Regular calibration for your on-board weighing systems is essential for maintaining accuracy. Positioning technology and machine systems supplier, Position Partners, now offers nationwide calibration services via a fleet of trucks that can support all makes, models and sizes of machinery.
Used on loaders, excavators, skid steers and other quarry plant, on-board weighing systems are relied upon to measure and record material loaded onto road and haul trucks. Trade approved models are also available that enable quarry managers to transact off the weight recorded by the system.
On-board payload technology helps quarry operators to reduce wasted material and increase safety by optimising load distribution for road and haul trucks. Although trucks are commonly fitted with weighing systems themselves, scales on loaders and excavators help to cross-check the accuracy of the truck systems giving managers reassurance that the material loaded is costed and loaded correctly.
Once installed, Position Partners recommends calibration of the on-board scales every six- to twelve months.
“As with all measurement or positioning technology, to ensure systems are working optimally, it is important to have them serviced regularly,” said Josh Allan, construction business manager at Position Partners. “This is even more critical for trade-approved loader scales, where customers are transacting off the system’s measurements.”
With a fleet of trucks, the company will provide nationwide installations, servicing, and calibrations for on-board payload systems fitted to loaders, excavators, telehandlers, forklifts and other industrial machines.
Position Partners has trucks located in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, and South Australia. The Western Australia and Queensland fleet includes larger trucks to accommodate calibrations for mine-spec equipment. In Queensland, the company is also certified to provide weighbridge calibrations and servicing.
In the larger states, Position Partners will operate regular runs to cover key sites as well as metro regional areas. Customers can simply fill in an online form on the website to register interest and the local coordinator will organise the timing from there.
As the exclusive Australian distributor for Topcon Positioning Systems, Position Partners sells and supports the Topcon range of Loadmaster and Loadex scales. However, the calibration services provided via the truck fleet are available for most brands of on-board weighing systems.
“Our experienced and dedicated weighing team is able to service most makes of on-board scales,” Allan added. “The Queensland and Western Australia trucks are also large enough to support our mining and resource customers with their scale servicing needs and we hope to expand our weighbridge service capabilities beyond Queensland in the future.”
Any customers looking to adopt on-board weighing systems for their loaders, excavators or other industrial machinery can also be fitted by the specialist weighing truck team.
The Loadmaster Alpha 100 solution is by far the most popular option for most quarry customers, according to Allan. “The Alpha 100 has the full suite of options including trade approval to enable transactions off the recorded weights,” he said. “It gives quarry customers full material movement records and easy dashboard visibility of what has been moved where, to help streamline operations and improve productivity.”
With greater visibility over material movement and the weights loaded into each truck, quarry managers have peace of mind that if a dispute or incident did occur, there is an easily accessible and accurate record of information. The records can assist to prove that correct processes were followed and trucks were loaded within tolerance, mitigating the chain of responsibility risk.
In addition to the productivity and reporting benefits, on-board scales are a simple but effective way to reduce fuel and maintenance costs on heavy equipment. With accurate load information on every bucket load, operators and managers have the data required to optimise loads and reach the target weights with fewer lifts, reducing machine wear and fuel usage.
Operators love the Loadmaster and Loadex range because of the efficiency gains from no longer manually inputting data. Instead, the operator can automatically select products, trucks and locations without even touching the screen through the use of GPS, a barcode reader and RF tag reader.
“Adding on-board scales to a quarry is a simple and user-friendly way to increase productivity and the accuracy of material movement, which flows through to the bottom line,” Allan said.
“With our new fleet of service trucks, our customers also have peace of mind that our team is there to support them, whether it’s a technical question to resolve over the phone or a calibration on-site with the truck,” he added.