Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/565622
EquipmentWorld.com | September 2015 71 product report | by Marcia Gruver Doyle | MGruver@randallreilly.com P lanning, mapping and recording the bore; keep- ing everyone informed as in-fi eld adjustments are made; providing as-builts and fi nally invoicing: the paperwork behind horizontal directional drilling can quickly bury you as deeply as the lines you're installing. "When you go into a contractor's offi ce, paperwork is everywhere," says Jon Kuyers with Vermeer. "There's a lot of waste in the cur- rent situation." Vermeer created its InSite Pro- ductivity Tools suite to attack this challenge. Combining two pieces currently available – InSite Fleet and InSite Bore Aid – with four new tools being released early next year, the complete set is designed to help contractors concentrate on drilling, not paperwork. The possibilities have caught the attention of Erik Carlson, president, Pinnacle Construction & Directional Boring, North Charleston, South Carolina: "We've got 35 employees and this software suite will allow us to provide the same service, the same documentation as a contractor with 1,500 employees," he says. "It levels the playing fi eld." InSite Fleet/FleetEdge It starts with InSite Fleet telematics, now available on certain Vermeer drills. Fleet gives basic telematics information, including machine lo- cation and geofencing, machine idle times, maintenance alerts and fuel consumption. With the addition of InSite FleetEdge in January, users will get actionable machine information such as productivity tracking, main- tenance prioritization, fuel savings estimation and project time man- agement. FleetEdge consolidates a log of relevant machine data such as forces, pressures and fl ows and identifi es fuel savings opportunities. "This measures the productivity of the machine, telling you how much the machine is working, tramming, changing tooling and idling," Rob Arndt with Vermeer says. FleetEdge also assists operator training; the software can judge how well an operator is doing compared to recommended loadings, thrust, rotation and pullback on a drill. Instructions on the machine prompt the operator to, for instance, speed up their tramming or increase their rpms. As the operator gets familiar with seeing these indicators, they learn how to better optimize ma- chine operations, Arndt says. Vermeer's InSite Productivity Tools eliminate paperwork, provide white board for horizontal directional drilling bores Vermeer's InSite Productivity Tools can be purchased individually, but are designed to sync together to battle the paperwork chal- lenges of directional drilling contractors.