This article is reproduced courtesy of Topcon Australia and its NSW distributor Laserquip Pty Ltd
Brett Kelly, of Sydney-based contractor Kelly & Shepherd is one of Australia's pioneering contractors in the use of GPS-based machine control systems.
His use of GPS-based machine control systems, working in closely with client Penrith Lakes Development Corporation, also shows just how a common client/contractor system increase jobsite efficiency, eliminate disputes over material volumes and achieving project specifications - and generally contribute to a more harmonious relationship.
Kelly & Shepherd was one of the first contractors in NSW to purchase Topcon's System 5 GPS-based machine control system, back in 2001, when Brett Kelly first saw the tremendous advantages in this technology for the company's operations.
Today, the use of Topcon's System 5+ (GPS plus Glonass) machine control system fitted to Kelly & Shepherd's dozers and scrapers is delivering major savings in time, more accurate cut, fill and levelling, much safer worksites.
The company's success with GPS-based surveying and earthmoving resulted in one of its major clients, the Penrith Lakes Development Corporation (PLDC), adopting GPS-based surveying, resulting in further time savings for all parties, more accurate earthworks, and dispute-free sign-off on material volumes moved.
In early 2004, PLDC switched to GPS, purchasing its own Topcon GPS+ base station plus three rover units for surveying and checking material volumes throughout the site.
Around 50% of Kelly & Shepherd's work is at the Penrith Lakes scheme, a 2000 hectare site in Sydney's western suburbs supplying about 65% of Sydney's sand, aggregate and other quarry products, with a throughput of around 5 million tonnes of material a year.
Kelly & Shepherd contracts with PLDC include:
As well as its works at Penrith Lakes, Kelly & Shepherd carries out subdivision, council and general civil construction works throughout the Sydney region. The company was formed in 1999 when Brett Kelly and Colin Shepherd, who'd been in the contracting business separately for many years, merged their operation.
Its fleet includes a D8N and D5M piped to take Topcon's System 5+ fully automated machine control systems and three 627 scrapers (two 627Bs and a recently purchased low-hour 627G) set up to take System 5+ as an indicate-only system.
More recently, Kelly & Shepherd has been working closely with Topcon's NSW dealer, Laserquip, to set up its newest 627G scraper as a fully automated machine - but more on that later.
The company also employs a subbie, 'Dozer Dan' Brown of Great S Excavations, who runs a fully automated Liebherr dozer off its system when he's working at Penrith Lakes.
Other equipment in its fleet includes two 637E Scrapers for bulk earthmoving, a 100 tonne and 35 tonne excavator, two 85 tonne dump trucks, a 40 tonne ADT, graders, rollers and water carts.
The 627 scrapers when fitted with the System 5+ indicate system are used as the lead machines, constantly checking levels and grades, and directing the other machines.
As the final grades for a section are approached, only the machines fitted with the system will carry out the final cut, fill and levelling work.
Kelly & Shepherd purchased its first GPS system three and a half years ago, placing a Topcon base station in the backyard of Brett's house, only a few kilometres from Penrith Lakes.
The company owns two actual machine control systems, but with five machines piped up for them, can "mix and match" around its machines as required, whether dozer plus scraper, two dozers or two scrapers.
Brett finds the Topcon system ideal for use with scraper operations - and scrapers ideal for his applications.
"The great thing the Topcon system does is give a quicker recalculation time than some of the other systems we've seen. From what we've heard from other contractors, these other systems have trouble with the speed of scrapers.
"Topcon uses only a single mast on the machine, while other systems require two masts, which seems to give problems with them resetting quickly. The Topcon single mast setup is very very quick," he said.
"The beauty of a scraper in our sort of operation is its speed over the ground, and the accuracy of cutting and filling large amounts of material very quickly. Whether cutting or filling you can get to an exact level.
"Using a GPS system really speeds things up. At Penrith Lakes, we are currently working on a 44 ha job involving about 1 million cubic metres of material, and there are no pegs anywhere. The time and material savings you achieve with survey are unbelievable.
"This is a major cut and fill project with some critical cut and fill levels, including some tricky curves and elevations. Tolerances are -0, +100 mm on fill and +0, -100 mm on cut," said Brett.
"We are using no pegs here at all; we are running the job purely off the screen on our 627G scraper.
"And when Matt Eddy, PDLC's surveyor, needs to check our work, he just needs to drive over the work area with his rover. He just drives over with his vehicle, and he can sign off that we have achieved the specified cut and fill levels. The system is so accurate and reliable, that we are more than happy to be paid according to his measurements," he said.
"This process speeds the whole job up immensely. It's also great from a safety aspect; when we've got 10 pieces of equipment working, they can operate a lot faster and much more safely with no men on the ground looking after stakes and checking levels.
"Everyone is in a vehicle, including the surveyor checking our work, so it lets them work faster.
"Traditionally, you'd have surveyors on the ground 80% of the time, so the operators have to keep a good eye out for them, and it is a potential safety hazard. Now they are all in a vehicle."
So how did Kelly & Shepherd get into GPS?
"We'd been reading about GPS in the various trade magazines for a couple of years, about what it could do, and we realised it had the potential to make a big difference to our business," said Brett.
"We frequently have very critical jobs, working to very tight tolerances.
"We'd been talking to Brian McLoughlin and Garry Fleming from Laserquip about the potential for GPS in our operations for some years, and we'd been using their laser-based systems for several years before that.
"Before the Olympics, in 1998 and 1999, we did the earthmoving for the white water rafting centre and also the regatta centre. We used Laserquip's Mikrofyn system on one of our excavators to ensure we had the right depths and tolerances, and it was the best thing for that job.
"Laserquip had been putting in laser indication systems for us for a number of years. Moving to GPS-based indicator and machine control was a natural progression for us," he said.
"We did our first GPS-based job about three years ago. Laserquip purchased the first system of its kind in NSW specifically for us, and we leased it off them.
"That consisted of a base station, rover unit and System 5 which we fitted to a D8N and fully automated that. We then put it on a scraper as an indicator system.
"We couldn't have achieved what we have without the Laserquip guys. Not only do they do the marketing, showing us new technology, but they also have the people who come out and fit the technology and solve any problems.
"Laserquip's Garry Fleming and Jeff Bratton are awesome at that. In particular, Garry's ability to talk to Caterpillar, other suppliers and other people to extract information so they can get our machines working. They are also showing the equipment dealers how to do things with graders and big dozers that they might not otherwise know how to do."
More recently, Laserquip has set up Kelly & Shepherd's newest scraper, a 627G, for fully automated operation, rather than just as an indicate system (where the operator retains control of the machine, adjusting the scraper blade manually according to the screen reading) - something Brett believes is a world first.
"Scrapers are a great way to cut, fill and level at the same time, due to their long wheelbase and speed over the ground. We use them for levelling big time, and we've been using them with lasers for this purpose for many years.
"Ever since we've had automated GPS machines, I've always thought of trying to automate scrapers," he said.
"This has only really been possible with the new generation of scrapers because their controls are electronic over hydraulic, making it much easier to achieve automated operation.
"This is where Garry and Jeff from Laserquip have done a lot of work, pulling apart the 627G's control and electronics system, looking at the specs, etc. They've gone away and got it to work, all in the way they've done the programming.
"They've designed a software program and circuit board to get the machine control and the scraper hydraulics to work together. I don't think this has been done anywhere else in the world before," said Brett.
Up to within 150 mm of the required cut or fill level, Kelly & Shepherd's scraper operator just uses it as an indicate system, then once the levels are within 150 mm, the operator switches to automatic for the final finishing.
"Being able to do this electronically has a number of advantages. It means not having to stuff around with the hydraulics, which is a very complex business.
"Switching of the system on and off is done through the joystick, and this also allows the operator to over-ride the system. For example, if there's a high spot, the operator can over-ride the automated system, cut off the high spot, then revert to automatic control," he said.
For a successful GPS-based machine control operation, Brett believes the right operators are critical.
"With GPS, 'passage of information' and 'communications' are key words," he said.
"It's very important that you find the right operators who have good communications skills and can provide leadership to the other operators.
"Even for our subdivision works, where you're working with tolerances within 25 mm - which is about the limits of the standard GPS+ system - the speed of operation it allows is great.
"However, like anything with new technology, the biggest challenge is getting it past people.
"It's essential to have the right people operating GPS-controlled machines. For one thing, they have to be able to read a contour map so they know what we are aiming to do.
"They have to be able to follow contour lines; if they can do this, then in most bulk earthworks projects, there is no need to do any cross-slope work. That makes the job much easier, and ensures the operator gets it right first time."
"For the operators, the learning curve is not steep at all; the important thing is the attitude some people have in their minds to the technology. With the right operators, it only takes about a week to know how to use it," said Brett.
His comments on the ease of use of GPS-based machine control were backed up by one of Kelly & Shepherd's scraper operators, Jason Short. Jason has been a scraper operator for about five years, working with GPS-assisted machines for the past four or five months.
He also operates the recently set up fully automated scraper.
"It makes the job a hell of a lot easier and quicker, there's no guesswork or anything," he said.
"GPS does take away some things that I enjoy about operating scrapers, but it makes them better in other ways. I certainly don't miss working around pegs and stringlines, having to watch out for surveyors and other people on the ground.
"We're mainly using the GPS on the edges of the job here; it helps me tell where the material is to be cut and where it's to be filled.
"It lets me get to RLS to an accuracy of 100 mm. Then to operate the automatic system, I just flick a switch and it cuts to the required level.
"Because at present on this job, I'm on the only machine with GPS, I communicate with the other operators. Before we get close to grade, the other 627 goes first, then I come after checking we're on grade and are getting down to the right level," said Jason.
We also spoke to two surveyors who are working with Kelly & Shepherd, and using Topcon's GPS+ survey systems, Kelly & Shepherd's own in-house surveyor Norm Gibson, and Matt Eddy, PLDC's surveyor.
Norm started with Kelly & Shepherd about three years ago when the company first purchased the Topcon System 5, while Matt has been with PLDC for about two years, so has been involved in the transition from conventional surveying methods to GPS+-based surveying.
As the person bearing initial responsibility for ensuring that Kelly & Shepherd's earthmoving activities are to the client's specifications, Norm finds GPS-based surveying makes his job easier, more efficient, faster and results in a safer site.
"The system is a lot safer," he said. "We have fewer men on the ground, and it's much quicker, because you don't have to do a traverse first. You just put the rover on the vehicle's roof and away you go.
"It's also excellent for quality control. When we're planning a fill, we can drive over the site and do a digital terrain model (DTM), and it takes just a few minutes. Then once the fill's completed, we drive the site again, and it tells us exactly what depth of layers the equipment has put down," said Norm.
"It tells us exactly the layer thicknesses which have gone in, plus the total volumes placed and cut.
"It also works well when we're planning a difficult or complex site. We just hook up the 3D GPS screen to the Odyssey antenna and drive the site, so the actual machine control display is in the car.
"I'll go out and drive the site with the foreman for the job, and we can see exactly the cut and fill required for each section. That helps the foreman visualise the project so he knows what's involved.
"We did the same thing recently for the local council. We took the engineers along the route of a new road that was proposed, and they could see what the site would look like after it was completed, and the work involved," he said.
"We'll also drive the entire site once a week, then import the measurements into CivilCad; within a couple of hours, we know the exact quantities we've moved during the week. We can compare those with load control records (??) the foreman has been keeping, so we know exactly how efficient our operation is.
Norm has also been very impressed with the accuracy that can be achieved with the Topcon system.
"We're doing a job at present that's nearly 1 million cu m of cut to fill. Using machine control, we're getting to within 10-20 mm, all with machine control.
"About 18 months ago, PLDC asked us to do a pickup of its proposed urban areas, consisting of 36,000 points. The only way to do it was with GPS. Two-thirds of the area we mapped out by driving, the other third we walked. It took us two weeks' driving, and a week's walking.
"After we completed the job, we made up a DTM (digital terrain map) of the surface. I then drove around the site checking it, and I was getting variations of between 0 and 20 mm - amazingly close to what we'd measured.
"The great thing about GPS-based surveying is that it allows a large area to be picked up rapidly and extremely accurately," he said.
In addition to Penrith Lakes, Kelly & Shepherd is also using Topcon GPS+ on its subdivision setout, for services, stormwater, road edges, etc. For jobs outside the range of its permanent base station near Penrith, Norm will mount a galvanised steel post in concrete on the project site, then bolt a portable base station there every day.
"We just bolt it on the post, plug it in wait for it to initialise and we ready to start work," he said.
Getting specifications for new earthworks from PLDC is equally straightforward.
"When PLDC has a new section for us to work on, they will email us the files in .dwg or .dxf format. We put this into a laptop, then convert to a format the Topcon machine control system can read, which takes just a couple of minutes.
"Then we save the files to flash memory and give to the foreman to give the operators. They slip it into the machine control system, and away we go," said Norm.
On the client side, Matthew Eddy, PLDC's surveyor finds using this system makes for a much smoother interface between client and contractor.
"To be blunt, the system is brilliant," he said. "I come from traditional surveying, using a staff and total station; to come here and do all the volume work with GPS makes my job so much easier.
"I'm very comfortable doing all the volumes, road setout, etc using GPS. And I never have any disputes with the contractors. Everyone is very happy with the system.
"I work closely with the Kelly & Shepherd machines fitted with machine control systems; from an efficiency and safety point of view, I wouldn't want to do this site any other way," said Matt.
"We just load the final land form design, or the remediation design, or the road design into the dozer or scraper - generally the dozer - and it just goes and works to that design. We're not having to stuff around with stringlines or stakes.
"When it comes to checking volumes, I just drive slowly over the site with a rover set to continuous-read, and the vehicle in low 4WD, and I'll walk any embankments and breaklines.
"With this system, we can send three surveyors out to do three jobs at once," he said.
"Previously, we'd have to send out a three-man field crew: one on the total station and the other two guys holding the staffs. Now, because we can use three surveyors for three different jobs, we can pick up in one day what would previously have taken us three days.
"And this works in so well with machine control systems, that we're at the point now where I prefer working with contractors who have automated GPS machine control, such as Kelly & Shepherd. In addition to all the other advantages, it means no more wasting time spent remarking pegs and stakes that have been knocked out.
"From our point of view, working with Kelly & Shepherd is just so much easier," said Matt.