Position Partners explains how landfill operators are realising the productivity and operational gains that machine guidance and reporting solutions can deliver.
Machine guidance and real time data aim to provide a host of benefits to landfill operations, including optimised density, increased safety, reduced leachate and the ability to eliminate overfill.
According to Position Partners, machine operators typically embrace these systems.
However, the organisation notes some sites struggle to dedicate resources to using these data platforms in the office.
“Getting up to speed with new technology can be daunting, especially when everyone is strapped for time,” says Andrew Granger, Product Manager for Mining and Landfill at Position Partners.
“Some customers just want us to manage the data in the early months while they’re getting used to the system and then they’re off and running, while others prefer to have our team run reports for them on an ongoing basis,” he added.
“Others want to take it all on from the get-go.”
HOW MANAGED SERVICES CAN HELP
To help operators close the skills gap, Position Partners has developed a custom-designed managed service for the industry that combines reporting solutions, remote support and diagnostics tools.
These systems work alongside machine guidance to provide what the company says is a holistic solution, eliminating the need to up-skill or hire extra staff.
Position Partners managed service is designed to save time and eliminate the skills gap headaches many site managers are experiencing by maintaining data integrity, generating and distributing reports and hosting the data on a client’s behalf.
Managed service incorporates the office reporting suite of the Carlson LandfillGrade solution, Carlson Command, along with Position Partners’ custom-developed Tokara Link remote support tool. It includes real-time kinematic network base station access and an array of reports, including density, utilisation, volume and efficiency reports, daily work area, real-time cut/fill colour map and customised reports on request.
“All reports can be tailored by the Position Partners team so that you get only the most relevant information at time frames to suit your workflow,” Andrew says.
“They can also include comprehensive information on uptime, idle time, delay and downtime tracking, operator time sheets and project tracking.”
Andrew says managed service is a fully modular and customisable solution which takes into account the fact that each project, site and customer has unique requirements.
OPTIMISATION FROM THE OFFICE
Managed service aims to give landfill managers as much or as little direct involvement with the data as they wish.
Data from the machine guidance systems are sent directly to the Position Partners team via the cloud, enabling technicians to support and send updated design files to the machines directly, as well as send a wide variety of reports on a daily, weekly or monthly schedule as required.
Using Carlson Command, managers have the option to keep track of operations from the office (or anywhere with an internet connection) via a web portal.
Managers can see and monitor multiple machines in real time, including plan view, from any remote location. Cut and fill and elevation can also be monitored.
Managers can also instant message each machine.
The system transmits through cellular, standard wireless and mesh networks. For sites without remote connectivity, data can be stored in the machine and copied to a USB drive for analysis later.
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Andrew notes that troubleshooting technology can be time consuming and frustrating when you have deadlines to meet and are juggling multiple tasks.
“Feedback from our customers has always highlighted the importance of timely and efficient support,” he says.
“We’ve prioritised this with the development of Tokara, which enables our technicians to solve most problems without even visiting the site – the time and cost savings are huge.”
Tokara is designed to help operators get the most from their landfill machine guidance with fast, comprehensive support when they require it.
The service enables Position Partners’ technicians to connect directly to an operator’s machine via a small telemetry link to offer remote support.
“Tokara has been developed in Australia, using Australian skills and programmers, based around customer requirements, and has been extensively tested with contractors and end-users throughout the country so that we know it works in our harsh environment and with our often challenging telecommunications networks,” Andrew says.