Australia’s first iMC (intelligent Machine Control) Komatsu PC210LCi-10 excavator recently made construction of a complex bio retention basin system a straightforward, no dramas project for Western Australian-based Coalcliff Plant Hire & Civil Contracting.
Coalcliff Plant Hire & Civil Contracting, has been in operation since 1995 and operates throughout Western Australia – primarily in the state’s South Western and Wheatbelt regions.
It carries out a range of civil works including, roadworks, bulk earthworks, dams, land clearing, drainage and clean-up and repair of storm damage.
Construction of the three basins project located at Collie took six weeks and involved boxing out at multiple levels, the placement of varying layers of bio-media – and involved multiple design changes throughout the program.
The PC210LCi-10 took all these issues in its stride, and in fact allowed the entire project to be completed with just the single machine, negating the traditional requirement to use a grader or skid steer for final clean-up work.
The new PC210LCi-10 is the fourth Komatsu excavator in the Coalcliff fleet, according to the company’s operations manager Darrell Scott.
“We have started buying more Komatsu machines in the past couple of years or so due to the quality of the equipment, in conjunction with the backup and support they were offering,” Scott said.
“This has especially been the case with our local representative, Curtis Batemen, who’s always there to help whenever I need him.
“We find the service people are really helpful, particularly with the Komatsu ‘Komplimentary Maintenance’ program. They advise us when it’s time for a service – we never have to call them – we schedule it in and the Komatsu guys go to whichever site the machine is located on to carry out the service.”
“If we’d been working this project conventionally, we’d have had to use survey and pegs, then spend hours trimming to design. But the PC210LCi-10 was so precise we didn’t need to,” Scott said.
“With the help of Scott Jamieson, Komatsu’s SMARTCONSTRUCTION Centre – remote support national manager, every time there was a design change, we’d just modify and upload the new design files remotely and our operator could keep working with minimal impact.
“We do have a conventional bolt-on system on our PC350, but is the first in our fleet with iMC in place. It’s just excellent in practice; you can dig to a grade, and when you reach your level the machine stops – the programming won’t let you overdig.”
Coalcliff’s follow-up project for the Komatsu iMC excavator were upgrade works for the Collie Motorplex, carrying out clearing and drainage works.
“This includes multiple larger culverts with long runs in the design, there are different lines and levels we have to adhere to,” Scott said.
“It will all be done with that machine, and it will really reduce the need for laser levels and boning out.”
The decision to go with the iMC excavator was an easy one for Coalcliff, which was in the market for a new excavator with GPS-based indicate capacity.
“Essentially it’s the same price as a bolt-on system from one of the major GPS companies, but it does more and gives you a lot more control. The larger screen in the cabin is a lot easier visually than on the standard machine control systems, plus this one comes with an 8000-hour warranty,” Scott said.
“This is definitely the way of the future; now we’re looking forward to seeing it on some bigger machines.”
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