Grant Hood Contracting gets up to speed with Topcon machine control

James Greene from Grant Hood Contracting says investing in Topcon machine control technology was a smart move for the award-winning civil engineering and contracting company.

“It’s the way everything is going, so really it was a no-brainer for us to adopt the technology,” says James.

“We installed Topcon machine control on our excavator first, just as a big six-month pipeline contract came up. We could see the time-saving benefits straight away; our guys in the field just got on with the job without us needing to continually feed instruction through.

“We laid four kilometres of pipe without any survey pegs or lasers, which is pretty impressive.”

James says Grant Hood Contracting now has two Topcon machine control units; a dedicated excavator system and a second system the team toggles between its dozer and grader depending on what task each machine is required for.

“The masts and wiring looms stay in place on each machine and we just swap the in-cab control unit between the two. That works pretty well for us at the moment and swapping the head unit over is only a 10-minute job.”

The speed with which GPS machine control technology allows James’ team to work is what really impresses him, he says. The Ashburton-headquartered company recently completed some water race work, which would have traditionally been a two-man job; now the project was easily – and quickly – completed by just one staff member.

Topcon machine control allows operators to dig or grade to the correct elevation as shown on the touchscreen display inside the cab. This means complex multiple elevation/slope build work can be completed without resetting the machine, laser or waiting for a surveyor to place elevation stakes on site. Thanks to Topcon machine control’s accuracy, rework due to over excavation is all but eliminated, and waiting around for staking or re-staking is a thing of the past.

“I’ve been in the industry for some time now and have used machine control systems from competing brands in the past. But I have to say I think Topcon has got it right; it’s simpler and quicker than other systems,” says James.

Gallery

The technology also means that heavy mobile plant like the dozer, which traditionally would serve one purpose in any project, can be utilised a lot more, meaning the company gets better bang for buck from its equipment investment.

“The dozer can do the work of two diggers with machine control on board. It’s so simple to mark out the alignment and strip and dig where needed, then backfill with the pipe location on the screen the whole time.”

Grant Hood Contracting also owns a GPS rover and base system, also supplied by Synergy Positioning Systems. James says the touchscreen Toughpad-assisted set-up works well for the team.

Additionally, back in the office, the company utilises the advanced data processing power of Topcon Sitelink3D, which gives James a direct link to every machine fitted with GPS-enabled Topcon machine control gear, as well as the rover, in order to provide fast and accurate on-site data in ‘real time’.

“It’s great that we can go to one supplier for all this technology,” James concludes.

“Synergy Positioning Systems are very responsive and our local rep Jason Bastings is great to work with. If we ever have a query on anything, he’s always at the other end of the phone and it’s sorted within half an hour.

“Good technology still needs good back-up, so that works well for us.”

For more information contact Synergy Positioning Systems or visit www.synergypositioning.co.nz/products