joy Powell Managing Editor: Don McLoud Contributing Writer: Richard Ries editorial@equipmentworld.com Media Sales Geoffrey Love: gdlove@randallreilly.com Pete Austin: paustin@randallreilly.com Drew Ingram: drewingram@randallreilly.com Patsy Adams: padams@randallreilly.com Jordan Arsenault: jordanarsenault@randallreilly.com Art Director: Tony Brock Advertising Production Manager: Leah Boyd production@equipmentworld.com

3200 Rice Mine Rd NE Tuscaloosa, AL 35406 800-633-5953 randallreilly.com Chairman: Mike Reilly President and CEO: Brent Reilly Chief Operations Officer: Shane Elmore Chief Financial Officer: Kim Fieldbinder Senior Vice President, Sales: Scott Miller Senior Vice President, Editorial and Research: Linda Longton Senior Vice President, Audience Data: Prescott Shibles Vice President, Events: Stacy McCants Vice President, Digital Services: Nick Reid Vice President, Marketing: Julie Arsenault Vice President, Business Analyst: Joe Donald Director of Media Sales: Scott Maldonado Vice President, Strategic Accounts: Michael Newman

Departments 9 On Record

Construction’s hidden ambassadors

11 Reporter

Cat unveils its first UTVs in gas and diesel models.

41 Quick Data Dozers

Watch 57 Safety Winter’s hidden hazards: snow covers deadly obstacle

66 Final Word A new resolution

For subscription information/inquiries, please email equipmentworld@halldata.com. Equipment World (ISSN 1057-7262) is published monthly by Randall-Reilly Publishing Company, LLC, 3200 Rice Mine Road N.E., Tuscaloosa, AL 35406. Periodicals Postage-Paid at Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and at additional mailing offices.

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For change of address and other subscription inquiries, please contact: equipmentworld@halldata.com Editorial Awards: Eddie award for B-to-B Series of Articles, 2016 Highways 2.0, Folio: magazine Editorial Excellence, Original Research, Silver Award, 2016 American Society of Business Publication Editors Jesse H. Neal Award, Better Roads, 2011 American Business Media Robert F. Boger Award for Special Reports, 2006, 2007, 2008 Construction Writers Association Jesse H. Neal Award, Best Subject-Related Series of Articles, 2006 American Business Media Editorial Excellence Special Section Gold Award, 2006 Midwest-South Region, American Society of Business Publication Editors Editorial Excellence News Analysis Gold Award, 2006 Midwest-South Region, American Society of Business Publication Editors Editorial Excellence News Section Silver Award, 2005 Midwest-South Region, American Society of Business Publication Editors

January 2018 | EquipmentWorld.com

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TRIPLE THREAT

Visit JLG in booth C7264 at World of Concrete 2018.

INTELLIGENT, ADAPTABLE, TOUGH INTRODUCING JLG® HIGH CAPACITY TELEHANDLERS You need powerful equipment. Machines with highly advanced features that can do it all.

JLG® high capacity telehandlers attack job site challenges with the perfect blend of strength, versatility and smart technology. Lift and place up to 16,755 lb. Monitor loads in real time.* And tackle various industry applications with a wide range of attachments.

See how you can do it all with new high capacity telehandlers: jlg.com/en/high-capacity *Available with the optional SmartLoad Technology package.

JLG625P-HCTH.indd 1 Untitled-16 1

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SEE US AT

World of Concrete January 23-26 Las Vegas Convention Center

Booth C5873

THE

EVOLUTION

BEGINS.

INTRODUCING BOBCAT R-SERIES EXCAVATORS Robust. Remarkable. Revolutionary. However you describe them, R-Series compact excavators are the best yet from Bobcat Company.

R you ready for the revolution?

Take a closer look at NEW R-Series compact excavators: Bobcat.com/NewR-Series 1.877.745.7813 Bobcat is a Doosan company. Doosan is a global leader in construction equipment, power and water solutions, engines, and engineering, proudly serving customers and communities for more than a century.

Bobcat ®, the Bobcat logo and the colors of the Bobcat machine are registered trademarks of Bobcat Company in the United States and various other countries. ©2018 Bobcat Company. All rights reserved. | 1337

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on record | by Marcia Gruver Doyle MGruver@randallreilly.com

Construction’s hidden ambassadors Hear these voices: “From as far back as I can remember, I can recall having my picture taken in excavators, dozers and cranes. It can be easy in day-to-day life to take construction and the engineering behind it for granted, but when one takes a step back and considers how the roads they drive on every day to work got there and where the power that generates their house comes from, the importance of construction is apparent.”

“Construction has always been my thing! From carpentry in high school to building duck blinds, it is what I have always loved.”

“What better way to inspire young people to join construction than by showing them they can build some of the coolest structures in the country.

A trade provides a person with a valuable skill, a great career and the ability to say, ‘I built it’ (or ‘we built it’), when the project is complete.”

“I am part of a rare breed that actually enjoys passing construction sites on the highway. I am eager to figure out what stage of construction they are in at their project. Are they fixing a culvert?

Setting bridge beams? Paving a new road? It is all so intriguing to me.”

“My favorite part of working in our great country is being able to say, ‘I build America, what do you do?’”

Ladies and gentlemen, these are the voices of the winners of HCSS’s 2017 Construction Intern Awards.

More than 220 students competed for a total of $50,000 in internships, generating more than 151,000 votes on the awards website https://cia.hcss.com.

These students speak from experience, because they did real work, not make work. They tracked crew performance, scheduled concrete, operated machinery, set up total stations, tested asphalt mixes, checked invoices, did take-offs, tied rebar, graded roadways, surveyed and set bridge beams. With in-the-field experience, they came away with a renewed passion for the career they were studying.

Now imagine hearing these voices as a young person in a middle- or high-school setting. Hearing these voices as a young man or woman, as a person of color, as a foreign-born student. These winning interns not only reflected those basic diversities, they worked for firms that showcased the amazing scope of work in our industry – from general construction to telecommunications to industrial, to heavy, highway and bridge construction.

As I helped judge this year’s contest, it struck me: These students are the perfect ambassadors for the construction industry. They’re enthusiastic, they have real-life experience, they’re younger. Fortunately, this is something contest sponsor HCSS recognizes, too, and the company is working to get its arms around the recruiting possibilities.

On a final note, congratulations to Keith Krass, a safety management major at Slippery Rock University, who took away this year’s $10,000 grand prize. Wanting to put his Army deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan to work, Keith first looked at a career in nursing. Instead, he fell in love with construction safety management. “Rolling my sleeves up, getting in the dirt and making sure every worker made it home safe every night – that was how I was going to continue to help people,” he says.

His is one of the many voices that need to be heard in schools across this nation.

EquipmentWorld.com | January 2018 9

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The Office of Experience – 233 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1710 – Chicago, IL

Built like a Mack. ®

Outwork the rest.

Tough doesn’t take a vacation. Just ask NFL defensive player of the year Khalil Mack. The #1-selling Mack Granite now works even harder with new interiors designed to keep drivers strong and productive all day. Add that to Granite’s legendary performance on the toughest jobs and you’ve got a tried-and-true truck that’s battle tested and driver approved. ®

®

Khalil Mack Defensive Player of the Year

See what makes a Mack at MackTrucks.com/52

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reporter

| staff report

Cat unveils its first UTVs in gas and diesel models Briefs The U.S. International Trade Commission is investigating allegations by Caterpillar that German manufacturers Wirtgen and Vögele violated patent laws. Cat’s counter-claim is nearly identical to an initial claim filed in July by the German manufacturers against Cat. Both sides claim patent infringement of their road construction equipment.

C

aterpillar has introduced its first response to a growing demand for tough work utility vehicles – while also expanding the company’s reach into the consumer market.

The gas-powered Cat CUV82 and the diesel-powered CUV102D UTVs will roll into dealerships in summer with manufacturer suggested retail prices of $14,999 and $16,299, respectively, says Norma Aldinger, commercial supervisor for Cat UTVs. “Not only has the utility vehicle business been growing, it’s been growing in work-type applications,” according to Aldinger, who unveiled the models to editors at Cat’s demonstration and training facility near Peoria, Illinois.

Built in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, by Textron Specialized Vehicles, both models feature an all-steel cargo bed with 1,000-pound rear cargo capacity and 2,000-pound towing capacity. The machines come with a truck-style column shifter and are designed for work uses, including hauling and towing.

Buyers can choose between twowheel drive, four-wheel drive or fourwheel drive/lock modes for Caterpillar’s new UTVs, scheduled to arrive in dealerships in summer.

Buyers can choose between twowheel drive, four-wheel drive or four-wheel drive/lock modes. The CUV82 and CUV102D comfortably seat two riders side-by-side with ample leg, elbow and headroom.

The yellow UTVs resemble the look and feel of other Cat machines.

The gas-powered model comes with a 0.8-liter, three-cylinder, 50-horsepower Chery engine and can travel up to 45 mph. A safety feature allows the top speed to be locked at 25 mph.

The diesel version comes with a 1.0-liter, three-cylinder Kohler engine delivering 25 horsepower and a top speed of 25 mph.

The UTVs have more than 50 options, including snow plow, heater, front winch and power dump.

The passenger seat base can be removed to create more hauling space.

–Joy Powell

Yanmar’s new training center opened near Acworth, Georgia, to support the company’s dealers. The 50,000-square-foot Yanmar Evo Center offers six training rooms, a product showroom, a company history display, a gift shop, equipment demonstration fields and a 250-seat auditorium.

H&E Equipment Services plans to acquire Denver area rental firm Contractors Equipment Center (CEC) for $122.4 million. The transaction is subject to clearance by the U.S. Justice Department for compliance with antitrust laws.

Deere & Company has completed its $5.2 billion acquisition of the Wirtgen Group. The deal makes John Deere the first manufacturer to have crushing and screening equipment, as well as mobile equipment, all under one company.

Memphis-based investment firm Dobbs Management Service bought seven John Deere Construction and Forestry Stores serving South Florida. The stores, sold by Nortrax, will operate as Dobbs Equipment and be headquartered in Tampa.

For more on each of these stories go to equipmentworld.com.

EquipmentWorld.com | January 2018 11

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Progressive Casualty Ins. Co. & affiliates. All coverage subject to policy terms.

’S R O IT ED ICK P

marketplace

| by Don McLoud |

DonMcLoud@randallreilly.com

SAME FORCE, LESS HORSEPOWER

Volvo Construction Equipment’s updated EC27D compact excavator provides the same breakout and tear-out forces as its predecessor with 30 percent less horsepower. The 2.7-ton excavator runs on a 20.9-horsepower Volvo engine, giving it 5 percent better fuel efficiency, the company says. The excavator delivers 9,600 pounds of digging force. A 2.6-cubic-foot bucket is standard, as is a canopy with roll-over and falling-object protection. Volvo’s Care Cab is optional. The EC27D also features an automatic two-speed travel system that allows the operator to drive at high speeds and the machine to automatically reduce that speed when it needs more traction.

20 mph on and off pavement Gradall has updated its XL 3300 wheeled excavator with a Tier 4 Final engine and an improved electrical system.

It also can go up to 20 mph on and off pavement, with its 5.1-liter Volvo Penta engine. The 173-horsepower engine improves fuel efficiency by 5 percent from the previous XL 3300. The excavator weighs 39,295 pounds and has a short tail swing to help reduce traffic interruptions during roadside working. The drive axles are equipped with wet-disc brakes.

EquipmentWorld.com | January 2018 13

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SEE US AT

World of Concrete January 23-26 Las Vegas Convention Center

Booth C5887

RUN STRONG. Packed with features that operators demand, Doosan® crawler excavators bring strength to every job.

See machines, features and specs:

DoosanEquipment.com/Excavator 1.877.745.7814 Doosan ® and the Doosan logo are registered trademarks of Doosan Corp. in the United States and various other countries around the world. ©2018 Doosan Construction Equipment. All rights reserved. | 181

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marketplace

| continued

Trailers made easier to use Felling has revamped its utility pole series of trailers to make them easier to use and maintain, and has added safety features. The FT-10-1 PT is the first in the series to be released. It has a retracted length of 24 feet and can be extended to 40 feet. The company offers a variety of payload

Filling a mid-range gap The Vermeer ECO75 from McLaughlin is designed to fill a gap in the mid-range vacuum excavator market, for use on compact jobsites, production potholing, setting power poles or fluid management during directional drilling, the company says.

The truck-mounted vacuum excavator features a 5-inch boom option designed to pull more material and reduce clogging. It is powered by a 74-horsepower Deutz Tier 4 Final engine, which is designed to reduce fuel consumption. Spoil tank capacities come in 500, 800 or 1,200 gallons.

capacities for the trailer. It can be equipped with single or tandem axles of 10,000, 12,000, 15,000 or 20,000 pounds and with dual wheels. Air brakes are also available. All of the trailers are 95 inches wide, designed to be no wider than the truck pulling them.

Versatile auger attachment Pengo’s new InterLok coupler for skid steer loaders eliminates the need for auger bit adapters when attaching bits to auger drives with various sizes of output shafts. The variable geometry auger bit coupler allows the company’s Aggressor auger to be equipped with H-200, H-250 and R-256 connection sizes. To attach an auger, insert the coupler into the auger’s collar, twist the coupler until it engages the auger collar, then insert and tighten bolts.

Made to move road equipment Talbert’s new 55-Ton Roller Paver trailer can handle such heavy equipment as rollers, pavers, excavators and dozers.

Talbert also designed the 55CC-RP trailer with dual kingpin settings, so it can be operated empty without a permit in states

with 43-foot kingpin laws. Talbert achieved this by adjusting the trailer’s deck length, gooseneck radiuses and rear ramps from previous roller paver models. The trailer’s overall length is 53 feet, so no need for an overlength permit in certain states.

EquipmentWorld.com | January 2018 15

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12/19/17 10:51 AM

PAVING THE FUTURE The industry’s #1 source for the latest asphalt education.

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And more from a selection of over 60 sessions!

March 6-8, 2018 • Houston, TX, USA Co-located with

Register in advance and save over 35% at www.worldofasphalt.com

6.WOA-2018-ad-education.indd 1 Untitled-11 1

6/27/17 3:32 PM 7/7/17 8:45 AM

2017

D

staff report

espite some unrealized expectations – hello, infrastructure bill – 2017 turned out to be an exceptional year for equipment buyers and makers. Here’s a quick overview, plus a timeline, of what happened in the construction industry last year. And check out our editor’s quick predictions for 2018 on page 24.

(Note: In order to meet our print deadlines, our coverage was cut off in early December and will not reflect late developing stories.)

Released during the sale announcement, this graphic shows how the Deere and Wirtgen brands will be integrated on the jobsite to provide a full line of construction and roadbuilding equipment. (Note: Wirtgen crushers and screeners are also part of quarry operations.)

2017’s Top Newsmaker: Deere buys Wirtgen After identifying Wirtgen as an attractive strategic fit several years ago, John Deere pulled the trigger in a surprise move this June, buying German equipment manufacturer Wirtgen Group. The all-cash $5.2 billion deal gave Deere access to Wirtgen’s deep roots in roadbuilding and quarry equipment markets. The deal also made Deere the first

manufacturer to offer crushing and screening as well as mobile equipment. In the acquisition announcement, Deere said it would maintain Wirtgen’s brands – Hamm, Vogele, Wirtgen, Kleeman and Benninghoven – along with its manufacturing footprint, employees and distribution network.

EquipmentWorld.com | January 2018 17

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2017 YEAR IN REVIEW What will never be: The Cat Peoria headquarters design, announced in 2015.

Cat shocks Peoria

}

The 107-year intertwining of Caterpillar and Peoria, Illinois, suffered a break in January when the company announced it would relocate its headquarters to the Chicago area. The move – involving about 300 executives and support personnel – put a definite end to the announced downtown three-tower headquarters riverfront complex, announced in 2015.

Dynapac sports a new look after Fayat purchase.

Rental continues to soar HercRentals, H&E Equipment Services and United Rentals all reported strong third quarters, serving to underscore the American Rental Association’s forecast that construction/industrial equipment rental revenue would grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 4.1 percent between 2017 and 2021, to $40.4 billion.

United Rentals buying spree United Rentals upped the ante in August for Neff Corporation, offering almost $4 per share more than suitor H&E Equipment Service and snagged the deal. It was the second big acquisition for United Rentals, which spent $965 million for NES Rental Holdings in April. Also, in August, United bought Cummins’ mobile rental generator fleet.

Atlas Copco’s busy January

2017 TIMELINE

}

January was a busy month for Atlas Copco last year.

It announced it was selling its Dynapac line of pavers, planers and rollers to Fayat Group, parent of Bomag.

Then the board proposed separating out its Mining and Rock Excavation Technique Business Area and its Construction Tools Division to create a new company dedicated to mining and civil engineering customers. The new company, eventually called Epiroc, is expected to be listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm stock exchange in mid-2018. Atlas Copco will retain its air compressor and vacuum businesses.

JANUARY

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

Atlas Copco announces sell of Dynapac line of pavers, planers and rollers to Fayat

Euro Auctions buys U.S.-based auctioneer Yoder & Frey

Cat invests in drone solution provider Airware

18 January 2018 | EquipmentWorld.com

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Data and more data

The big story in the heavy equipment industry continues to be all about data.

Specifically, the data coming off your machine’s telematics and how that data can become a key part of your overall jobsite management picture, not to mention a manufacturer’s profit statement. Cat, for one, has been direct about its intentions on this front. “Instead of Cat being a brand on the jobsite, we’re pushing to make it the jobsite brand,” said Cat’s Paolo Fellin at ConExpo.

T

2017 by the numbers he market for new homes was on fire last year, with starts up more than 13 percent. Likewise the stocks of OEMs that primarily make heavy equipment and engines, with most experiencing double-digit gains.

Overall, however, the construction market was tepid with slight declines in nonresidential construction pulling down the numbers by about 2 percent. Here are the breakouts:

OEM stock prices 2017 was a great year to own construction equipment stocks. While we don’t have full year results in yet, here is an 11-month summary of individual share prices from a select group of companies.

48% 43% 17% 32% 35% increase

increase

increase

increase

increase

Nov. 28 139

Nov. 28 149

Nov. 28 164

Nov. 28 94

Nov. 28 $31

Jan. 3 $94

Jan. 3 $104

Jan. 3 $140

Jan. 3 $71

Jan. 3 $23

Caterpillar

John Deere

Cummins

Kubota

Komatsu

$

$

$

$

2017 Housing starts (annualized)*

Our feet are still hurting

Regional housing starts

ConExpo, the industry’s everythird-year extravaganza, featured an all new Tech Experience with a showstopper 3D-printed compact excavator. Show stats reflected sunny skies and moods: 128,000 attendees, plus a record-breaking 2,800 exhibitors and 2.8 million net square feet of exhibits.

13.7

up

%

National: 1,290,000

South:

621,000

up 17%

Midwest:

212,000

up 18%

Northeast:

145,000

up 42%

West:

145,000

down 3.7%

Annualized construction put in place in millions (as of September) Type

2017

2016

% change

Total construction:

$1,219,544

1,195,640

down 2%

Residential:

$521,445

476, 373

up 9%

Nonresidential:

$698,100

719,267

down 3%

* Source: U.S. Dept. of Labor

FEBRUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

JCB enters aerial lift market

Dealer Titan Machinery restructures, closes several stores

Deere dealers to offer Kespry’s automated construction drone service EquipmentWorld.com | January 2018 19

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2017 YEAR IN REVIEW

Parts, parts and more parts John Deere, JLG and Volvo used ConExpo to announce new parts initiatives.

Deere’s Big Part Promise guarantees critical parts by the end of the business day, or they’re free.

JLG’s MaxQuip parts line supplies users with competitive model parts, and Volvo’s 24-Hour Parts Guarantee ensures delivery of parts within 24 hours of the order. In November, Cat launched its Yellowmark aftermarket brand, aimed at customers looking for lower-cost parts, particularly for older equipment.

Silica dust rules arrive

After years of discussions, appeals and delays, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration began enforcing its new rules designed to reduce the amount of crystalline silica dust on construction worksites by 80 percent, on average, per 8-hour work shift. The rules were scheduled to take effect in June but were delayed until September 23rd for OSHA to finetune compliance guidelines. The goal is to reduce and prevent lung cancer, silicosis and other respiratory ailments caused by overexposure to crystalline silica, a common chemical compound found in rock, concrete and brick.

Several manufacturers debuted tools compliant with the new rules.

Georgia opens interstate bridge in 45 days Facing catastrophic traffic snarls after an I-85 bridge in Atlanta was destroyed by fire, Georgia and federal transportation officials smoothed the engineering and regulatory path for contractor C. W. Matthews to complete a replacement overpass more than a month ahead of time. In addition to being a showcase for Accelerated Bridge Construction methods, the incident prompted state DOTs across the nation to assess their current under-bridge material storage practices.

} } Cat changes nomenclature

Further details on Cat’s nomenclature changes emerged last year. The letter modifiers on most Cat models will be dropped and replaced with a Build Number – which will only appear on product information, not on the machine itself – as generational changes occur. The first machine to use this new approach was the 745 articulated truck, which Cat debuted at ConExpo. One exception: Cat’s dozers, which will continue with their current E, K, N and T letter designations.

MARCH

MARCH

Mecalac launches Mecalac Americas initiative

Lee Manzanares, lead mechanic for RMCI General Contractor, Albuquerque, named AEMP’s Technician of the Year.

20 January 2018 | EquipmentWorld.com

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Milestones Anniversaries celebrated this past year included:

175th:

In 1842, Jerome Increase “J.I.” Case starts the Racine Threshing Machine Works in Racine Wisconsin, forerunner of Case Construction Equipment.

150th:

Deutz unveils its atmospheric gaspowered engine in 1867.

100th:

St. Louis dealer Fabick Cat celebrates its centennial mark by giving $600,000 to six area charities.

100th:

AWPs become MEWPs

Can’t say we’re fond of the new acronym, but as part of proposed aerial work platform standards, the name of the entire equipment category will be changed to “mobile elevating work platforms.” More important, these standards are leading to major changes to the machines, how rental shops deal with their customers and how contractors plan projects.

The Texas Department of Transportation celebrates with a traveling exhibit featuring a 1928 Liberty Truck.

100th:

C. C. Hobart begins Hobart Brothers, parent company of Hobart Welders.

75th:

Freightliner Trucks debuts the Model 600 “Shovelnose” in 1942.

75th:

Austin Talbert designs Talbert Manufacturing’s first removable gooseneck trailer.

60th:

In 1957, the German company now known as Wacker Neuson begins making construction equipment in the United States.

60th:

Bomag GmbH begins production of the BW 60 double vibratory roller in 1957.

50th:

Texas takes a bullet train

A company called Texas Central announced plans to move forward on a bullet train that would link Houston and Dallas, a span of about 240 miles. According to the company, the train will be privately funded and return $2.5 billion in tax revenue back to the state. Fluor, Lane Construction and WSP (formerly Parsons Brinckerhoff) have been selected for design engineering. The train is anticipated to be operational in 2023.

John Deere makes its first JD570 motor grader in 1967.

50th:

Western Star Trucks launches in 1967, addressing the needs of Canadian mining and logging operations.

APRIL

APRIL

APRIL

MAY

Sunbelt Rentals buys New Yorkbased Pride Equipment

United Rentals buys NES Rental Holdings

Hitachi buys Sullair from Accudyne

Cat buys YardClub

JUNE Deere announces Wirtgen buy

EquipmentWorld.com | January 2018 21

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2017 YEAR IN REVIEW

Tech that’s here now…

• Perkins’ SmartCap oil filter tells you when it’s time to change the oil on your Perkins diesel engine. The device looks identical to a normal oil fill cap, but sensors inside it detect when the engine is running and send you an email alert when the engine reaches 500 hours of run time.

• Tool companies took on connectivity in a big way this year. In November, DeWalt announced its Jobsite Wi-Fi device that gives internet access throughout a work area, instead of just in the jobsite trailer. Three Hilti power tools are now equipped with Bluetooth and Near Field Communication sensors, allowing users to quickly identify and find resources for each tool on smartphones and tablets. And Milwaukee’s One-Key app allows you to track and manage all Milwaukee tools on a computer or phone; an additional Tick device can be attached to any jobsite asset to track location.

...and tech that’s still to come

Some of these are far off, others are just around the corner.

• ConExpo attendees donning virtual-reality goggles in the John Deere booth could get a glimpse of the company’s backhoe of the future, called “Fixstern.” To provide more cab space, Deere eliminated the large rear tire wheel well and used an exoskeleton design, pushing structural frame components outside.

• Fastbrick Robotics signed an agreement with Caterpillar to further develop Fastbrick’s robotic bricklayer, which can be attached to the boom of an excavator.

• AME, the world’s first 3D-printed excavator stole the spotlight at ConExpo’s new Tech Experience area. The machine’s cab, boom, hydraulic oil reservoir, heat exchanger and cooling system were 3D printed.

• Two electric heavy trucks grabbed headlines. Late last year, the 1,000-horsepower Nikola One debuted, powered by a hydrogen fuel cell and regenerative braking. It is expected to roll off assembly lines in 2020. Tesla took off the wraps on its lithium-battery-powered electric truck in November, promising a range of up to 500 miles at maximum weight and highway speed. Production is expected to start in 2019.

• The Workhorse W-15 plug-in electric pickup will be in production this year, with an anticipated sticker price of $52,500.

• Declaring that “autonomy is no longer an experiment,” Cat says it is planning to offer a brand agnostic autonomous system for mining trucks by the first quarter of 2019. Also on tap: offering scaled-down semi- and fully autonomous machine control systems for quarries.

• Volvo Construction Equipment announced its electric hybrid LX1 prototype loader achieved up to 50-percent fuel efficiency improvement over a conventional Volvo L150 loader.

• Built Robotics unveiled its autonomous compact track loader, which uses LIDAR to navigate the jobsite along with GPS sensors and machine control technology to follow site plans without an operator.

ELDs become mandatory

Although there have been numerous attempts to postpone or rescind the electronic logging device mandate for on-highway trucks, as of press time, the Dec. 18, 2017, deadline was still in place. As detailed in a special report in our June issue, contractors can’t automatically assume they are exempt from these rules. In fact, using RandallReilly’s proprietary RigDig Business Intelligence database, we found more than 230,000 construction operations (contractors, material producers and equipment dealer/rental companies) are running more than 1 million trucks that could fall under the mandate.

Trending: How to get disaster work With several states and one territory dealing with the aftermath of three massive hurricanes this year, our take on how to get disaster cleanup work received more than 36,000 page views. The aftermath of these disastrous storms gave construction contractors, subcontractors and workers plenty of debris cleanup and rebuilding work and was a contributing factor in construction unemployment reaching 4.5 percent in October, the lowest rate on record for that month, according to the Associated Builders and Contractors.

JULY

JULY

JULY

Hertz Equipment Rental becomes stand-alone Herc Rentals

Volvo sells 25 percent stake in Deutz engines

Komatsu and Trimble bridge respective software programs to allow 3D construction site data exchange

22 January 2018 | EquipmentWorld.com

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New market entries

• JCB entered the aerial lift market with 27 new machines, including scissor lifts, articulating booms and telescopic booms.

• Cat partnered with Textron Specialized Vehicles to offer three UTV models.

}

Cat’s legal woes In March, Caterpillar’s Peoria, Illinois, corporate headquarters were raided by federal law enforcement officials as part of an investigation into the company’s tax strategy. The suit alleges the company avoided paying more than $2 billion in taxes by moving select profits to offshore shell companies located in Switzerland and Bermuda.

If that weren’t enough, the company is also under investigation by the International Trade Commission after German equipment maker Wirtgen (newly acquired

by John Deere) filed a patent infringement complaint against Cat in August. Wirtgen alleges that Cat’s road milling machines violate its patents. In November, Cat fired back with a patent infringement complaint against Wirtgen concerning the same equipment.

}

Machine blends create show buzz The story that wasn’t For many, 2017 was going to be a year focused on America’s crumbling roads and bridges, with a new president in the White House who had pledged on the campaign trail a $3 trillion infrastructure plan. The Trump administration did not present a plan to Congress, and is still struggling to come up with ways to pay for it. Congress didn’t seem to mind the lack of a plan, as it spent the year mired in other issues, such as Obamacare, immigration, tax reform, the Russia investigation and claims of sexual harassment.

And in the meantime…

The American Society of Civil Engineers released its 2017 Infrastructure Report Card, and as a nation, we continued to get a solid overall D.

Billed as a “half telescopic handler/half skid steer,” JCB’s Teleskid turned eyes at ConExpo and has created orders ever since, according to JCB. The machine – which also comes in a compact track loader version – can reach up to 13 feet, 3 inches and is the only skid steer that can dig below its chassis to a depth of 3 feet, says the company. Case Construction Equipment showed off its concept DL450 at the show, billed as a “compact dozer loader,” combining a compact track loader (CTL) with a dozer. The core feature of the DL450 is a C-frame dozer interface that pins directly into the machine chassis; it can be unpinned and disconnected like an attachment, turning the machine back into a standard CTL.

Chevy returns to medium-duty market General Motors announced that the Chevy-branded medium-duty work trucks it has been developing in partnership with Navistar will be called the Silverado 4500 and Silverado 5500. The Silverados represent GM’s versions of the Class 4 and 5 vehicles.

AUGUST

NOVEMBER

United Rentals buys Neff and Cummins’ mobile generator fleet

AB Volvo enters U.S. securitization market for first time, funding credit for U.S. dealerships EquipmentWorld.com | January 2018 23

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2017 YEAR IN REVIEW And now for 2018...

Here are some quick takes on what our editors see ahead: Don McLoud: The Trump administration’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan will face a protracted funding battle in Congress, where members will have little interest in a fuel tax increase after just passing tax reform.

Gridlock will prevent passage in 2018.

demands of jobsites increase, and as 5G comes on board, look for more companies to piggyback their jobsite presence – be it a toolbox, hand tool or machine – with more interconnectivity features.

Tom Jackson:

Volvo, Komatsu and Caterpillar have all unveiled autonomous haul trucks, with Cat planning a major expansion of its global fleet. But the real sign of momentum behind autonomous construction machines came with the unveiling of an autonomous compact track loader from Built Robotics. This robotic CTL uses LiDAR to navigate the jobsite along with GPS sensors and machine control technology for following site plans without an operator.

Look for 2018 to bring more big moves toward autonomous equipment. As Denise Johnson, Caterpillar Resource Industries group president, put it in September, “Autonomy is no longer an experiment.”

Use of GPS/GNSS and telematics technology will see strong growth in 2018 as OEMs and software companies make their products more intuitive and easy to use. 2D and 3D automated digging with excavators will be the big winner.

Marcia Doyle: The Internet of Things has exploded this year with tool makers Hilti and Milwaukee adding Wi-Fi capabilities to track tools and manage use. And now DeWalt is offering Wi-Fi boosters to create Wi-Fi ability beyond the jobsite trailer. As the information

Wayne Grayson:

24 January 2018 | EquipmentWorld.com Untitled-31 1

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WE KEEP AMERICA ON TRACK

Call: 1-877-667-6652 or Visit: morookacarriers.com Untitled-3 1

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machine matters

| by Richard Ries

SKID STEER

LOADERS ARE HOLDING THEIR OWN S

ome would say skid steers have run their course, and that compact track loaders (CTLs) have replaced them. “Fake news!” cry the manufacturers, and they have the facts to prove it.

True, CTL sales have soared, but depending on the manufacturer and the size category, skid steer sales have at least held steady and, in many cases, have slightly increased.

There are two important factors to keep in mind regarding this shift in sales volume that seems to put skid steers at a disadvantage.

First, CTLs are still relatively new. As more customers are discovering the advantages of tracks in certain applications, more tracked units are being sold. “After customers with legacy machines replace their skid steer loaders with compact track loaders, the rapid growth of compact track loader adoption over skid steers will likely start levelling out,” says Kevin Scotese, Volvo skid steer product manager.

He says that since the service life of a skid steer loader is 5,000 hours, many legacy machines will be due for replacement soon, “adding to the probability that market share erosion will level off after those machines are replaced.”

The second factor is that the shift in sales volume is almost exclusively a North American market phenomenon. Globally, skid steer sales far eclipse compact track loader sales, says Gregg Zupancic, product marketing manager,

John Deere. “Outside of North America, CTL sales are spotty and number around 2,000 units per year, while skid steers are in the 20,000- to 30,000-unit range.”

Zupancic says it’s understandable that CTLs are stealing the limelight; Deere’s sales in 2016 were about 60 percent CTLs and 40 percent skid steer loaders. “But the trend line for skid steer sales over the past five years is up, and our sales of skid steers for 2017 were up about 1,000 units” as of November 1.

Speedier?

Another bit of conventional wisdom is that skid steers preserve their market share in part because they’re faster than CTLs. Marketwide, that’s true. Skid steers typically can travel 10 to 12 mph, while the top speed of CTLs is 7 to 10 mph. But not so fast, say some OEMs. Buck Storlie, testing and reliability leader with ASV, points out the company makes compact track loaders with travel speeds of 11 mph.

Some OEMs suggest that customers ask themselves, “How important is speed anyway?”

Certain applications, such as sweeping and snow removal, favor faster speeds. Randy Tinley, product manager of skid steer and compact track loaders with JCB, says scraping operations are also better at higher speeds, but those are mostly found in ag (mucking out barns, for example) and less often in construction.

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Travel speed for the Bobcat S650 is 7.1 mph or 12.3 mph with optional two-speed travel.

Auxiliary standard flow is 23 gallons per minute, and optional high flow is 30.5 gpm, both at 3,500 pounds per square inch. The Bob-Tach attachment system is standard.

The 72.9-horsepower (SAE net) 246D falls in the middle of Caterpillar’s skid steer offerings with its 2,150-pound ROC. Standard loader pressure and flow are 3,335 pounds per square inch and 23 gallons per minute. The XPS option delivers 4,061 psi and 32 gpm.

When Manitou Group introduced the Gehl V420 and Mustang 4200V at ConExpo 2017, it announced them as the world’s largest skid steer loaders.

The 4,200-pound ROC machines are powered by Deutz engines rated at 120 horsepower. High-flow hydraulics of up to 40.8 gallons per minute are available.

As the smallest skid steer in the Volvo seven-model lineup, the MC60C measures 59.8 inches wide over the tires and has a hinge pin height of 118.1 inches. The 3-cylinder Kohler KDI 1903 TCR turbocharged engine is rated at 48 horsepower (SAE gross).

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machine matters

| continued

Powered by a Deutz TD2.9L4 engine rated at 74 horsepower, the ASV VS75 has a vertical lift with a 130-inch pin height.

Optional attachments include a rotary broom, snow blower, grapple bucket and power box rake.

Lift-and-carry and traveling from site to site also emphasize speed. But for a large percentage of tasks, including loading and running attachments where the machine is stationary, top travel speed is not a factor.

Examples of static operations with attachments include concrete pumps, stump grinders, chippers and augers, says Eric Dahl, product manager, Bobcat.

Now that we’ve killed the two most common myths, what truths remain?

Where skid steers lead First on the list of great truths about skid steers is that they’re preferred for work on hard surfaces. And, yes, they’re faster. “And there are applications where the work may take place in the dirt, but the machine travels over pavement to get from one part of the job to another,” says Brent Coffey, loader product manager with Wacker Neuson. “The skid steer is the machine that covers the distance the quickest and handles both situations, work and travel, with equal ease.”

With the right tires, skid steers are also the machine of choice in places where debris can damage equipment, such as demolition, recycling and waste handling. Brian Rabe, regional training manager for Manitou Americas (parent company of Gehl and Mustang), says skid steers have better shock absorption. “In applications with sharp bumps and in rocky conditions, skid steers provide better operator comfort than would be

The 90-horsepower SV340 is Case’s most powerful skid steer.

ROC is 3,400 pounds. Options include high-flow hydraulics with 38.7 gallons per minute at 3,450 pounds per square inch and enhanced high-flow hydraulics with 35 gpm at 4,000 psi.

The vertical lift JCB 215 (shown) and radial lift 210 are the first in JCB’s small-frame skid steer lineup to be powered by JCB by Kohler 74-horsepower engines. The engines deliver a 20 percent increase in power over similarly sized skid steers in the JCB range. The machines are Tier 4 Final compliant without a diesel particulate filter.

The John Deere 332G has a Yanmar turbocharged, intercooled engine rated at 72 horsepower (SAE net). Bucket breakout force is 13,904 foot-pounds. Hydraulic pressure is 3,450 pounds per square inch. Standard flow is 25 gallons per minute with optional 41.1 gpm.

Tweels are coming to skid steers Michelin developed the Tweel Airless Radial Tire about a decade ago. The Tweel has a rubber “tire,” but instead of a rim, the tire is supported by poly-resin spokes. Flexion of the spokes improves ride quality and handling, according to Michelin. Its design allows

it to be retread multiple times. Long used on turf equipment and ATV/UTV applications, several models of Tweels are now available for skid steers. Case will become the first OEM to offer Tweels as a factory option on skid steers in the first quarter of this year.

28 January 2018 | EquipmentWorld.com

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| continued

had in a compact track loader.”

They’re also preferred for snow removal, whether by snowplow, snow blower or snow pusher, because they provide greater traction. Snow removal is relevant to, at most, half of all skid steer customers, and then only for a certain portion of the year. But to those customers, a skid steer’s snow capabilities means it can generate additional revenue instead of sitting idle for months.

With their amazing maneuverability – such as being able to counter-rotate and execute spin turns – skid steers shine in tight jobsites. “The skid steer is the original poster child for jobsite mobility and remains dominant in that role,” says Hugo Chang, wheel loader and compact product manager at LiuGong.

This maneuverability results from the weight bias on a skid steer, which is typically around 30/70 front/rear unloaded; the reverse ratio is true with a full bucket. Dahl says this imbalance means one set of wheels, the front or rear, is bearing less weight than the other set at any time. This makes tight turns easier, reduces tire scrub and minimizes surface damage.

Tracks on a CTL can be counter-rotated, but it’s not a good idea. “To maximize the service life of tracks and undercarriage components, a CTL should be operated like a dozer with long, sweeping turns,” says Tharen Peterson, brand marketing manager, New Holland Construction.

Maximum maneuverability is also essential in applications that require precise positioning of attachments, such as breakers and sweepers, notes Dahl.

George Mac Intyre, global product portfolio manager, light equipment, Case Construction, says industry data reveal several areas where skid steers are preferred over CTLs by a margin of 3-to-1. Among them are scrap, waste, recycling, industrial material handling, and mine and quarry. “Demolition, agriculture, and state and municipal markets also use more skid steers, but by a smaller margin,” he says.

Mac Intyre adds that skid steers are better for clearing, cleaning and back-dragging. Operators tend to put a lot of downforce on the attachment – whether broom, bucket or blade – shifting much of the weight to the rear of the machine. Tracks want to be evenly loaded; wheels are more tolerant of this type of imbalance.

The 90-horsepower L234 is the most powerful skid steer in the New Holland lineup. The Super Boom design improves rear visibility by eliminating rear towers and positioning the crossbar low and out of the way. Bucket breakout force is 9,323 pounds; lift arm breakout force is 6,918 pounds.

Takeuchi offers the large-frame TS80 Series skid steers in radial (TS80R2) and vertical (TS80V2) lift configurations. A Deutz engine provides 74 horsepower and is rated at 192 foot-pounds of torque at 1,800 rpm. The radial model has a 2,825-pound ROC; the vertical, 3,500 pounds.

ROC confusion Rated operating capacities are given as 50 percent of tipping load for skid steers and either 50 percent or 35 percent of tipping load for compact track loaders. When comparing ROCs of skid steers with CTLs, make sure you’re looking at the same value for each. In the Equipment World Spec Guide, we give the 50 percent figure for skid steers and both the 50 percent and 35 percent values for CTLs.

The Kubota SSV75 features 74.3 gross horsepower and 20.9-gallons-per-minute standard auxiliary flow with optional 30.4 gpm high flow available. Kubota offers a full range of attachments including power rakes, grapples, specialty buckets and those for snow removal.

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| continued

The Wacker Neuson SW17 is powered by a Kohler engine rated at 74 horsepower. Its operating weight of 6,245 pounds makes it the second-smallest model in the company’s lineup.

The radial lift machine has a hinge pin height of 118.1 inches and a dump reach of 34.1 inches.

Coffey says some attachments still work best on a compact track loader, especially those requiring a heavy machine with superior stability, such as tree spades.

Cost control “Anything done on wheels is more easily done on tracks,” says Storlie.

That comment from ASV’s testing and reliability leader, is no surprise; ASV has a long, proud history with compact track loaders. But it’s not just machine ability that matters to customers; it’s also profitability. “If the same job can be done by either a CTL or skid steer in the same amount of time,” Storlie explains, “the skid steer will be cheaper.”

When comparing track and a wheel machines with similar engine and hydraulic specs, the CTL will

The S165R-1 is the smallest of three radial-lift skid steers offered by Yanmar. The naturally-aspirated Yanmar engine is rated at 68.4 net horsepower. Maximum travel speed is 6.8 mph. Hydraulic pressure is 3,000 psi. and flow is 18.9 gpm.

cost up to 20 percent more. Skid steers also use less fuel and require significantly less maintenance. Radiallift skid steers, with their simpler lift mechanisms, maximize the differential in both initial and ongoing costs.

“Compact track loaders, on average, cost 5 to 10 percent more to operate and maintain,” says Scotese.

A key component in the O&O cost difference is the expense of maintaining an undercarriage and replacing tracks. “Tracks remain highly engineered,” says Chang, “while skid steer tires have almost become commoditized and have a well-established supply chain.”

Because of their lighter weight, skid steers can reduce transport costs, says Scotese. The required ratings of the trailers and tow vehicles used for transport may be lower, and

the combined rating may make a CDL unnecessary.

Peterson says, though, that as skid steers get larger and more expensive, the difference in initial investment between the biggest skid steer models and some compact track loaders is decreasing.

Narrowing the gap Even in areas where CTLs have clear advantages, owners of skid steers can take steps to narrow the performance gap. Over-the-tire tracks (OTTs) can provide many of the benefits of a dedicated track machine and can yield lower ground pressure for a skid steer than a comparable CTL, says Dahl. That’s because the skid steer weighs less than the CTL. The weight difference is enough that the ground-pressure advantage

Vertical vs. radial review Whether investing in a CTL or skid steer loader, the customer’s first choice is likely to be between vertical and radial lift. “Customers looking for consistent lift capacity and reach from bottom to top are buying vertical lift machines,” says Brian Rabe with Manitou. “Those with applications emphasizing mid-level reach and high durability are buying radial lift machines. Gehl and Mustang models show a 50/50 split in sales.”

Traditionally, radial machines were considered better diggers and pushers, while vertical lift machines were considered bet-

ter at lift-and-carry operations, explains Jorge De Hoyos with Kubota. But as vertical lift engineering advances, the distinction is less clear. “Kubota’s vertical-linkage design tucks in at the rear and sides of the machine when retracted, allowing these models to push and dig more like radial machines,” he says.

Kevin Scotese of Volvo says vertical lift machines cost about 5 percent more initially than radial lift machines, and operating costs are less than 1 percent higher. He says the split for Volvo sales is about 70 percent vertical and 30 percent radial.

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remains in place despite the difference in track-onground surface area between the two machines.

Dahl says customers who need tracks all the time have switched from skid steers to compact track loaders, greatly reducing the demand for over-the-tire tracks. The availability of CTLs from rental houses has also cut into demand by making them readily available to customers who need them only occasionally. But for customers who need tracks seasonally, OTTs are a cost-effective solution.

But Zupancic warns there are potential issues with over-the-tire tracks. They can collect rocks, scraps of lumber and other debris that may break tire beads and may even break a chain. The machine can walk out of its tracks on counterrotation, especially with rubber tracks. Steel tracks can cut tire sidewalls.

Jorge De Hoyos, Kubota senior product manager of skid steers and compact track loaders, says installing tracks over solid and semi-solid tires can overstress parts of the skid steer. That’s because these types of tires may not offer enough flex, and the weight and shock load of the tracks are passed directly to the chain tank walls of the undercarriage.

Storlie notes that all ASV skid steers are designed

Standard features on the LiuGong 385B include two-speed travel, 31.7-gallons-per-minute high-flow hydraulics, a quick coupler, a third valve and lines for work tool attachments, and a self-levelling valve for parallel lifting. Its Yanmar engine is rated at 72 gross horsepower.

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to accept over-the-tire tracks. Fender clearance, wheel bearings and hub design accommodate the additional size and weight of add-on tracks.

ASV acquired Loegering in 2004 and offers Loegering tracks.

Tinley says that while track options are mostly limited to width, tires offer many options. While various widths are also available with tires, tread patterns are a more important part of the package, as are solid, semi-solid and pneumatic options.

Tire chains are also available.

While chains don’t improve flotation, they add traction and weight and can improve performance in sloppy conditions.

Bolt-on counterweights also enhance SSL performance, and the same counterweight has a bigger effect on the capacity of a skid steer than a CTL. This is because the same weight is a higher percentage of the machine’s own weight. Zupancic points out that solid and semi-solid tires also add weight; the elongated

holes in semi-solid tires provide some cushioning.

Ultimately, the performance level of a skid steer comes down to operator skill, says Mac Intyre. “Operators need to maintain situational awareness of jobsite conditions and plan ahead. They need to know how to get un-stuck. They should read the owner’s manual, which will give guidance on managing hills, slopes and other obstacles.”

Even so, says Peterson, the advantages CTLs offer are unique to them and cannot be fully replicated on a skid steer, regardless of the skill of the operator.

Flattening the slope After years of shifting sales numbers, the turmoil seems to be abating, and sales figures of both skid steers and compact track loaders are normalizing, albeit to a new normal. “Unit sales of our skid steers decreased in each of the last four years,” says Eric Berkhimer, product manager of

Yanmar America. “The rate of decline stabilized somewhat beginning in 2016.” By comparison, Yanmar CTL unit sales increased over that fouryear period, and the rate of increase tapered a bit in 2016, “although it picked up again in 2017.”

“There will likely be some further softening of the skid steer market,” says Storlie. “It will plateau when the market has a solid grasp of which jobs can be done by skid steers.”

While skid steer unit sales may be down from some past peak, notes Chang, “they’re not zero and will never be zero. Not everyone plays in the premium end of the market.

Some focus on value, and skid steers provide maximum value.” LiuGong’s first skid steer, the CLG385B, is now available. He says some customers use CTLs and fully featured skid steers for certain tasks and more plebeian machines for other applications. “We entered the market because we believe there will always be a demand for skid steers.”

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maintenance/management

| by Tom Jackson |

TJackson@randallreilly.com

THE FUTURE IS COMING AT YOU FAST: Machine learning, gamification and better dashboards will spur the biggest changes construction has seen in decades

I

magine you’re the chief of operations for a big construction company. You have three projects underway, dozens of machines and workers to keep up with. Just before you leave the house in the morning, you open your laptop to check on the status of those projects on your telematics reporting system.

Project A and B are good. Green lights on both. But when you click on project C, you get a flashing red light, indicating the potential for safety issues. Drill down further and you discover: • A supplier dropped the rebar off last night, weeks early, right in

the middle of the dirt work.

• The site supervisor who’s been on this project since day one called in sick. Another supervisor who’s never seen the job is on his way to fill in, but arriving late.

• Of the operators manning four machines and three trucks on the site, only two of them have more than a year’s experience.

• Predicted weather conditions may limit visibility.

It may sound like just another chaotic day in the world of construction, but your telematics system is equipped with AI, artificial intelligence, sometimes called “machine learning.” As all this in-

formation enters the system, the AI algorithms compute the probability of an accident in these conditions at 60 percent. Not good.

So you email the new supervisor to hold fire, ping the shop to get a set of forks out there to move the rebar and head for the project instead of the office to assess the situation. There you talk to the crews and conduct a site-specific safety briefing.

Your telematics AI algorithms register these changes and drop the threat threshold below the company redlines. The threat potential of an accident – something no individual human could have possibly predictEquipmentWorld.com | January 2018 37

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maintenance/management ed – is eliminated. And it’s not even 8 a.m. yet.

Fantasy or the future?

The construction industry, thanks to advances in technology and telematics, is at the cusp of creating scenarios just like this.

According to Mika Majapuro, director of product management and strategy at Teletrac Navman, the scenario described above is still on bleeding edge but definitely the direction the industry is headed. And telematics provides the information the machines, in this case computers, need to learn.

“

| continued

Gamification In addition to machine learning and predictive analytics, “gamification” is another trend reshaping the telematics environment, says Pete Allen, chief client officer, MiX Telematics. The over-the-road trucking industry is already using gamification to help improve driver safety and efficiency, he says. “I don’t see gamification as much in the construction world, although there are certainly pockets of it,” he says.

Gamification is simply putting all the driver’s behavior and metrics – things like speeding, harsh braking/acceleration, swerving and

The focus is to reduce crashes, but a lot of our customers like to make safety fun. If you put incentives around it or make a game out of it, it creates more awareness... ” – Pete Allen, chief client officer, Mix Telematics

Machine learning is basically about looking for patterns, Majapuro says. “What was the job type?

What was the weather? How many people were there? What was their skill level? You can go as deep as you want.”

The contractor or fleet manager’s responsibility in making this a reality is inputting data, lots of data.

“In teaching machines to learn something, you have to show cases where accidents happen and cases where they didn’t happen,” Majapuro says.

Teletrac Navman’s sister company, Predictive Solutions, has been doing machine learning for some time, says Majapuro. “You buy it as software as a service (SaaS),” he says.

“They work with the customer to figure out their goals and get all the data. Then they run the model for you and provide the dashboards.”

fuel economy – into a telematics dashboard and letting drivers and operators see how they compare to others. “The focus is to reduce crashes, but a lot of our customers like to make safety fun. If you put incentives around it or make a game out of it, it creates more awareness,” says Allen. “People will strive on their own to be safer drivers.”

Non-powered assets The tracking of non-powered or non-mobile assets is another application the most advanced users of telematics systems are deploying to their benefit. Using QR codes and RFIDs, you can track things like light towers, generators, hand tools, conex boxes and trailers. “By tagging non-powered assets, you can build processes to take better care of your equipment,” says Majapuro.

Hand tools and other items tend to get stolen or lost, especially on large jobsites and sites where there are multiple subs and vendors coming and going all day. Oil and gas drilling sites are often large and full of expensive tooling and equipment, which is why some of their managers are starting to track their non-powered equipment, says Allen.

Company-wide integration Many people view telematics at this stage in its evolution as merely a way to keep tabs on trucks, equipment and maintenance. But the most value and the next step in telematics is to disseminate and integrate the information to your whole business, says Josh DeCock, product management director, Pedigree Technologies.

“Changing your business is the hardest thing to do, but it’s also the most impactful,” DeCock says. “The companies that are going to the next level are those that push data into every department they have – maybe people who have never seen the telematics data. If you can save these employees time, they’re interested.”

Bidding and estimating people can sharpen their quotes with accurate equipment cost information and save time by not having to slog through paper records from the shop.

And eliminating the need for office staff to record employee hours and other personnel information can significantly cut labor costs.

“Having that allows your data to flow to the back-end system so that no one has to manually type in that data – that’s some of the low-hanging fruit where you can get a lot of ROI,” says Majapuro.

Collaboration and consultation While there are certainly many plug-and-play telematics systems on the market today, more advanced users are looking for broad-

38 January 2018 | EquipmentWorld.com

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er functionality, and collaboration with their vendors, Allen says.

“In the contractor world, most companies go into it with the idea of just tracking assets and maximizing equipment life and getting maintenance information,” says Allen. “There is more they can do; they just don’t know it. One of the things we’ve done is align our resources to our customers’ business objectives. We help them achieve their objectives by making sure they’re looking at the right reports or dashboards or even measuring specific ROI items collectively together to help them become power users of the system.”

Formal consultations occur at least quarterly, says Allen. More frequent contact may be recommended proactively, depending on circumstances. “You keep your customers happy by helping them maximize the information they’re getting to better their business, to get a stronger ROI or a better experience for their end customers. We have to become service providers as well as technology platforms.”

Future tech The nuts and bolts of telematics technology is not super-sophisticated. Basic machine sensors or humans input information, and the software disseminates the information via the cloud or the web to whoever needs it. But there are a handful of advanced technologies that may become incorporated into telematics in the future, and these hold even more promise.

Cameras are already being used in some mining applications that analyze a driver’s face to detect head and eye movements and automatically alert managers about over-tired employees. Collision avoidance technology and the same collision avoidance systems being used in autonomous and semiautonomous passenger cars could be easily integrated into an off-road telematics system.

For the near term, however, there are many advantages from vendors creating better dashboards that help to interpret the data and provide more actionable data, says Majapuro. “That will be a big step forward.”

DeCock adds that the full adoption of universal telematics data standards will also help drive

adoption. While acknowledging the progress being made with the Association of Equipment Management Professionals Telematics Standard 2.0, the industry’s codes are not as uniform as they could be. “That would make life for the contractors much easier,” he says. “But that dream or vision is still being found.”

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2033-503_059 LWT_050_PR_716_US-Markt _EquipWorldMgz_USA_GB_02.indd 1 Untitled-37 1

15.12.17 15:23 12/18/17 2:16 PM

quick data

Dozers

| by Marcia Gruver Doyle |

MGruver@randallreilly.com

A snapshot of new and used sales trends from Randall-Reilly’s Equipment Data Associates and TopBid auction price service.

Year-over-year change*

NEW: DOWN 1%

Auctions

USED: DOWN 6%

Dozer Auction Prices, Dec. 2016-Nov. 2017 $106,000 $105,000

High: $104,114

$104,000

July 2017

*Comparison of number of dozers financed Nov. 1, 2016 to Oct. 31, 2017, and Nov. 1, 2015 to Oct. 31, 2016.

Source: EDA, edadata.com

$103,000 $102,000 $101,000

Top three states for dozer buyers*

$100,000 $99,000 $98,000 $97,000

1-year average: $

100,866

Low: $97,531

$96,000

April 2017

$95,000

Current: $100,003 Nov. 2017

$94,000 $93,000 $92,000

In November, the average price for the top 10 models of dozers sold at auction was 4 percent below the one-year average of $100,866.

$91,000 $90,000

1

Texas: 405 buyers

2

Florida: 200 buyers

3

Louisiana: 158 buyers

$89,000

Dec.

Jan.

Feb.

Mar.

Apr.

May

Jun.

Jul.

Aug.

Sep.

Oct.

Nov.

PRICE

2016 2017 Trend prices for the top 10 models of dozers sold at auction, not seasonally adjusted.

347,500

$

OTHER TOP BID:

Top financed new dozer*

Top auction price, paid for a 2013 Caterpillar D8T with 2,485 hours at an IronPlanet online sale on Jan. 1, 2017

335,000

$

2015 Komatsu D275AX-5EO, 3,892 hours, Ritchie Bros., Apr. 20, in Minot, North Dakota

0 35,0

0

0 94,5

$

0

AVERAGE

$

MEDIAN

Dec. 1, 2016 – Nov. 30, 2017; prices for dozers 5 years old and newer, U.S. sales only.

Only includes bids $5,000 and above. Source: TopBid, topbid.com

LOW

Final bids unit count: 513

107

New

Dozer new, used sales trends, 2007-2016* 26,000 24,000 22,000 20,000 18,000 16,000 14,000 12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 4,000 2,000

$

,424 Used

Used low: 2016, 16,625 units New high: 2007, 8,440 units

Used high: 2010, 22,171 units New low: 2011, 4,261 units

EW0118_Quick Data.indd 41

2014

2015

Other top selling new machine: Deere 700K, 213 units

Top financed used dozer:* Cat D6N LGP, 221 units

Over the past 10 years, used dozers have represented more than 71 percent of the total number of dozers financed.

UNITS 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 *Financed equipment, 2007 - 2016, number of units sold by sale or lease. Source: EDA, edadata.com

Cat D5K2 LGP, 322 units

2016

*In terms of number of new and used financed units sold Nov. 1, 2016 to Oct. 31, 2017. Source: EDA, edadata. com (Note: EDA reports are continually updated.)

EquipmentWorld.com | January 2018 41

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highway contractor

| by Joy Powell |

JoyPowell@randallreilly.com

Curb-and-gutter manufacturers focus on keeping it simple C

ontractors are looking for more simplicity in their curb-andgutter machines. So, manufacturers have made that a top goal in their design principles.

“A big part of making the machine more productive is making it easy to run,” says Stephen Bullock, vice president of sales and marketing for Power Curbers. “The simpler you can make it, the better.”

Simplicity also helps contractors bring new operators onboard.

“The number one concern we hear from our customers is that labor, specifically skilled labor, is the hardest thing to find,” Bullock says. The easier you can make machine operation, the more flexibility a customer has in whom he can choose to be a machine operator, he says.

Customers also want easy loading and unloading, so the Power Curbers machine has been designed with a low center of gravity and low profile that make it easier to get on and off.

They also want all-around visibility – from the front, where the chute man is feeding the machine, to the back, where concrete is coming out of the mold and an operator needs to easily make adjustments to the finished product, manufacturers note.

Wirtgen says its AutoPilot system reduces construction costs, allows

faster setup and improves accuracy.

Even an inexperienced operator can quickly learn AutoPilot, the company says.

“Offset slipform applications such as parapet barriers and curb-and-gutter work can benefit from Wirtgen’s proprietary AutoPilot system, which permits stringless paving on a variety of jobs,” says Tim Nash, director of concrete products, Wirtgen.

Newest technology “Today’s contractors are looking to purchase concrete paving equipment with the newest technology available because they know that technology will make things faster, easier and better for them on their projects,” says Kevin Klein, vice president of engineering, research and development at GOMACO. He notes that the G+ control system offers “simple sophistication” on GOMACO’s full line of concrete paving equipment. With G+, an operator simply connects a 3D stringless control system to the paver, then connects two pavermount GSI (GOMACO Smoothness Indicator) units to the back of the paver to get real-time smoothness results on screen for easy monitoring of paver operation and diagnostics.

Contractors also want to simplify diagnostics. Klein notes that with G+, customers can make

diagnostics with GRD (GOMACO Remote Diagnostics). “It’s more than telematics – giving owners the visibility of how, when and where their equipment is being used,” he says. Without leaving the owner’s shop or jobsite, technicians can get a diagnostic review of a machine from corporate headquarters in Ida Grove, Iowa.

Several features make the EasiPour machines “operator friendly,” including the operator control platform and simple machine setup, says Curtis Bales, business and sales manager.

“Everything is within reach of the operator, and very simple design allows for operator comfort,” he says.

“The Compact 880 sets up in less time, making the contractor more efficient.”

Smaller machine considerations “In our niche of the market, simplicity is exactly what contractors are looking for,” agrees Tim Messinger, president of Curb Fox, which makes smaller curb-and-gutter machines. “We’ve tried to make it as simple as possible, so an operator can be trained in how to run the machine in a couple of hours.”

MBW’s three models range in weight from 3,000 to about 4,000 pounds, compared to 12,000 to 15,000 pounds for typical curb-andgutter machines, says MBW Presi-

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dent Frank Multerer. The controls and sensoring devices are designed to be much simpler in the smaller machines, he says.

“If you have a problem,” Multerer says, “you want a problem to be easy and cost-effective to deal with, so we’ve stayed with simple potentiometers and control systems.”

These smaller machines can ma-

neuver in tight quarters, so they’re best for work in malls, parking lots and subdivisions, he says.

The extrusion machines can provide more shapes and sizes of curb than the larger slipform pavers, says Larry Dewey, Curb-Tec president and engineer. They range in price from $9,000 to $25,000.

Extrusion machines minimize hand work, which cuts labor costs,

Power Curbers Power Curbers’ 5700-C curb-and-gutter machine features three-crawler steering that enables tight turns, within a 2-foot radius.

“Being able to turn those radiuses with the machine keeps you from having to manually form it up,” says Stephen Bullock with Power Curbers. “An operator could go out and pour island after island with the machine versus spending hours on one island and having to set up forms.”

The 5700-C Smart Amp control system combines the simplicity of analog with the added benefits of a digital controller, Bullock says. “It’s a simple way of setting the sensitivity on the sensors for the machine, to dial in the machine to get the steering and elevation controls just right.”

Power Curbers also offers 150, 5700-C Max and 7700 curbing machines.

and they provide easy layout with a consistent finished product.

“One key that makes our machines unique and easy to use,” says Hank Rochette, sales manager of Miller Curber, which also makes extrusion curbers, “is that we offer so many different options for so many different jobs.”

Here’s a round-up of what’s on the market:

Curb Fox Most of Curb Fox’s customers don’t want the high-tech GPS, stringless option because of the higher cost, the company says.

Curb Fox’s best-selling model, the 5000-T, bears the slogan, “simple versatility.” The company claims it’s the smallest all-track machine on the market. Curb Fox’s smaller units all use tires, but about six years ago, at customers’ requests, Curb-Tec came out with this all-track unit, a design more commonly found on large pavers.

The company has taken into account the increasing demand for stringless/GPS capability.

The Curb Fox 5000-T offers an option to plug in a Leica stringless system.

Curb Fox also offers the 2000, 3000 and 5000 models.

EquipmentWorld.com | January 2018 43

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highway contractor

Wirtgen Wirtgen America offers three slipform pavers for curb-andgutter/parapet placement using offset molds. The new SP 61i is capable of paving offset up to 9 feet, 10 inches wide and 7 feet, 2 inches high.

The SP 15i is capable of paving offset up to 6 feet wide and 4 feet, 3 inches high. The SP 25i paves offset up to 8 feet, 2 inches wide and 6 feet, 7 inches wide. Both the SP 25i and SP 61i can place sidewalk or pavement slabs in inset mode as well.

The AutoPilot stringless control system is available on the Wirtgen SP 15i and SP 25i.

The system uses a computer integrated in the machine and a control panel. For course control, two machine-mounted GPS receivers communicate with an additional GPS reference station positioned onsite.

For precise grade control, a laser, ultrasonic sensor or total station is used.

| continued

Miller Formless The Miller Formless M-1000 has a compact four-track design for greater accuracy and more maneuverability, the company says. The design enables easy, quick turnarounds and 24-inch radius.

The M-1000 can pour up to 5 feet wide. It transports at 8 feet, 6 inches in width. Standard equipment includes a diesel engine rated

at 110 horsepower and 2,000 rpm, patented microprocessor controls for elevation and steering, three vibrators and a heavy-duty modular auger.

It offers visibility for monitoring all aspects of the pour process, and it can be ordered as a left- or right-hand pour.

Miller Formless also offers the M-8100 and M-8800.

44 January 2018 | EquipmentWorld.com

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highway contractor

| continued

MBW With its smaller machines, MBW makes transport and cleaning of its pavers easy and keeps maintenance low, the firm says.

MBW makes three models. The two-wheel drive C101 pours to a 12-inch width with an 18-inch height.

The two-wheel drive C101-18 pours to an 18-inch width and height. And the three-wheel drive CG200 slipform profiles within a 48-inch-wide by 18-inchhigh parameter.

While production rates vary and are dependent on mix, grade and crew proficiency, a typical day’s pour with its pavers would be 1,000 to 1,500 feet of curb and gutter, MBW says. And in the tack-on curb over pavement application, the MBW Paver has the potential to slipform up to 5,000 feet a day.

The C101 is easily converted into a C101-18 or a CG200.

GOMACO The new three-track GOMACO Commander III X, or Xtreme, can slipform pave at 24-inch radius. It features rotary-sensored slew-rig steering, sensored leg positioning, independent travel circuits to each track and a three-sensor radius system. It has improved fuel efficiency and capacity, GOMACO says.

Using the new Xtreme radius software bundle, the operator can simply program the size of the radius into the G+ controller. Approaching the radius, he or she activates the radius program, and the paver slipforms around the radius.

The smart hydraulic cylinders on all three legs of the Commander III X allow G+ to know the position of the tracks at all times, the company says. Smart hydraulic cylinders are also used for telescoping the mold-mounting system for intelligent offset and repeatable mold offset.

GOMACO also offers Curb Cadet, GT-3200, GT3400, GT-3600, 3300 and the 4400.

Easi-Pour The Compact 880, available in rubber wheel or track configurations, provides molds for applications for all curb and gutter configurations.

Simultaneous trimming and pouring with the Compact 880 makes concrete placement more efficient, the company says.

String line packages are available.

The Easi-Pour machine has a 1.75-cubic-yard capacity, closeable hopper, which allows for the transport of concrete across the jobsite to the next starting point. That minimizes stopping between concrete trucks. The operator has clear view around the entire machine.

Easi-Pour’s lineup also includes the 570, 650B and 1000 models.

46 January 2018 | EquipmentWorld.com

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CurbTec CurbTec makes two small extrusion curbing machines, the CT-3000 and the CT-900. Both have extra-large material hoppers to make life easier for the operator.

The CT-3000 is self-propelled by just the touch of a button, in forward and reverse, using a rear-wheel power system. The material feeder system and hydraulic elevation jacks are electronically controlled. The “reverse on the fly” auger is a key feature. The CT-3000 can fill a trench and form a curb at the same time.

The 25-horsepower machine paves up to 18 inches high and 18 inches wide in standard offset position. With optional belt conveyor, it paves up to 20 inches high and 2 feet wide. Functions are controlled from the operator’s panel on the steering handle.

Miller Curber Miller Curber, which also makes extrusion curbers, says its most popular machine is the MC650.

Miller Curber’s machines are designed for constructing small to mid-sized continuous curb from either concrete or asphalt. Nearly 2,000 curb shapes with custom choices are available.

The machine produces quality, dense curb at a rate of up to 15 feet per minute, according to the company. A larger machine, the MC900, can produce curb at a rate of up to 30 feet per minute.

Popular options include a lifting lug, cast compaction tube, removable hopper plate, vibrator, hydraulic brake and swivel rear wheel.

Also available are the MC655, which is the same as MC650 but with modified frame allowing extrusion under existing guardrail.

The MC750 has two continuously turning auger assemblies, allowing immediate changeover from right- to left-hand extrusion.

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EquipmentWorld.com | January 2018 47

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CONGRATULATIONS

to the 2017 Contractor of the Year winner and finalists IN

R

E

N

W

Roy Chipley

Raymond de Vre’

Carl Jones

Hiram DuRousseau, II

Chipley Company Florence, South Carolina

Blacktop Paving Homewood, California

Carl R Jones Excavating & Hauling Fredricktown, Missouri

HD Truck & Tractor Lake Charles, Louisiana

Jim Hutzel & Charity Bennett

Leo Livengood

Matthew Whaley

KAT Excavation & Construction Hutzel’s Concrete Construction Sour Lake, Texas Malvern, Arkansas

Livengood Excavators Walnutport, Pennsylvania

Whaley and Sons Kodak, Tennessee

Richard Preston & Claudia Preston McCord

Joseph Palmer

Tom Sawyer

Marshall Flowers

McKinnley Excavating Chattanooga, Tennessee

Sawyer Construction Fremont, Nebraska

Sun Construction Darlington, South Carolina

Preston Construction Johnson City, Tennessee

Kerry & Belinda Trest

Sponsored by:

SP13010_2017_COY_Congrats_Ad.indd 1

3/28/17 4:51 PM

Untitled-46 1

4/18/17 9:15 AM

contractor of the year finalist

| by Tom Jackson |

TJackson@randallreilly.com

Fifth-generation construction family prevails with hard work, community spirit and Texas attitude

I

f you can’t work hard, you won’t last long in Texas.

It’s just part of the culture, and something the world saw this summer when Hurricane Harvey dumped 5 feet of rain along the Texas Gulf Coast.

Just east of Beaumont, KAT Excavation and Construction was swamped by that deluge. Flooded shop and offices. Water up to trucks’ floorboards. Hundreds of thousands of people without homes. But as with so many others, Kerry and Belinda Trest, son Chris and their employees pulled on the waders, fired up the bass boats and started fighting back. Hard work for sure, but nothing this fifth-generation construction family couldn’t handle. It’s what Texans do.

Venturing out Kerry Trest grew up in the construction business. As the years went by, he decided he would try it on his own.

He started out small, with a chainsaw cutting trees. He rented a dozer to do a few jobs and just kept going.

He bought his first piece of equipment, a Cat D4 dozer, in 1989 and started site work and land clearing, officially incorporating the company in 1992.

In 1996, Kerry also saw some regional opportunities in trucking and bought dump

trucks. “We got so busy, we couldn’t find enough dump trucks to keep our equipment busy, because everybody was busy at the same time,” says Kerry. “So that’s when we started buying dump trucks.

We went from a construction company to a dump truck company.”

By 2009, Kerry had 28 trucks and was hauling material for himself and other contractors in the area. “At that point, we pretty much quit doing civil work and went 95 percent oilfield. We ran sand pits, sold rock and materials and built pads and retention ponds,” says Kerry.

Recession But as usually happens, the price of oil dropped. The country entered a deep recession. Kerry cut his fleet to 15 trucks and started looking to diversify, primarily back to civil construction. Kerry and his team moved their focus to jobs in the field. Today, the company is back up to 22 trucks, five operators, three mechanics, a helper, 22 to 24 drivers, two dispatchers, and support staff members.

The recession also taught KAT Excavating some tough lessons about business. “You can’t live on a promise of others, but we still have to live up to the promises we make,” Kerry says. “We

Kerry and Belinda Trest, KAT Excavation and Construction City, State: Sour Lake, Texas Year Started: 1989 Number of 41 employees: Annual revenue: $7 million to $10 million Markets served: Grading and excavating, land clearing, material hauling, soil stabilization, tank pads, ring levees, pipelines, construction trucking, commercial, residential and industrial EquipmentWorld.com | January 2018 49

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contractor of the year finalist |

continued

Hurricane Harvey brought waist-high floodwaters to KAT’s yard and offices.

The Trests’ son, Chris, worked his way up in the company and is running jobs himself. learned a lot about choosing our customers to make things run a whole lot smoother. We have always had commitment to deliver quality service, trust and dedication to our customers, and have learned along the way you should be able to expect the same from them.”

Equipment utilization also became a priority. “We rent a lot of equipment, all of our bigger stuff, and even some of the small stuff,” Kerry says. “We’ll add equipment, but it’s one or two pieces a year. We have to look at how much work it’s going to take to pay off that piece of equipment before we buy it.”

Wife and partner Kerry’s wife, Belinda, has worked in the business in various roles throughout the years and stepped in full time in 2013. During the recession, the two of them forged a plan to diversify and strengthen the company and survive the recession intact. A lot of that plan had to do with their workers.

“We refer to them as Team KAT,” says Belinda. “We mail them a weekly newsletter and do openended meetings and surveys for their feedback. We offer healthcare benefits and bonus incentive programs not usually seen in a company

our size. We try to create a feeling of ownership and pride.”

Recognition also plays a big part in the company. The employee of the month is selected by fellow employees, and the employee of the year is voted on by the staff.

The HR efforts have paid off in terms of the loyalty and longevity of many of the company’s workers. “We’ve had some people with us for 20 years plus,” Belinda says.

Recently, KAT was awarded Best Small Employer by Work Force Solutions of Texas for the South-East Texas Region.

Kerry and Belinda agree that Generation X and baby boomers are a reliable demographic for the company and have something to teach. “We have also seen an influx of people who tried to retire at 62 or 65 who must rejoin the workforce to supplement their Social Security income, and they have become some of our best and most reliable employees.

I really have to compliment those guys,” says Belinda.

“Some of the older guys, if they know somebody is taking care of them, they’re going to dig in and stay awhile,” says Kerry. “We have a team of drivers comprised of men and women who are committed to our vision and service. At the end of the day, we want long-term employees.”

As with many companies in Texas, KAT Excavating loses people

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to the oil and gas industry during booming times. And when the oil patch goes bust, many of them return. This inspired the company to institute “Pidgeon Awards” for those coming back to KAT; the one with best story gets the “Leader of the Flock Award” at the company’s annual Christmas Dinner.

Working his way up And while millennials may be the toughest demographic to recruit and retain in the construction and trucking business, there’s one millennial in the company who seems to be earning his keep.

The couple’s son, Chris, age 26, started working for the company when he was a sophomore in high school. Since then, he’s gotten a taste of all aspects of the business including the shop, dispatch, equipment operation, and job bidding and estimating. Last year, they put him in the field to start running jobs.

Kerry admits he was a bit nervous when Chris started taking responsibility for his own jobs, frequently pinging his son with phone calls and questions.

But it didn’t take long for Chris to convince his dad to give him free reign. “He’s working hard out there. He has to prove himself more than the other guys, and he’s doing an amazing job,” Belinda adds. Kerry and Belinda are proud

of Chris as the family tradition continues.

The Trests also have three daughters who help with filing and other office chores when it gets busy. And everybody in the family and members of Team KAT get involved in big cookouts for charity and community events, some feeding up to 500 people. The company is also involved in a host of community organizations including Texas High School Rodeo, Chamber of Commerce, 4-H, FFA, Special Olympics, the Texas Oilman’s Bass Classic and The American Cancer Society.

Safety In addition to the safety meetings required by the DOT, KAT Excavating uses the services of a contracted safety expert, road compliance liaison and additional nonrequired compliance services. The company also sends key people, usually someone from each department, to OSHA training annually. Additionally, they invite their insurance company to come on site, inspect the operations and make recommendations.

Award winning The company’s performance and ethics have not gone unnoticed in its home state. In 2016, the company received the Torch Award in the

Chris Trest, Team KAT and friends manned bass boats to rescue stranded homeowners during the flood.

For Profit Large Business category from the Better Business Bureau in Southeast Texas. The award is based on the company’s commitment to ethical practices among employees, vendors, contractors and competitors; and involvement with local volunteer and charitable organizations.

“Many people have said he’s the best grading contractor in the Beaumont area,” says Cody Odell of Mustang Rentals. “It’s rare in this size of company to deal with the owner, but that’s one of the reasons they’re so respected around here.”

Colin Garrett of G&G Enterprises Construction has been impressed with how clean Kat Excavation and Construction keeps its jobsites.

“That’s something they take a lot of pride in, something that’s normally a hassle with other contractors, but they do it voluntarily. They’re a great company all around.”

“They try to work with you, point out ways they can save you money and get stuff done quicker,” says Joe Penland Jr. at Quality Mat. “They are the kind of people who when the job starts, they attack it. Their people are so well-qualified that they can get more done than other people can do with double the crews.”

EquipmentWorld.com | January 2018 51

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product report

| by Tom Jackson |

TJackson@randallreilly.com

New Cat excavator line features new hydraulic technology, automation and smart-phone start

H

ow cool is this: An excavator that you can start with an app on your smart phone.

That’s just a tiny fraction of the digital razzle-dazzle from Cat’s most significant change to its excavator program in 25 years.

The changes will eventually roll into most Cat excavators, but the company chose to start this Next Generation program with its popular 20-ton excavator class, specifically the new models designated the 320GC, 320 and 323.

Brian Stellbrink, market professional, global construction & infra-

structure, calls this strategy, “The new platform for the future.” Plans are underway to apply the same redesign to the 36-ton excavators next year and the 30-ton excavators a year after that.

Cat is claiming up to 15-percent lower maintenance costs, 25-percent improvement in fuel efficiency and 45-percent improvement in productivity. But as with something so ambitious, there are a lot of details.

tech versions of the same machine.

The GC model is a no-frills excavator for contractors who don’t intend to put a lot of hours on the machine day in and day out, or don’t need digitally-guided or GPS automated digging controls.

The latter two machines offer 2D and 3D machine control and a number of features to bolster performance in production environments and high-load applications.

Three versions The strategy behind the launch is to offer a low spec version and two high

Common mechanical platform The Next Generation excavators operate on what Zack Kauk, Cat’s EquipmentWorld.com | January 2018 53

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product report

| continued

vice president, excavation division, calls a “digital heart.” It includes a first-of-its-kind electro-hydraulic valve, electronic pump and electronic engine that are knit together with a single electronic control unit that governs every aspect of the machines’ performance.

The new hydraulic pump features a main control valve that eliminates the need for pilot lines, reduces pressure losses and lowers fuel consumption. Fewer hydraulic lines mean you need 20 percent less oil to power the system. The pump is also larger than the previous generation to maintain high output under lower engine speeds.

Wrapped around this intelligent hydraulic system are a bank of five separate electric on-demand fans to individually control temperatures on hydraulic oil, engine oil, the radiator, and the air-to-air aftercooler temperatures. Most excavators (and most machines, actually) combine cooling functions into two or three radiators.

The five-radiator bank on the new Cat excavators means that you can quickly achieve and maintain the optimal temperatures on each of these functions without the compromises of a shared radiator and fan. That helps maximize the performance of each component.

And the fans, being electronically controlled and on-demand, reduce parasitic horsepower drag on the engine caused by more redundant or less intelligent systems.

Technology dazzle Although they share the same mechanical DNA as the 320 GC model, you get an impressively wide range of digital technologies when you step up to the 320 or 323 models.

Standard from the factory, these machines include a 2D dig-assist system. The 2D systems automate the position of the bucket to give you the ability to dig to a precise depth and contour. The 320 and

323 also feature Cat Payload as standard – an automated bucket weighing system that enables you to put precisely the right amount of material in a truck and avoid the wear and tear on trucks that comes with overloading.

You can also get Cat Grade with 3D as a factory option on the 320 and 323, which ties the machine into satellite positioning and digital site plans. Another option is Cat Grade with Advanced 2D, which adds in-field design capabilities through a touchscreen monitor.

The assisted and automated digging controls are governed by sensors on the boom, stick and bucket.

These add a tremendous amount of productivity to your excavator operations – no rework, no roughout and cleanup, no putting a guy with a survey pole in the trench to measure the depth.

Safety bonus Cat added swing and body tilt sensors to the Next Generation 320 and 323 excavators that create what Cat calls an “E-fence” and “E-ceiling.”

Set the parameters of this E-fence or E-ceiling and you can prevent the bucket or boom from inadver-

tently hitting an overhead power line, a bridge, a wall or structure, or swinging into traffic on congested road building sites. A rear facing camera also helps improve safety.

Creature comforts Everybody redesigns their cabs it seems, but Cat went an extra step and included the aforementioned smartphone start feature in the Next Generation excavators. You can also start them with a key or a touch pad, but no doubt younger operators will get a kick out of using the myEquipment app to start the machine. The app also allows operators to set up their personal preferences for the controls, which the machine will recognize as soon as they enter the cab with their phone.

Caterpillar also enlarged the cab and improved sightlines to the operator’s left. Special attention was paid to the design and the seat and the seat fabric to prevent it from wearing or tearing – something that often diminishes the perceived value of a used excavator. The 8-inch touchscreen monitor has smartphone-like options and plenty of space to designate automated settings and read 3D GPS plans.

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54 January 2018 | EquipmentWorld.com

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Looking for safety resources? ..............................................

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

Equipment World’s Safety Watch articles are now available for download on our website. Designed for use in training and in toolbox talks, the articles cover a range of important safety topics such as falls, trenching, welding, back-over accidents and more.

..............................................

Each Safety Watch features an actual construction accident, and outlines ways to prevent similar accidents from occurring on your jobsite.

AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH and SPANISH

Visit equipmentworld.com/safetywatch

| by Tom Jackson |

TJackson@randallreilly.com

Illustration by Don Lomax

safety watch

F

Winter’s hidden hazards

resh fallen snow. So pretty to look at, so deadly when drifts conceal danger.

Six months before winter set in, a farmer changed his propane supplier. The supplier disconnected the tank behind the home and moved it to the paved driveway turnaround area in front of the home for pickup. But despite repeated calls, the old supplier failed to come out to the home and remove the old cylinder.

The day and night prior to the accident, 14 inches of snow fell.

Before first light, the victim and his son started clearing snow around the driveway and property using two front-end loaders. Investigators suspect the depth of the snow and insufficient lighting in the area partially concealed the bottom of the propane tank. The victim made several passes with the loader, pushing snow off the edge of the

turnaround area when he struck the cylinder on its end, resulting in an 8-inch by 1-inch gash on the end of the cylinder. The cylinder released a cloud of propane gas, which was ignited by either the heat of the motor or a spark caused by the metal-on-metal contact when the cylinder was struck.

Across the street, the victim’s son saw the fireball, ran to the incident and found his father about 30 feet away from the loader lying in the snow. Emergency response teams arrived 20 minutes later. The victim was taken to the hospital, but died from his injuries the next day.

How this accident could have been prevented: • When moving propane tanks to a different location, set the tank in an area away from traffic and vehicles.

• Install protective fencing, barricades or posts to protect above-ground

propane tanks from damage.

• Identify and mark the propane tank’s location using stakes, flags or poles.

• Make sure the area around any propane tank is illuminated after dark.

• Insist that propane tank suppliers remove disconnected tanks as soon as possible and remove any remaining gas from the disconnected tank. Propane is heavier than air, and even an “empty” tank will often have some gas remaining at the bottom unless it has been evacuated.

• Train employees on the safe placement, handling and operation of propane tanks including NFPA Part 58, Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code Section 6.6.1.2, Installation Guidelines; and Propane 101: bit. ly/propane101 For more information on this accident see: bit.ly/SafetyWatch118

Date of safety talk: Leader: _____________________ Attending: EquipmentWorld.com | January 2018 57

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alerta de seguridad

| por Tom Jackson |

TJackson@randallreilly.com

N

ieve fresca que acaba de caer. Tan linda a la vista, tan mortal cuando al esparcirse disfraza el peligro.

Seis meses antes de la llegada del invierno, un granjero cambió de abastecedor de gas propano. El abastecedor desconectó el tanque ubicado detrás de la casa y lo llevó al área pavimentada circular de la entrada en frente de la casa para su recojo. Pese a repetidas llamadas, sin embargo, el antiguo abastecedor no vino a la casa a recoger el cilindro viejo.

Durante el día y la noche previas al accidente, cayeron 14 pulgadas de nieve. Antes de la primera luz del día, la víctima y su hijo empezaron a despejar la nieve alrededor de la entrada y de toda la propiedad usando dos cargadores frontales. Los investigadores sospechan que la profundidad de la nieve y la escasa luz en el área ocultaron parcialmente el fondo del tanque de gas propano. La víctima realizó varias pasadas con el cargador, empujando la nieve pasado el borde del área circular cuando golpeó la base del cilindro produciendo una ruptura de 8 por 1 pulgadas en la base del cilindro. El cilindro despidió una nube de gas propano que prendió fuego, quizá por el calor del motor o por una chispa causada por el contacto de metal sobre metal cuando se golpeó el cilindro.

Al otro lado de la calle, el hijo de la víctima vio la bola de fuego y corrió al lugar del incidente, hallando a su padre a unos 30 pies del cargador, tirado sobre la nieve. Los equipos de emergencia llegaron 20 minutos después. La víctima fue llevada al hospital

Illustration por Don Lomax

Los peligros encubiertos del invierno

pero falleció al día siguiente a consecuencia de sus heridas.

Cómo pudo haberse prevenido este accidente • Al mover de lugar los tanques de gas propano, coloque el tanque en un área que esté lejos del tráfico y los vehículos.

• Instale cercos protectores, barricadas o postes para proteger de daños los tanques de gas propano colocados sobre la superficie.

• Identifique y señale la ubicación del tanque de gas propano usando estacas, banderas o postes.

• Asegúrese de que el área que rodea cualquier tanque de gas propano esté iluminada después de que oscurezca.

• Insista en que los abastecedores de gas propano retiren los tanques desconectados tan pronto como sea posible y que evacúen todo residuo de gas del tanque desconectado. El gas propano es más pesado que el aire e incluso un tanque “vacío” tendrá algún resto de gas en el fondo a menos que haya sido evacuado.

• Capacite a los empleados acerca de la colocación en un lugar seguro, el manejo y la operación de tanques de gas propano, incluyendo lo referente al NFPA Part 58, el Código de Gas Licuado de Petróleo Sección 6.6.1.2, y las Directrices de Instalación; y el ABC del gas propano (Propane 101) en: http://propane101.com/index.htm.

Para mayor información sobre este accidente visite: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/face/pdfs/11mi006.pdf

Fecha de la charla de seguridad: Líder: Asistentes: 58 January 2018 | EquipmentWorld.com

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landscaping attachments

| by Don McLoud |

DonMcLoud@randallreilly.com

Drilling fast in soft or moderate soil The Bobcat 15C direct-drive auger is designed to drill holes fast in softer to moderate soil conditions, such as sand, dry material and light dirt, and leave the hole cleaned out. It has a combination output shaft that allows for both hex and round bits. It is 10.6 inches wide and 37 inches long and can dig down to 62 inches without an extension. It can be used with certain Bobcat compact track and skid-steer loaders, excavators, Toolcat utility work machines and the V519 telescopic tool carrier.

Stump chips stay in the hole Fecon’s Stumpex stump grinder works on skid steers with as little as 20 gallons per minute of hydraulic output.

It can handle any stump that is 10 to 28 inches in diameter and down to 20 inches deep in a single pass. When grinding, the chips stay in the hole because of the Stumpex’s threaded cone and staggered AR500 cutting blades.

That makes cleanup easier and faster, the company says. It weighs 1,500 pounds and produces up to 33,600 foot-pounds of torque at 4,000 pounds per square inch of pressure.

EquipmentWorld.com | January 2018 59

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landscaping attachments

| continued

Drive 6-inch post in under 20 seconds

Eterra’s PDX-750 Breaker Style Post Driver works on backhoe loaders, skid steers and excavators and replaces the PD-750 driver. The company says the PDX-750 can drive a 6-inch post into the ground in less than 20 seconds. It delivers more than 750 foot-pounds per blow and can handle large railway ties.

Eterra offers a variety of post guide housings and driver heads for the attachment, as well as a 5-foot breaker spike for hard ground or rock.

Improved cutting in thick grass

Skid Pro’s X4 series of Industrial Brush Cutters comes in openfront and closed-front models. The attachment’s 480-pound flywheel has four blades delivering a 6-inch cutting capacity at standard flow. It is also available in a high-flow option. The drive shaft is 3-¾ inches in diameter, which the company says is in the top of its class. The “extra tall” 10-inch deck and raised back provide better discharge and improve cutting in thick grass, the company says. It features a front push bar and integrated bumper for pushing down and cutting large saplings.

60 January 2018 | EquipmentWorld.com

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Quickly moves and plants trees

Dymax says its pallet forks with hydraulically adjustable tines are designed to quickly handle, place and plant wrapped trees, while also handling pallets in and around nursery grounds. The tines, which are available in lengths of 48 to 60 inches, are mounted to a 52-inch-wide fork carriage. The tines are easily adjusted by two hydraulic cylinders, the company says. The pallet forks attach to skid steers and compact wheel loaders.

More aggressive rotor

The Starforst forestry mulching machine from Seppi M. has been redesigned with widths of 82.6, 92.5 and 102.4 inches. The mulchers are equipped with a new Mono Tip V-Lock rotor that has a single tooth in every carbide. The rotor is more efficient on logs and thick wood, reduces wear, improves balance and makes tool changes easier, the company says. The V-Lock is designed to provide a firmer attachment. Hardox anti-wear plates have been placed inside the casing.

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equipmentworld.com | January 2018

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final word | by Tom Jackson

TJackson@randallreilly.com

A New Resolution

W

hen the New Year rolls around, many people make resolutions to try something new. I suggest otherwise.

Resolve instead to get better at something you’re already good at.

The reason is this: few people are very good at multiple things. Jimi Hendrix couldn’t play acoustic guitar for beans.

John Fogerty (Credence Clearwater Revival) dropped out of the rock and roll circus and tried to learn how to play bluegrass. He failed, even admitting he couldn’t quite get the hang of it. Music is just one example of where tremendous skills on one instrument area don’t often translate very well into others, even if they’re similar instruments.

Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book on this theme, “Outliers: The Story of Success.” He believes most success is a matter of practice, and it takes 10,000 hours of practice to get good at anything. 10,000 hours is five years, 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year.

This idea runs counter to the all-American myth that you can be whatever you want to be if you just try hard enough. What the millions of advertisements, school counselors and self-help gurus don’t tell you is how long you have to try. Most American’s haven’t got the patience.

Europeans know this. Training for people in the trades starts in middle school. The last two years of high school typically involve a part-time apprenticeship followed by a

journeyman period. On a tour of Lichtenstein about 10 years ago, I decided to take a walk, get some fresh air and inspect the quality of their road paving. The cut stone curbs impressed me, but what really amazed me were the manhole covers. They were set so perfectly into the asphalt that there was barely a one-eighth-inch height difference between the pavement and the steel of the manhole cover. That takes the kind of skill that requires decades of experience.

Construction, medicine, the military; there are still vocations in this country that demand years of diligence. But too many young people today don’t know this and tend to wash out after some initial frustrations. If you manage young people, you have to take this into account. Attention spans have never been shorter. Everybody wants to be a rock star, but few are willing to practice scales late into the night. That many people see construction as a temporary job, a job until they find something better, only adds to the problem.

In today’s world, you don’t want to be a jack of all trades and a master of none.

Generalists are a dime a dozen. Easy to hire, easier to fire. Let your young people know this. And if you want to be one of the best in what you do, set the example. Resolve this year to build on the skills you already have and get your people thinking that way too.

66 January 2018 | EquipmentWorld.com

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