Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/873881
EquipmentWorld.com | September 2017 39 O n the surface, many contrac- tors would say they would prefer a seasoned, experi- enced motor grader opera- tor over a young buck with mastery of machine control systems. Machine control systems have clearly shown their benefits, wheth- er it's Caterpillar's Grade and Cross Slope or grade control options from Leica, Topcon or Trimble. But with motor graders considered to be one of the more difficult machines to operate in construction, expe- rienced operators are worth their weight in gold. So when Atlanta Paving & Con- crete Construction in Norcross, Georgia, had the opportunity to use an experienced operator to train a young crew member and to learn a grade control system, it found a way to mesh both worlds. The company employs four motor grader operators, with two having 20 years of experience each, one with 10 years and the other with about four years of experience. Project Manager Mandy Alston says the "greenest" crew member was a younger employee who had expressed interest in learning motor grader operation after working on a base crew running compactors and skids steers. To break him in, she tapped the experience of a 20-year veteran. "This is something we had talked about as a company – being able to pick out someone who already worked for us, who had that talent or had that potential, and make that investment," she says. "But we also wanted to be able to spend the time training them properly and to use a peer, someone they got along with, that was also willing to share and to take an 'underclassman' and teach him his skill. Because an older and experienced guy is not going to be here forever." Alston says they began the process with handpicking jobs that were less tedious, had less traffic or had other basic conditions. "We essentially were working two graders on site, letting him rough grade in and then let the guy training him work behind him and fine grading it," she says. The two spent roughly a year working side-by-side, literally riding on the grader together at times. "That was just the way to do it, to put him on the machine with him every day," she says. "Now he's on his own and he's great. We bought him a new grader last year, so all of our guys are operating new graders." Grade control training Since the two had worked well together in training, Alston says, it made sense to have them learn about their machines' grade con- trol system. Atlanta Paving runs Caterpillar motor graders and uses Cat Grade Control on its new machines. (Washington State DOT) Graders prepare a detour for a paving project on SR 410 in Washington State.