SEE Civil estimates it has made significant savings, thanks to the installation of Loadrite?s on-board weighing system on its fleet of Komatsu loaders. The Loadrite L-2180 is designed to provide accurate, consistent results direct from the loader. With on-board weighing, the system helps operators avoid costly overloading without a weighbridge.
SEE Civil?s operations manager Ross Smith said the company introduced the L-2180 three years ago to avoid having to install a mobile weighbridge at a leased quarry near a job site in northern New South Wales.
?We were contracted to supply and deliver all of the pavement materials for the $40 million Alstonville bypass project,? Ross explained. ?The project called for a specific road base – chert – which is believed to be a superior material as it holds together better than some alternative road bases.?
The company found a chert resource in a quarry at Wardell, 30km from the job site. It leased the quarry and set up a mobile crushing and screening plant. In the course of the 12 month project, 300,000 tonnes of material were loaded to complete the bypass.
?Because we were only leasing the quarry, we wanted to avoid the costs of installing a mobile weighbridge. After considering our options, we fitted Loadrite scales to our fleet of Komatsu WA500 and WA480 loaders which were used on-site to fill the trucks with various materials,? Ross explained.
?The use of Loadrite loader scales helped to reduce the set-up costs for the project and increased productivity by ensuring each truck was carrying the optimum weight at any one time. Given that we were loading over 100 32-tonne trucks daily with up to nine materials ranging from top and bottom coarse road base to drainage aggregates of varying sizes and drainage blanket materials, Loadrite had an integral role in the success of the project.?
By installing software to transmit Loadrite data directly to MYOB, Ross reduced the time spent on inputting the data for invoicing.
?Our invoices are calculated according to the type of material, weight and destination,? he explained. ?Loadrite scales capture all of this data on-site when each load is weighed. We were loading 100 trucks a day, which meant a lot of data was inputted each day.
?Our invoices are calculated according to the type of material, weight and destination,? he explained. ?Loadrite scales capture all of this data on-site when each load is weighed. We were loading 100 trucks a day, which meant a lot of data was inputted each day.
?I had heard about other job sites installing software to enable this data to be transferred remotely, so I spoke to Alan Clarke from Loadrite and we set about making it happen.?
The process works via a wireless internet connection. Information captured via the Loadrite scale, including the type of material, weight and destination, is exported at the end of each day into an off-site database program. This database integrates with MYOB to generate invoices as required.
?It?s an instantaneous process and has reduced associated staff costs,? said Ross.
SEE Civil was so impressed by the capabilities of Loadrite that their systems are now used on all major job sites.
?We have six projects underway across NSW and Queensland and Loadrite systems are being used across all sites,? said Ross.
?It?s easy for loader operators to use and given the software adjusts automatically throughout the day to cope with temperature changes that can affect weighing performance, we?re confident of ensuring accurate weights each time.??
Source: Actronic Technologies/Hardman Communications