Ground Technique reduces downtime and increases efficiency with Topcon 3D GPS+ 3D machine control
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The Topcon 3D GPS+ machine control system reduces human error and increases site safety, says Position Partners
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Brendan Walsh and his team at Ground Technique have been working on a 20-lot Tran Civil development in Diamond Creek, Victoria. This project is on a large sloping block that is very undulating and requires a substantial amount of cut and fill. To complete this project, Walsh installed the Topcon 3D GPS+ machine control system from Position Partners on his Hitachi Zaxis 13-ton excavator.
“The Topcon 3D GPS+ system has meant that we have no people on the ground for starters and I think we’ve saved ourselves up to maybe four blokes on the ground. It means we can use smaller excavators if required because we’re so much more efficient with what we do,” says Brendan Walsh, director of Ground Technique.
“It also means there’s no human error. The only human error will come down to the surveyors and designers and you’re always going to have surveyors and designers involved. There’s a lot less material come out because you’re pulling out only the exact amount.”
Walsh also points out that using the Topcon 3D GPS+ 3D machine control system increased safety on site because there were no workers around the machine.
“I believe it’s the way of the future and people who aren’t using it, I think, are really living in the past now,” says Walsh.
Walsh chose a 3D system over a 2D system because the Topcon 3D GPS+ machine control system meant that Walsh and his team didn’t need to re-bench the equipment each time they moved the machine.
“The screen on the new system in particular is very big and easy to see and because it is 3D it’s plug-and-play essentially once the machines loaded,” says Walsh.
“There’s no recalibrating once the machines moves. With a convention 2D system every single time you move the machine you have to re-bench the machine.”
Walsh says that the inclusion of the Tokara Link solution was one of the reasons he went with the Topcon 3D GPS+ 3D machine control system. Using a modem installed in the machine, Tokara Link connects your machines to the office, provides access to Position Partners’ technical support and links you to any GPS network required for the job.
“When I have the Tokara Link fired up on the GPS, I also have Bluetooth on my phone so when I’m talking to the support network down in Dandenong there, I can literally keep moving my digger and excavating while I talk to them over the phone, while I watch them play around on the screen that I’m looking at, all at the same time,” he explains.
“I can watch them, what they’re doing and they can talk me through what they’re doing so it makes training really efficient.”
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