Category Archives: heavy equipment

Cat PM620 Cold Planer Milling Machine

Caterpillar PM620 Cold Planer Milling Machine

Road construction is considered to be one of the most challenging jobs in the construction sector. One may find it hard to believe that in order to construct a road right from its start to its end it takes several months and at times years. Different types of heavy equipment are used for road construction but the one that is termed to be the most crucial is the Cold Planer Milling Machine. So when we are talking about milling, it ideally involves removing the upper surface of the road so that it can be refilled with stuff that helps to make the road smooth. Not just removing the upper surface, if required it can be used for a full depth removal. There are many companies who produces milling machines but if we check the performance of companies that has fared exceptionally in the last many years we will have just one name. i.e. CAT PM620.

The Cat PM620 is installed with automatic plunge-cut which makes sure that the starting cuts are precise and repeatable and also diminishes the wear and tear on the machine. It also has an automatic load control system which make it all the more perfect. The engine it has is a powerful CAT C18 ACERT which has a gross power of 630 hp. The total operating speed of the machine is 100 m/minute and the maximum travel speed is 6 km per hour (3.7 mph). The operating weight of the machine is approximately 33,330 kg (73480 lbs.) and it includes other features like coolant, lubricants, full fuel and water tank and 75 kg operator (165 lbs).

Talking about the most intrinsic feature of the machine – the cutting system; the milling width of the machine is 2010 mm and the number of bits is 178. The maximum cutting depth that it can go is 13 inch which is remarkable as per the industry standards. The rotor speed is around 118 rpm and the minimum left and right cutting radius is approximately 2 meters. Moving to the tank capacity, the capacity of the fuel tank is 1108 liters (292 gal.) and the diesel exhaust fluid tank of 47 liters (12 gal.). The cooling system of the machine is around 85 liters (22 gal.). The engine oil, hydraulic oil and water tank is around 65 liter (17 gal.), 113 liter (29 gal.) and 3400 liter (894 gal.) respectively. It makes it better than any other machine in the same genre and this is why it is the ultimate choice of many road developers.

To operate this machine is no rocket science as an operator with relatively less years of experience can also quickly master it. The electrical system in the machine is color coded and numbered so that the user does not have a hard time in understanding which button means what to him and can quickly get adjusted to the system. It is installed with a very small device known as “Electronic Control Module” which monitors the engine and the various other systems of the machine and alerts the operator in case there is any kind of performance related issue. It also helps the operator with troubleshooting messages so that issues that are miniscule can be taken care at the very first instance.

Use stickers and paint to give a new look to your heavy equipment

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Do you run a construction business? Regardless of small or big, you must own some or the other heavy construction equipment, right? Well, just like others, you too will have to encounter the problem of the heavy construction equipment being old and worn down after continuous usage for years. However, the worn down appearance of the heavy construction equipment do not affect the performance of the machines. In that case, replacing the machine or buying a new one is not at all a solution or an option. What should you do in that case?

What are the problems that you face?

Before you think of giving your heavy construction equipment a makeover or refurbishment, it is a must that you know about the problems that you will have to face with them.

  • In most cases, the heavy construction equipment loses its colour. This is because these machines and tools are exposed to concrete, cement, mud and dust and many such hard particles that can wear off the paint of the equipment. Despite cleaning the equipment regularly, you will find that the paint is not staying for long.
  • Yet another difficulty that the equipment operators face is that the machines and tools within the equipment lose their tags or instructions. Hence, new operators have to face trouble with understanding which button or lever indicates a certain function.
  • Structural damages are some of the most common damages that are caused to the heavy construction equipment. When your heavy equipment suffers this damage, it will require serious repair. Otherwise, it might lead to serious accidents.

Giving the heavy equipment a new look:

If your heavy equipment has undergone these troubles, it is a must that you choose some refurbishing techniques to give your equipment a brand new look. This is something that you will have to do carefully, so that it does not cause you too much of cost.

  1. Paint the equipment:

 

One thing that is a basic and must be done once in a while is to paint your heavy construction equipment. Your equipment requires occasional paint, as this enhances the beauty of the equipment as well as increases the life of the equipment. The reason behind this is that the paint for the heavy construction equipment is strong and protects the heavy metal bodies of the equipment. Hence, be it the weather damages or the concrete or cement damages, the paint will protect the equipment for long.

  2.  Use stickers:

 

Stickers are something that can always give a new look to any of your vehicles and other personal assets. However, when it comes to the heavy construction equipment, using stickers is a great idea. Not only can the stickers give a new look to the equipment, but they can also help you to revive the indication and instruction labels. As these stickers can be easily customized, you can make the stickers as per your requirement. Even the sticker that boldly expresses the name of your construction company can be used on the equipment.

So, what are you waiting for? Give your equipment a new look with the simple stickers and paint and get rid of the old and wearied look.

Operators need specialized trainings to work on different machines

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For special jobs, you need men who have full-fledged knowledge about the work and also experience to handle that kind of work without hassles. Now this knowledge and experience are secondary. What is primary is the training that is given to the person to do that kind of job. In the construction sector, every person is trained to do his part of the job well but it is the operators/mechanics who require specialized training to work on different kinds of heavy equipment. Though the primary function of every machine may be the same but in order to work them out like a professional, the operator has to get himself trained for some weeks and then try his hand doing the actual job. He may find it difficult in the beginning but as he prepares himself for the task on the machine, he will find his comfort zone in the new heavy equipment.

Need to be slow in the beginning:-

When the operator first starts to get trained on the new heavy equipment, he should be slow with maneuvering the machine. He may have worked earlier on years on a particular type of heavy equipment but the new one is different and it may act differently in different situations. So he needs to first know the various functions that are available in the machine and how it impacts the overall movement of the equipment. Once he gets his hands on it, it will be a piece of cake for him. Also, when situation changes he need to again go slow and check how the machine reacts.

For instance, if the operator is given to work on an updated version of a CAT excavator which is huge in size and is used for operations in the forest/construction area. The forest land in every location is different so will the machine act differently. The operator needs to be extra careful when he moves out of one forest location and enters the new one. The land out there may be full of ditches or quite muddy to not have a stable ground for the machine. This will give a hard time for the operator to work on the new excavator.

Should remember the different functions:-

Normally when you are accustomed to working with a set of a machine, you tend to know the in and out of it. If someone closes your eyes and instruct you on what you should be doing, you may perhaps have little problem but will reach your hands to the right buttons inside the machine. This is because you know everything about it that you can work being blindfolded. Well, the case changes completely when you are handed over a new heavy equipment which does have its switches and buttons in the same place as it was in the old machine. So you need to get your hands trained on them as well. By no means can you press the wrong button or else you will end up in a big blunder.

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Make sure that the raw materials are there in the jobsite on time

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For any industry to survive, receiving raw materials on time is a must. They are probably the second most important resource after human resource because as long as the raw materials are not there, the labor force may not move an inch forward and the work will remain pending. Due to this reason, it is quite imperative for the person in-charge of the stocks to ensure that the raw materials are always available and when he finds that they are running out of stock, order them in advance so that the labors do not have to wait for it come and leave their work pending. The importance of raw materials is felt mostly in the construction industry. This sector in particular will be unable to work if they do not have the stock of raw materials with them. They perhaps understand the importance of raw materials better than any other industry.

Simultaneously, they do not just have to depend upon on type of raw materials. In a construction jobsite, they require different types of raw materials to get the desired result. So the person who is in- charge of keeping a stock of the raw materials need to absolutely sure that he has all in place and in case if there is a deficiency of any stuff that needs to be ordered well before time. In the construction sector, the stock of raw materials is kept by the site engineer. Though they participate in many other things, this becomes major part of their portfolio. Their annual appraisal is also determined on how carefully they have managed their part of job and the kind of onus they have shown. Their promotions are also based on this work. Mostly, this one carries a major point as far as their growth is concerned in this industry.

Must keep the stock of raw materials on weekly basis:-

You may never know when the raw materials are out of stock. When the construction in the jobsite is in full swing, they just use everything they have and there is a higher chance that you may run out of stock. This is why it is recommended that you keep monitoring the stock on a weekly basis. If you can manage to check it more frequently it will be better but anything more than a week can be risky.

Liaise with several vendors:-

When it comes to ordering raw materials the site engineer have to get in touch with many vendors to procure different types of raw materials. It is never that one particular vendor will deal with all kinds of raw materials and this is why developing rapport with several vendors is a crucial one. Also, many a time, some vendors may themselves run out of stock. In this situation, he needs to get in touch with some other vendor. This means that the person who is in-charge of keeping stock of raw materials need to know all possible vendors in the city so that if one runs out of stock, he can get the materials supplied from some other vendor. Liaison with several vendors forms part of his work and he needs to be the best in it.

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Use social media as a tool to augment your heavy equipment business

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The construction and the heavy equipment industry are largely dependent upon new technology. The construction industry is always in the hunt of heavy equipment that can get the work done quickly and with utter precision. Now this is only possible if you upgrade your heavy equipment by adding new technology in it. This will bring in a new life to the machine and it will work with more vitality under tremendously rough situations. Now that was all about how technology can help get the work done at a faster pace. However, if we want to make use of technology to advertise our products and services so that it can reach to thousands of people at a given time, there is no better option than talking about your business in social networking websites. There you can reach to a large number of population without having to pay a penny for it.

There are many companies who are involved in the process of creating their business profiles in social networking websites like LinkedIn, Periscope, and Facebook etc. There find this to be an excellent tool to reach out to a sizable amount of people at one go. They have seen their business growing in this fashion and acquiring more clients from such networking websites.

There are few do’s and don’ts that one needs to follow while they set up their business profile in a social networking website.

Keep your personal and professional profiles separate:-

It is very crucial that you keep 2 accounts in one social networking website, one for your personal use and the other for your professional. If you are into selling of heavy equipment of all the brands, you can make use of your professional account to mention that there. Talk everything about your business in that account but pay special attention that you do not talk much about your business in your personal profile. If you share a couple of your business stories to any of your friend on the personal profile, it won’t be an issue but if you only keep on bragging about your success stories all the time on your personal account, your friends might get turned off by that. They definitely do not check your profile to know about the success in your life. They just simply want to know if things are ok with you.

Maintain strict professionalism on your business account:-

You should keep your business profile very professional. Social networking websites like LinkedIn are meant for professionals and businessmen who are looking to acquire clients and get businesses from them or to reach to the skilled masses and absorb them in their business. If you are an authorized dealer, you should be very stringent when it comes to professionalism.

Post a photo of your company:-

It makes ample of sense to post a picture of your company’s logo on your business profile. It help your prospective client to understand the kind of account you are holding and they will move into your business account to know more about your business and will not stray down to your personal account.

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Pay your heavy equipment loan on time to keep up to good credit score

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Ideally construction companies and contractors buy heavy equipment by borrowing money from banks and other financial institutions. They do not want to use their financial reserves as that is needed to take care of other miscellaneous expenses and moreover the money you need to buy heavy equipment is often more than what people have in their reserves. So they have to eventually turn up to banks for borrowing funds. Now if you already have taken a loan to buy heavy equipment, you should make sure that you pay all the monthly installments to the bank on time or else it can have a negative impact on your credit score. Any default will affect your credit rating and this is something which you will not want to happen with you. If your credit rating falls, it gives a direct indication to the lenders that you do not pay your installments on time and they might reject any further loan application put by you in future.

Loans’ getting rejected is definitely not a good sign for a business owner. He is always in need of money and if any of his loan application is rejected at a crucial juncture, he may find himself into deep trouble. Though there are some financial institutions that are ready to lend money to people having poor credit rating but they do it with heavy rate of interest. So your financial need will be fulfilled for the time being but you will end up paying lot more than you would have to any other banks in normal circumstances. This can also have a negative impact on your business as you will not be able to save money to build up any reserves. Whatever you earn, you might end up paying that to the bank and it is absolutely pointless to engage yourself in something like that.

One thing leads to other. If you do not pay your monthly dues for buying heavy equipment on time and messes up your credit rating, you will also not be able to find lenders to buy other construction materials. It takes time to improve your rating and unfortunately in an industry like construction, you can’t afford to lose time. Therefore maintaining the credit score by paying your monthly dues on time is one of the best ways to avoid lowering of your credit rating.

The only way you can manage to pay the monthly installments is through proper planning and not to spend on things that are of least importance to the business. When we talk about proper planning, it means that you got to do your budgeting well and also take into consideration any unforeseen instances that are likely to happen and can affect the payment of your monthly dues. Take help of experts or of experienced people in your company. Their advices may really work for you. Consider what they all have to say and do not be too aggressive while taking business decisions.

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Veteran salesman should be supportive to the newbie

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No wonder doing a sales job is one of the most difficult jobs one can do and it becomes harder when you do not get much support from the people who have been doing this job for years. It is pretty obvious that the young guns will definitely look for some sort of support from the older guys and this will what help them to climb up the ladder in life. Selling heavy equipment is considered to be a tough man’s job and not everybody can take the agony of persuading clients to purchase a thousand dollar stuff which the sales guy himself does not know much about.

The new ones will certainly not have much idea with what they dealing with but the tenured guys know how to crack the deal and which machine is used for what purpose. They kind of try to know the requirement of their client and then pitch their product. But the newbie will not be able to do that effectively. He may possibly speak everything about the heavy equipment that he has learnt from various sources but when it comes to comparing it with the client’s requirements, there are high chances that he might get completely bowled.

Give veterans a team to mentor:-

Every newcomer to any business needs a mentor to guide them. Here the veterans can play the role of a mentor and guide the new sales guys to glory. There are lots of tricks to a successful sale that a veteran sales person learns during his years of selling heavy equipment. He can share a bit of them and check how the guys are incorporating those tricks in their sales activity. Right from cold calling to fixing an appointment to making a successful sale, he needs to check that the guys are doing well in their job. In case, if someone is having a hard time and is dealing with some issue, he can jump in there and try to fix the problem. If required he can accompany the person for few appointments with different contractors or construction companies and show him the right way to sell heavy equipment.

Talk one to one with the new guy:-

Talking one to one with the new guys is a crucial point that the veteran should take into consideration. Not all are brilliant salesperson and some needs that extra nurture to develop into an excellent sales guy. More to this, not everybody understands heavy equipment the way it is and therefore there is a need of someone who can explain them about machines in simple terms. There will be no better person than a veteran who can help the young guns with their problems. Not everybody will speak up in front of everyone and they might feel more confident to speak on a one to one basis.

The beginners are full of energy and they can find ways to deal with things but what they need the most is some support from the experienced lots and once they get that, they can very well take care of their profession.

Smooth Drum Roller vs. Padfoot (sheepfoot) roller

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It is said that good roads play a pivotal role towards the development of any economy. You need good roads to move items real fast because when it comes to good service time also plays a crucial role and good roads saves a lot of time if you have to transport things by roads. Imagine what you situation would be if you have to ferry something on an urgent basis and you know that it will take time just because the roads are not in good shape. Well, it will for sure irk you to the bottom. The importance of flat roads is better known by people who drive regularly on roads and when they encounter bad roads during their journey, it agonize them like anything.

Well that was all about good roads but there is something that plays a crucial role in making good roads. It is heavy equipment like smooth drum roller or a Pad foot roller that gives the roads a good shape and makes it a comfortable journey for all of us. Let us start by discussing smooth drum rollers first.

Smooth drum rollers are ideally heavy equipment with a big roller in the front of the machine and 2 tires at the rear. Smooth drum machines are used on roads that have more granular materials laid on it. Smooth drums are used when materials like sand and gravel are paid on the surface of the road. It actually works towards locking the pieces together giving a stronger grip to the road. The performance of the smooth drum roller also depends upon the moisture the soil has as it allows better movement without any friction.

Heavy equipment companies like CASE manufacture quality smooth drum rollers. As a matter of fact, they are known for producing many high quality rollers for different kinds of roads. It is evident that a smooth drum roller or a pad foot roller is not the only solution for all types of roads and therefore CASE has many versions of rollers for the end user.

Moving towards Padfoot roller which is also known as Sheep foot roller is more typically used on roads that have more consistent and solid materials laid on it. Materials such as clays need a Padfoot roller on it. Using any other roller can simply deteriorate the quality of work and lead to more complications. Pad foot roller is used on cohesive soil because the soil has the tendency to stick and slip over each other. This is why a Padfoot roller which has the capacity to shear the soil with its drum and achieve the required compaction is used. It is to be noted that ballasts can be added to augment the weight of the machine which in turn gives better compaction.

The price of both Smooth drum roller and Padfoot roller is well within the reach of any construction company/contractor. They are not overtly priced like many other machines that are used in road building and other construction works.

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How to handle rejection as a heavy equipment salesman

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We all see selling as a difficult profession. It is because you got to convince people to buy something that you believe is important for them. However, the person to whom you are trying to sell it may not find it to be at all important. So your job then becomes to talk about all the possible features related to the product and create the need for it in the mind of the taker. This creation of need in the mind of the prospect is a real tough job and not many are able to do that successfully. Many ace sales persons have written in their books about the difficulties they have experienced while creating the need in the minds of the prospective buyer and they have also suggested ways and means that one can take to tackle that part of the problem. However, there is something more important that a salesperson should be learning before learning anything else and that is the way to handle a rejection.

Salesmen who are into selling of heavy equipment have a real tough time doing their job. They are actually dealing with a high priced product that is basically sold to people belonging to a particular domain. This means that your market is quite restricted. It is not like selling a high priced car that many like but can’t buy as they can’t afford it. Here the case is completely different. You are dealing with an item whose takers belong to a specific industry and therefore your scope to sell it in good numbers becomes restricted. This is perhaps the reason why a heavy equipment salesman has the chance to experience rejection lot many times than a salesman selling a car.

Be optimistic in your approach:-

Your approach speaks a lot about your personality and especially when you are a heavy equipment salesman your approach matters a lot than anything else. Your knowledge on your product needs to be absolutely bang-on and that perhaps constitute a larger portion of your self-confidence but your approach towards your profession should be nothing less than splendid. You may have been rejected many times and there may be situations when people will simply not want to meet you but that should not deter you or your approach towards meeting people. Your frame of mind should be always optimistic, nothing less than positive. It is this positive approach that plays an instrumental role towards handling rejection.

Share your experiences with your seniors:-

It is always useful to be around people who are jolly and have a good sense of humor and if such people are your seniors you should consider yourself to be damn lucky. You can share your experience where the prospect didn’t want to buy the machine or have insulted you or simply asked you to leave, leaving you dejected. Your senior in this case will give you a piece of their mind and try to ease you by cracking a joke or two. It also acts as a stress buster. Not just your senior but share your days’ time with anybody that you are convenient with. You can also play around with your dog for that matter. It is undeniably a great way to handle rejections.

Go to esteemed institutions to hire operators

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A construction company spends good amount of money for buying heavy equipments and then needs to spend a lot to simply keep the equipments well maintained. Servicing and maintenance of heavy equipments is a necessity that one can just not ignore and if they got to spend some dollars to keep the stuffs in order, it is perfectly a fair deal. In order to lengthen the life of the machines, the owner should also hire able and competent operators who possess in depth knowledge about them and work without causing any unwanted damage to the machine. Experienced and highly skilled operators are rare to find. You will just not find them idle and are usually hired by construction houses at a price which most of the small construction companies will find difficult to pay. Just in case if you get to find someone of this stature looking for a change of company, you got to be sure that you can shell that amount of money to hire him.

Simultaneously, if you have such kind of experienced operators in your company, ensure that you keep them happy and well paid because if they are unhappy about their package there are many other companies ready to pick them up. Quitting of experienced operators is always a threat and you should be ready to counter such threats if you want to stick to the industry. Well, there is one smart move that you can take to minimize this threat if not eliminate it completely. You can hire young operators who may not have much work experience and are ready to work for you at a lower price. In this way, you are not exploiting their talent and can also mitigate the threat of experienced operators moving to some other company.

Hire people from esteemed institutions:-

You need to first make a list of institutions and their rankings. Once you know the names of some good institutions, reach them out to hire operators. You can arrange a campus interviews and hire guys with good scores in their academics, people with real good knowledge of this domain and guys who are looking to make this profession as their career. Out of the many that you will hire, you will definitely get few who will stay long with the company and in this process can eventually prove to be a valuable asset to the company.

Knowledge on machines is vast:-

Going to esteemed institutions gives you the benefit of hiring guys who have good knowledge about the latest breed of machines. Young kids and ideally smarter than their earlier generation. It is just that they are not experienced in dealing with things and once they get some hands-on knowledge, they can really excel in their domain. These kids may need some guidance and will be able to pick things up very quickly.

Once you get them trained in the right fashion, things will start moving smoothly for you and you will diminish the threat of the old chaps leaving the company as you have the newer guys to take care of their businesses.