C&R Developments’ Iron Will

Cambridge-based C&R Developments is a family-owned business with a long history in civil construction, earthmoving and mining.

They’re also accumulating a lengthy history of utilising Topcon machine control technology on a large variety of mobile plant.

Excavators, dozers, graders: contracts manager Nick Ross and his team have been impressed with the accuracy machine control allows the operator across a number of machines, along with the working efficiencies (both in terms of manpower and machine usage) the system provides for.

Nick says he likes the plug-and-play nature of the Topcon system, ensuring that the company can utilise the technology across a variety of different brand name machines.

"You don’t need Topcon gear to grade a quarry road, but we also complete a fair bit of finishing work: the finishing quality that Topcon provides is second-to-none."

Possibly the biggest machine C&R Developments runs is a massive 850hp Caterpillar D11T; an impressive beast with a very specific task.

The D11T is based at NZ Steel Mining’s Taharoa iron sand works, near Kawhia Harbour. The Taharoa mine site covers an area of 1300ha, split into three zones. It’s a big place and as such, the machinery that operates there needs to boast equally big capabilities.

The D11T features some pretty impressive stats: it features a 2896mm track gauge, 6160mm chassis length (with a 4444mm track length footprint), weighs over 100 ton and sits 4490mm high to the top of the stack.

With mining contract work making up a decent proportion of C&R’s ledger, the team has been in the right spot to put Topcon’s machine control technology to the test in some very demanding environments. Taharoa certainly fits that description.

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Nick says that at the busy mine site, the D11T operator benefits from knowing exactly where he is in relation to the buried feeder.

"At Taharoa the guys are pushing sand into a buried feeder – essentially this is an enormous hole in the ground. The GPS machine control system tells the operator how close he is to the feeder, because the last thing we want is a machine halfway down a hole."

Once the sand has been processed, it then moves to a stockpile yard, where more feeders are sited.

"We’re running machine control systems on a variety of our gear now," concludes Nick.

"Obviously we were pretty sold on it from the start, but it’s an investment you have to make allowances for. It needs to pay for itself, in that it needs to help increase our operational efficiencies. It does this at Taharoa, as well as making for a safer environment for our guys too."