Customer story: Smart technology increases productivity

SMART TECHNOLOGY
INCREASES PRODUCTIVITY
“Machine operator won’t have to leave his
cabin to check grades and levels.”
-Pasi Nurminen, Project Director
Destia, the Finnish infrastructure
and construction company, has been
utilising 3D machine control at its
construction sites for several years.
The company has been a major
infrastructure trend-setter in Finland
with a clear vision of the worksite of
the future.
Destia has observed that machine
control is part of a modern earthwork
process and a key factor in increasing
the productivity of this line of work.
Destia has about 70 excavators that are
equipped with Novatron’s 3D machine
control systems and are in use at various
sites.
”With the help of machine control, the
work’s productivity increases due to a
faster process, increased quality and
savings in material costs. In addition,
remarkable cost savings come from
not having to stake-out the terrain. A
single work phase can gain as much
as a several dozen percent increase in
productivity”, explains Destia Project
Director, Pasi Nurminen.
“The machine operator won’t have to
leave the cabin to check the grades
and levels. Instead, he can concentrate
on productive work”, states Nurminen.
Excavator operator Olli Salomaa
continues: “Previously you had to make
a separate check of the elevation.
“With machine control, the work’s efficiency
increases considerably. There’s no going back to the
old working methods.”
-Kari Ketoja, excavator operator
3D machine control system for 18
months now, and I’m more than pleased
with it. You can learn to use it in no
time”, comments operator Kari Ketoja.
“As I can work with the 3D models, I’m
not dependent on surveyors and plans
printed on paper. I can easily move from
one task to another without having
to waste my working time on waiting
around”, adds Ketoja.
Now all you have to do is look at
the display. This makes the work
considerably faster.”
As the designers are often not located at
the sites, a wireless data communications
system is an essential requirement.
“Three-dimensional project files are
transferred wirelessly to the display”,
says Nurminen, and adds: “The plans can
be edited and corrected within a short
timeframe, and the new models can
be sent to the excavator on the fly.” The
wireless data transmission also enables
remote support. This enables a support
person to log in to the customer’s system
from the support premises, to provide,
for example, practical assistance.
Excavator operators have been happy
to embrace the new working methods.
“I have been using the Novatron
Text and pictures: Novatron
Article originally published in 2012.
Edited on 02 February 2015