Tag Archives: heavy equipment

Modern heavy equipment are the need of the hour in the construction business

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The construction business has always been a competitive zone and it has been observed that more and more people are getting into this industry making the competition all the more difficult. With new competitors in the market who are ready to take bigger risk, the one with more experience are having a tough time dealing with the fact that there is an urgent requirement of sophisticated heavy equipment to sustain in the competitive environment. There is only thing that can keep you above from the rest and that is technologically advanced machines. Your machines should be capable of doing work that others take days to complete and if you possess such machines then you have more chances of getting big projects that has huge profit margins. At the end of the day, it is all about the quality of work that you give to your clients that will decide the existence of your company.

Follow the best brands in the market:-

Technologically advanced machines are manufactured by many heavy equipment companies. However, the difference lies in the quality of those machines. Not every machine manufactured by different set of companies will deliver in the same manner. Some will last long enduring the same wear and tear and others will give away sooner. So you have to decide which one will be yours. Often the heavy equipment manufactured by the top brands lasts longer than their counterparts and therefore that should be your first choice. You can then do your own research and nail the one that suits your requirements. However, it is critical that you go for the top brands and not with companies that does not have significant name in the heavy equipment industry. Other than that, you can expect decent resale money if you sell machine of branded companies but can’t expect the same from a non-branded one.

Though expensive but worth the price:-

The technologically advanced machines are quite expensive given the ease and comfort it provides to the user. It is agreed that such machines are not affordable to everyone but at the same time also not beyond the reach of people who seriously want to upgrade their arsenal. The user will undoubtedly find it to be expensive but at the same time they will also feel that it is absolutely worth the price. If it is an absolutely out of budget case, one can opt for the smaller version of such machines. They will not cost much and also will be within the reach of many. It can act as a substitute for the larger version.

Real comfort for the operators:-

It is the operators who go through the pain of operating the machine. They have to take immense care when they are working with equipment that is not much advanced. Any mistake from their end can result in a big casualty. They will always appreciate if they are given machines that are simple to operate and does not need too much of their attention. They call them intelligent machines and they need such machines for work.

What does LGP (low ground pressure) stand for?

Heavy equipment are very heavy and can cause serious damage to the ground if they do not have proper low ground pressure. This is a subject that many people using heavy equipment may not be aware of. It is only because that this subject doesn’t affect their work in any way. However, people who have studied heavy equipment as their subject may know how important low ground pressure is to keep the ground away from much pressure from the heavy equipment. The equipment if do not possess low ground pressure can significantly damage the soil which can be dangerous especially for farmers because they will then slowly and steadily lose the quality of the soil. It may be also possible that the soil may become infertile. Therefore, it becomes very important to reduce the ground pressure from heavy equipment and the keep the quality of the soil intact.

What can be done to reduce the ground pressure from heavy equipment? Well, one of the most important parts that can be done to reduce the ground pressure is replacing the steel tracks with hard plastic tracks. That will significantly bring down the pressure to a larger extent thereby keeping the quality of the soil undamaged. There are few companies that produce such plastic plates that can be used as ground tracks for heavy equipment. Nylatrack plates are one such plate produced by “Quadrant Engineering Plastic Products” that comparatively brings down the weight of the machine. It is said that they are 80% less weighty that the steel plates thus exerting less pressure on the ground. Similarly, there are many more such plastic plates manufacturing companies that play a mighty role in today’s modern engineering and also keeping the ground pressure low.

Another benefit of using plastic tracks is they can easily work on soft grounds which is difficult for heavy equipment with steel plates to do. They can also work on pavements which again may not be so simple for heavy equipment with steel tracks. Exerting low ground pressure will have almost no side effects on the ground. Other than replacing the steel plates with plastic plates, there is one more way to lower the ground pressure. Just by reducing the noise, one can also reduce the ground pressure. The equipment vibrations are soaked up by the plastic plates which only happen if the tracks are flexible in nature. By installing plastic tracks, the tracks of the machine become quite flexible which in turn absorb the vibration coming out of the tracks and thus the noise of the undercarriage goes silent. This means that there is less stress on the drive chain that happens predominantly because the plastic track plates absorb the bending force.

The plastic track plates manufactured by companies are immune to oils and seawater which makes it a machine that can work in extreme conditions. Since it has plastic plates, it is very unlikely that the soil will stick with the plates. This will prevent any sort of damage to the ground.

Heavy equipment that is used by the military

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If we think that heavy equipment are used only by the construction or the mining industries then we are only partially correct with our thoughts. There is another sector which is presumably larger than the both the sectors which also uses number one quality heavy equipment and accessories and this is the military. The US military uses various types of heavy equipment for its different uses and they give the order of its requirements to some top notch companies. The requirement is given to the heavy equipment manufacturing companies and they in return give the quotation to the military officials. Once they get the clearance from the higher officials, the procurement process starts off.

The reason why military needs advanced heavy equipment is that they always get involved in activities that can’t be done without the use of sophisticated machines. Machines that some construction companies have probably never heard or have seen are procured by the military for doing everything that a logical mind can think of. They use bulldozers, excavators, cranes, loaders, crawlers etc. and they train their men for the work. They at times also recruit operators from outside but for work that is done in highly confidential places, they prefer to put their men at work. Therefore, they also provide training of operating heavy equipment to the men in uniform so that they can curtail the use of civilian operators in highly confidential zones.

The heavy equipment used by the military may not be similar to the ones used by civilians. They are more sophisticated and technologically advanced and have the potential to do the work at a comparatively lesser time than the machines used by big construction houses. You may have witnessed some companies using machines that seemed to have served the military. Well, it all works this way. Once the heavy equipment gets older or outdated and the engineers in the military feel that they no longer need their services, it will auctioned at dirt cheap price to the civilians. These heavy equipment still have their worth in sectors other than military and therefore you will get to see large number of potential buyers interested to buy such machines.

Other than that the quality of metal used in such machines is outstanding and hence everybody knows that they will end up buying something worthy at a lesser price. The US military not only used heavy equipment produced by American heavy equipment manufacturing companies. They do not mind going for machines that are produced by French, German, Canadian or Australian companies. They primarily need quality to be number one and second the machine should deliver by consuming less time.

There is not set model of a machine. They may produce a dozer and make it look like something else. It may not look like a dozer that we all know. It may not necessarily be deceptive but the model that is used for military purpose is quite unique but will be highly reliable and efficient.

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Heavy Equipment being used in the Military

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The role that heavy equipment play in the construction and the mining industry is known to all of us but few know the importance it has in our military. The United States Military depends a lot on the heavy equipment and they go for the best in the market. Therefore, you will get too see machines manufactured by CAT, John Deere, Hitachi and other popular brands being used by them. One of the most common reasons why the Military requires heavy equipment is to load the weapons in a truck and then transport it from one place to another. It is pretty obvious that the kind of weapons US Military has can’t be lifted by ordinary machines and the need of big strong machines are evident.

The Military also needs heavy equipment to build their bases. They ideally do not give works like these to any private contractors due to reasons of security. There is a wide possibility of intelligence information may get leaked in case they hand over the job of building bases to private contractors. It is therefore that they buy the equipment directly from the company and use them to construct the bases. The use of different kinds of heavy equipment is more in constructing air bases and air strips. There you need the strip to be absolutely smooth take-off and landing and for that you require the best of heavy equipment to put them in use.

The heavy equipment manufacturing companies majorly produce customized machines for the Military. They first receive orders from the Military upon the kind of equipment they are looking for and in turn they present few designs which are based on the needs of the Military. The Military in turn approves the design and give them the order to manufacture “X” number of machines. This is how they go about manufacturing heavy equipment for the defense sector and probably this is why you will hardly find any similarity between construction equipment used by a contractor and the ones used by the defense personnel.

The heavy equipment manufacturers also ensure that they dedicate few employees to service the machines built for Military purpose. These men are not given any other job and are only entitled to service the machines the companies have produced for the defense. These men are given special ID’s that suggests that they belong to a private concern but are allowed to work inside the military compound. At times, these men also have to work on naval ships, sometimes on the water and at times beneath the water.

The companies have to ensure that the service they offer to the Military is of top notch quality and they do not receive any sort of complaints from them. The US military is using all sorts of heavy equipment right from dozers to grader to loaders. Special training is also given to the military personnel to operate the machine. It is evident that the guys in the force do not have much knowledge how to operate it and hence giving proper training to them becomes very ess

Knowledge always pays off in the heavy equipment and construction sector

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A man with abundant knowledge is respected and greeted well wherever he goes and specifically if he intends to make money by selling his knowledge, he will have many takers. We currently live in a society where people tend to know more about gadgets and less about the industry they are in. This does not mean that they should not know about gadgets but this means that they should give equal importance to the subject they are dealing with and therefore it becomes very hard to find someone who is an expert in their respective domain. We are perhaps more attuned to things that are kind of not so important to us and less interested in what we should know. Other than that, many people like to keep themselves restricted to the work they are doing. It seems that they have killed their hunger of learning something new in life. The curiosity has just died down and this seems to be a very dangerous sign.

Keeping the current trend into consideration, many heavy equipment companies are hiring people who have enormous knowledge in their field and are also paying them handsomely to work for them. Something that was abundant at one point in time is now rare to get and for which companies are ready to pay good sum figures to ace engineers and machine designers. Knowledge does not necessarily come out of books. In order to get more knowledge, one has to work endlessly and also have the urge to learn more. It is only then that he will get to learn new things in life. If you get to check with some real good engineers that deal into manufacturing of heavy equipment, you will find that they used to work for hours at a stretch just to understand how things work and what can be done differently to simplify things for the comfort of the user.

Time was only restricted to a word for them as they did not know the literal meaning of it. Companies like Caterpillar, Hitachi, and John Deere are said to have such experts working for them which is why they are such renowned heavy equipment manufacturing companies. People who use their equipment do not want to switch to any other brand. They have complete faith on their products and know that it will last for many years. It is very difficult to generate this kind of trust in the minds of the user. You can only get this trust if you can give them the number one product that you have manufactured and every product of yours should be number one.

Heavy equipment industry is a highly rewarding industry. Many people have made their career being a part of this industry and are dwelling a decent live. However, in order to get to this place they had gone through rigorous training and acquired enough knowledge which they have used for the development of the company and for the betterment of the users.

 

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Do not let winter eat away your heavy equipment

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Winter is a major cause of concern for both heavy equipment manufacturing companies as well as construction companies. Once it starts snowing, things become very difficult for them to carry on. The ongoing projects come to a standstill and there are high chances that the construction companies may not be able to deliver the work in time and due to this they may incur heavy losses. No business would ever like to make losses just because the weather condition is hostile and it did not allow the men to work. Other than that, the construction companies are also at risk as far as their equipment are concerned. Most of the equipment during winters just do not want to start. So the operators also face a tough time in getting the equipment started. A lot needs to be done to take care of the machine during the winters. Heavy equipment are at their worst during this chill season and if proper care is not taken then there may be lot of complications which will ultimately result in a bigger mess.

Check if the engine oil is in order:-

We tend to remain so busy with our work that we fail to give the required attention to the machines. Changing the engine oil at least once in 2 months should be done without fail. However especially winters, they should be checked more frequently and made sure that the engine oil is in good shape. In case, if the oil becomes thick then it is time to change the oil. Any delay in that situation will only cause problem to the machine reducing its longevity.

Get the equipment serviced by an expert mechanic:-

Just when the winter is knocking the door, it is advisable to get the equipment serviced by an expert mechanic. It would be prudent if you do not get the machine serviced by anybody other than an expert. Just when the winter is at the corner, a lot of things need to be checked in the machine which may often get skipped by a routine mechanic but may hardly skip the eye of an expert.

Painting the machine will be a good alternative:-

If you have an old machine and it needs urgent attention of the mechanic, get it checked first and then get it paint for once. Painting the machine will give a new look to the machine. You can also put some stickers or logos especially in areas where it is slightly dented and has scratch marks on it. Painting the equipment may also protect it from getting rusted during the chilled season. It acts as a good alternative when you are short of money.

Get the faulty parts replaced:-

Just in case if any part of the machine (attachable or not) goes faulty, it should be replaced as soon as possible. Just in case, if it is not replaced in time then severe cold may cause further problem which may become irreparable.

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Gold mining heavy equipment is a must in a mining site

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Like the construction industry, mining industry is an equally profit making industry with people making good money being employees of a mining company. Especially, when the mining company is in to extracting gold from the earth you do not require any special heavy equipment to do so. The one which is been used in a construction site like an excavator or a backhoe loader can also be used in a gold mining site. However in addition to this, it may require few specific components but overall it has no major difference as far as the equipment are concerned. Though gold mining is one of the most profitable businesses in the entire mining sector but it needs precision while you get to the bottom of the metal. Other than that, one also needs to consider the safety measures while you are into the mining sector. There are many accidents that have been reported due to mere negligence or for not following very simple safety rules. One has to always follow the fundamentals of the safety structures or else it can become really dangerous for the people involved in it.

The role of an excavator in the gold mining industry is immense. Along with the excavator equipment like Jaw Crusher and Hammermill are equally important. Some of the equipment may be a part of small sized machines but have a huge role to play in the gold mining industry. There are people who believe in making heavy equipment for gold mining on their own but it requires great deal of training and learning in order to become capable of making those equipment on your own. Therefore, it is advisable that if you like to see your career taking shape in the gold mining industry, first try to work for a mining industry and learn how exactly one gets to the metal and then you start playing with things and take rational decisions on heavy equipment. If you don’t have much knowledge about equipment needed in the gold mining sector, it is better that you stick to the basics and try to avail some information from the website.

Buying of heavy equipment should not be a problem as you can make good use of websites that sells heavy equipment online. There you can get all sorts of equipment depending upon the nature of your business. For instance, companies that are huge in size can go for big machines and the ones that are not so big can go for equipment that suit their purpose. Overall, the websites has everything for everyone. Most of the heavy equipment manufacturing companies also list their items on the website but that is not so often. Ideally, it is the dealers who list the items on the site. You should check if they have any offers for you. Normally, offers are mentioned in the listing but still if you feel like checking it out directly with the person selling it online, you have the liberty to do so.

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The Proper Ways of Preparations for Bad Ground

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The construction industry frequently suffers from various problems that result due to the poor conditions of the grounds that are often overlooked. It goes without mention that the affectivity of all construction equipment will rely heavily on how the condition of the construction grounds are. If you need to drive a heavy machine in the construction ground, it is very important that you make sure that the ground is strong enough to withstand the force and the weight of the machine. At the same time it is very important to put pads or cribbing under your feet so that the load could be spread out while deploying stabilizers or outriggers. This is a very important step as far as the reduction of the bearing pressure of the ground is concerned.

It is to be noted that a lot of problems regarding bad grounds could be avoided with proper planning. Therefore, it would be quite important to have a thorough knowledge of geology as well as soil mechanics. It is important that all the essential information regarding the construction ground are gathered and analyzed. Identification of the exact conditions of the ground is going to play a very important role in this regard. However, there are various other aspects such as the source of the information, verification and legal liabilities that have to be considered as well. It is also very important that the amount of money and time that is to be invested for the investigation of the site so that the ground conditions can be explored. Ill prepared grounds can be very dangerous for construction.

It is highly detrimental to take decisions based on assumptions in the construction industry. It is true that a lot of experience can bring the ability to judge certain situations. However, two situations are hardly the same and so it is important to run the tests on the ground conditions on a more applied level in order to ensure safety. Misinterpretations of assumptions can be simply asking for accidents in construction sites. It is not very unusual for operators with ample experience to be inexperienced or not so familiar with outrigger mats and the science of it. a good guide would know when to pick wood over plastic or why it is better to go with pads that are 100mm thick as compared to 50 mm ones.

It is important to stick to the guidelines so that you can construct with ease and safety. However, it would be not be wise to rely on any source that you find on the internet. Among a few important documents on the subject the following is a trustworthy source: Ground Conditions for Constructing Plant is a practice guide that has been developed by the UK Strategic Forum for Construction. Although it is at a developing stage at the moment, you can get the final version by the end of the current year. Although some of the issues pertaining to legalities are quite specific to the readership of the UK but the guidelines on engineering and physics are universal.

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Being intoxicated doesn’t mix well with heavy equipment

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Ever imagined how difficult it was for you to drive your car the last time you were intoxicated. Well, it is not at all possible for anybody to do anything right when he/she is under the influence of alcohol or any substance that has the potential to intoxicate our system We may have no control on our self and it becomes all the more difficult to do any small piece of work. Driving vehicle can become far more dangerous for us as well as for people around us. Now, imagine that you are working in a construction company and are given to operate the heavy equipment. You somehow wished to take few drinks and you turned up to the site. You thought that you would be doing fine even after having those drinks. But the moment you begin to work, you start feeling dizzy and your head starts spinning. You tend to lose control over yourself and in this process you find yourself nowhere in the position to operate the machine and if you still stress yourself and work on the equipment, you stand with higher chances of committing accidents thus probably injuring or even killing people on the site.

The construction company needs to take stern steps to ensure that all of its employees are doing well and are in their proper state of mind. If possible conduct tests on employees that they find skeptical. However, under no cost that they should allow their men or women to work in intoxicated state. It just does not go well with heavy equipment.

Conduct various trainings informing people the dangers of working in an intoxicated state:-

Many people are of the opinion that they can work better when they are intoxicated. They feel that they become more attentive and can do their work well after having few drinks or after having some sort of drug. Therefore, they tend to take few shots of drinks before they enter the cabin of the machine. It is really important to tell them that their very thought is completely incorrect. You find yourself to be more attentive because you feel sleepy but still at the back of your mind you know that you have to work all day and therefore you try hard to keep yourself awake. There is a need to impart trainings at every construction site on the hazards of working in an intoxicated state. Show them some real life pictures of the aftermath after working in an intoxicated state. That might open their eyes and they will realize how perilous it is to continue working in that way.

Install detectors that will detect if people are intoxicated:-

Construction companies for the good of its employees can install detectors that shall be used on employees who will be working on heavy equipment to detect if they are intoxicated. In case if they are, then they shall be asked to leave for the day. If possible, give them a notice and a stern warning stating that if they come to work again in this condition then they shall be expelled from work.

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Construction equipment manufacturing companies putting stress on producing environment friendly machines

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Innovation is the key for any industry and so it is in case of heavy equipment manufacturing companies. They give a lot of importance to innovation and work relentlessly to make better products for the end user. They understand that in order to survive in this industry, they need to come out with products that are little different from others and especially when they have already established a brand name they do not want that to get ruined. Recently, their focus is to produce machines that are environment friendly and the reason they feel they should be putting their focus there is because of the tremendous increase in air pollution.

Air pollution has been a major cause of concern for everybody and more so to the owners of the construction companies. Many construction workers are falling sick due to inhaling toxic air and many are coming up with various kinds of serious respiratory ailments. They just can’t afford to lose their workers to such respiratory ailments and hence they are also looking forward to machines that are eco-friendly. Construction manufacturing companies are already in the process of producing machines that runs on gas and not diesel. What they came to know through various surveys is that diesel machines are major contributor or toxicants in the environment and if they can be replaced by eco-friendly machines then that will make things far better for everyone.

Government is setting laws to reduce release of intoxicants:-

Governments of many countries are also aware of the menace diesel run machines are causing to the environment and hence they are also making laws that could prevent the release of toxic gas in the environment. They have urged to the construction and mining companies to take due notice of this issue and to act accordingly. These companies on the other hand have moved to the heavy equipment manufacturing companies and specified their demands to them. It is quite evidently going to take some time for them to produce bio-friendly machines in large numbers especially when there are still some small companies that would prefer to work with diesel run machines. They say that they do not work on a larger scale due to which they do not do more harm to the environment. Government is also not going too strict with them but is keeping a close watch on what the big companies are doing.

Will save a lot of money that is otherwise used to buy diesel:-

Construction companies spend a fortune for buying diesel to run their machines. If they switch over to environment friendly machines, then they save a lot of money that they otherwise spend on buying diesel. The price of gas required to run such machines are not much and hence the day is not far when most of the construction companies will demand for these kinds of machines. Though the price of eco-friendly machines are quite higher than the ones that run on diesel but still it is worth buying in order to keep our workplace safe and healthy for everyone.