January 2008: Groundbreaking News

Case Offers Onboard Scale Systems for Wheel Loaders

On the Rise: FMI Forecasts Continuing Growth in Nonresidential Construction

New Remote-Controlled Bobcat Loader Offers Comfort, Safety and Added Coolness

Caterpillar Sponsored Team Takes First Place in Robotic Race

Letter to the Editor: Locating the Problem

Case Offers Onboard Scale Systems for Wheel Loaders

Case Construction Equipment has announced the availability of onboard scale systems for Case Wheel Loaders. The two scale options, Loup Electronics’ Load Log 800 and Load Log 8000, are available for field installation on Case wheel loader models 521, 621, 721, 821 and 921.

Onboard scales provide a variety of productivity-enhancing benefits for wheel loader operations. Weighing ‘on the lift’ speeds operation, enabling operators to load more trucks per shift, ensuring that trucks are correctly loaded the first time. Onboard scales help eliminate return trips for overloaded and under-loaded trucks, and reduce visits to the weigh scale. The systems also improve site safety by eliminating unnecessary vehicle movements. A further benefit is that they generate operational logs to ensure accurate record keeping.

“We’re confident our wheel loader customers will appreciate the value of Loup’s onboard scales, said David Wolf, marketing manager for Case Construction Equipment. “Loup Electronics is a trusted supplier to Case and has a strong reputation in the industry for its customer service, which was a key factor in choosing them to supply onboard scales for Case wheel loaders.”

Darrell Farmer, president of Loup Electronics, added, “The relationship between Case and Loup Electronics has grown successfully during the past several years. We are delighted to be selected as the onboard scale supplier for the Case wheel loader product line. We want to assure Case customers that we will be working with the Case dealer network to provide dependable after sales support on a 24/7/365 basis.”

On the Rise
FMI Forecasts Continuing Growth in Nonresidential Construction

Life is all about balance ­­— the give and take and ups and downs. It always seems to settle into equilibrium. The same is true for the equipment industry. While the slowdown in residential construction and housing markets has taken its toll, other avenues have grown to compensate for the loss. The latest report in the Construction Outlook: Fourth Quarter 2007 from FMI, management consultants and investment bankers to the construction industry, predicts nonresidential construction continuing to rise in 2008 and 2009.

Nonresidential construction was booming in 2007 and will increase again in 2008, although at a slower rate, the report noted. Nonresidential construction will expand at a 5 percent rate in 2008 and a 4 percent rate in 2009, as the declines in residential begin to lower demand for certain nonresidential segments, the report predicts.

“There are several drags on the economy such as housing and credit tightening. However, resilient consumers, businesses and exports have so far been able to prop it up,” said Heather Jones, construction economist for FMI’s Research Services.

The report also comments on the housing correction. It is not expected to begin recovering until 2009, the report states. However, FMI believes that put in place construction will realize a smaller decline than housing starts due to rising labor and material costs, upgrades and the use of higher-end materials. Despite large declines in total residential and single-family construction, both will remain at a high level.

The Construction Outlook, a quarterly construction market forecast developed by FMI’s Research Services Group, noted that FMI is not yet predicting a national recession or a downturn in nonresidential construction in 2008, although the outlook is tipped slightly downward.

Historical information in Construction Outlook is based on building permits and construction put in place data as provided by the U.S. Commerce Department. Forecasts are based on econometric and demographic relationships developed by FMI, on information from specific projects gathered from trade resources and on FMI’s analysis and interpretation of current and expected social and economic conditions.

New Remote-Controlled Bobcat Loader Offers Comfort, Safety and Added Coolness

While many of us fear that unmitigated equipment automation will lead to a future ruled by robots, big companies like Bobcat feel that perhaps a simple remote-controlled piece of equipment could increase comfort and safety for us humans on a jobsite.

Bobcat has perfected a Bobcat loader radio remote-control system that enhances the capabilities of Bobcat skid steers and compact track loaders with selectable joystick controls, offering a simple solution for customers who want to operate their loader remotely.

Operators can start the loader engine and operate the drive, lift, tilt and auxiliary hydraulic functions from approximately 1,500 ft away with the radio remote control transmitter. The transmitter joystick controls activate the loader’s joystick controls in the ISO control pattern.

The system is usable for up to 15 hours on a rechargeable battery. In addition to being able to use the system in various climate conditions, operators can easily switch between “remote” control mode and “machine/direct” control mode.

The transmitter weighs 8.5 lbs without straps, and its actual transmitting range will vary depending upon worksite conditions; however, visual contact with the loader and its travel path is always required.

Bobcat representatives say the radio remote control system option will be attractive to customers in several markets, including military, government, construction, landscaping and agriculture. The system will be especially beneficial to the military because of a military mandate that one-third of all ground vehicles must be unmanned beginning in 2015.

Caterpillar Sponsored Team Takes First Place in Robotic Race

It takes futuristic technology to power Caterpillar’s hard-working, productive construction equipment. Occasionally, Cat lets some of its new technology run wild. The latest sighting is the Cat-sponsored robotic vehicle, developed by Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), that took first place at the 2007 Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) Urban Challenge.

The Urban Challenge featured autonomous ground vehicles maneuvering in a mock city environment, executing simulated military supply missions while merging into moving traffic, navigating traffic circles, negotiating busy intersections and avoiding obstacles. The teams had six hours to complete the 60-mile course. The challenge is designed to help the Defense Department develop a fleet of autonomous ground vehicles to improve troop safety.

“Because Caterpillar is in the business of developing innovative equipment to perform in rugged work conditions, this partnership made perfect sense,” said William “Red” Whittaker, the Carnegie Mellon robotics professor who led CMU’s Tartan Racing team. “Tartan Racing’s performance in the
Urban Challenge left no questions unanswered. We out-performed everyone in the field with the best driving, maneuverability and speed.”

The teams used a systems integration approach including: global positioning systems, sensors, lasers, radar and other technologies that feed information to computers to guide the robot through the course.
Nearly 60 participants applied for this year’s event with the field narrowed to 11 following a series of qualifying events. Also receiving high honors was Caterpillar-sponsored Virginia Tech’s “Victor Tango” and Oshkosh Truck’s “TerraMax.” Virginia Tech was awarded third place with a cash prize of $500,000 and Oshkosh was one of the 11 finalists.

CMU received the $2 million cash prize along with the recognition as a national leader in robotic engineering. CMU’s Tartan Racing victory was based on three criteria: data collected during the competition, race time and its ability to comply with California traffic laws.

“Team Caterpillar is tremendously proud to be involved as a sponsor of CMU’s Tartan Racing team. This victory represents what can happen when business and academia combine forces and work toward a shared goal of advancing technology,” said Tana Utley, vice president of Caterpillar’s Technology and Solutions Division and chief technology officer.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Locating the Problem

Your article in the Nov ‘07 issue of Utility Contractor [Lost and Found, p. 14] was informative and made some very good points. I would like to make some comments regarding the article and offer some additions to the Locating 101 section. 

I have been in utility marking and mapping for Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) for more than 20 years. I have marked lines for one-call systems on private facilities such as military bases, college campuses and large department of transportation (DOT) corridor projects. I have used a wide variety of electromagnetic equipment and seen many crazy things — mislabeled valve and manhole covers, conflict manholes ­— where a water main goes through a sanitary sewer manhole — lines curving and changing direction for no apparent reason, water mains directly under sidewalks 6-in. deep and much more. 

Those tasked with marking and mapping underground utilities, whether it be for one-call or SUE, have an extremely tough job. It is hard for anyone to walk right in and be a locator, especially a good locator. If you do not do this on a daily or regular basis, you are asking for trouble. I think it should be noted that contractors should only have a locator on site for use as a double check or in case of an emergency, unless they have received some real world training from a facility like Staking U or the Utility Training Academy in Alabama. Spending an hour or two with an equipment representative is far from being properly trained. While folks like Dave Smith know their stuff, not all reps are as knowledgeable.

I cannot tell you how often I have seen contractors and even those working for one-call companies and city force using electromagnetic locators incorrectly. I have seen locators standing as close as 10 ft from the transmitter when the unit is in the inductive mode, not knowing that the signal at this point is much stronger coming through the air and not though ground, making it possible to get a signal anywhere and everywhere. This is called air-lock. This also applies to those who perform two-person sweeps too close together. I have seen locators not check all signals in an area during a 360-degree sweep, start marking the first signal they pick up, mark it for 20 to 30 ft and walk away. Not knowing how to use your locator properly can often do more harm than good.

I was just on an HDD project where the county had mis-marked several sewer force mains by as much as 30 ft and were typically off by 3 to 6 ft. This was because they were marking by records only and not using any equipment other than a paint stick. My firm was hired to mark and vacuum excavate all lines that crossed their proposed path, since the contractor suspected the marks throughout the project were incomplete or mis-marked. Some of the lines had to be found with Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), which most one-call locators and contractors do not typically have. My point is that if there hadn’t been a well-trained, well-equipped locator on site, there would have certainly been damaged utilities.

The comment about one-calls not being 100 percent accurate is an understatement. Unfortunately, the one-call industry is based on the lowest bidder. This quickly trickles down to the field personnel, who are asked to perform in a stressful and often hectic environment, are not fully trained and do not have the advantage of a SUE person who has all of the utility records in hand, as opposed to just having one or several records due to the contracts they have.

It has always been my philosophy that depth measurements are to be used solely as a guide and to give this information out, even if it is to your co-worker on a backhoe or shovel in hand, could be a very dangerous practice.

Glenn Fox
PULS Inc.
Butztown, Pa.