Well here we are, the holidays are over and it’s a brand new year, time to get serious so let’s get the formalities out of the way first – I wish a happy and prosperous New Year to you all.

As with the start of any year, we are full of resolutions and the promise of new challenges and changes ahead and this has never been truer than in the position I now find myself in. I finished 2009 by ending my rather long career at Prolec so that I could pursue my own ambitions, a decision not easy to reach as anyone who has been in this position can testify, but the departure from Prolec has been amicable and I do hope to be able to continue a professional and personal relationship with many of my ex-colleagues.

So what’s the story? I start the New Year with the formation of a new UK company – OnGrade Ltd. I am not doing this by myself and have a strong business partner in the form of Gary Escott, the previous Sales and Marketing Director of Prolec. It is our intention to bring to the UK and European market innovative technologies to a range of different operations and applications. These products will mostly be focussed in the machine control arena (but we will certainly not turn down the opportunity to add innovative products to the portfolio) and will enable a much broader audience to be reached than that currently addressed. I do not wish to repeat the many good words that have been said by others in previous articles on this subject about the potential market for machine control, but with our efforts we want to be able to increase the “size of the pie” and not just fight over an existing established customer base. It will be a lot of hard work, but who’s afraid of that? and being able to increase the market size will be of benefit to all involved in machine control supply –  no one can do everything (everything well that is) and we understand our limitations - we don’t mind sharing !! However, it’s not just about providing a better mousetrap - giving the customer what he wants and needs our priority and being able to offer support, advice and guidance using our many years of experience will ensure that we deliver a premium service as should be expected in this day and age and is something that will ultimately enhance and promote the reputation of machine control.

As within any market area there are voids that need to be filled. We have identified specific product types to address these voids and are initially targeting two particular market areas for which there is a genuine need within the UK and Europe. I will be basing future articles on a more in-depth focus of these products and applications, but for now let’s look at the broader picture.

1.  Perhaps a black hole more than a void - Excavator Machine Control

There are many products available that meet the needs of excavator machine control, however the majority of these are either too complex and offer way more functionality than many will use or are closely tied in with a manufacturers full product line removing the flexibility that the customer may want. By addressing these points the market can be broadened and more people encouraged into adopting excavator machine control technology.  However unlike some of the more enlightened market areas in Northern Europe, the UK lags behind understanding just how beneficial this type of product can be. Clearly a major challenge will be that of education and that is why we are providing as much data as we can to the marketplace from differing sources: our website, advertising and consultation. It will be a slow but necessary process, however if successful – and we are convinced it will be – then the winners will be everyone in this industry from the product and service providers to the end users.

Convincing people of the affordability of machine control is always an issue and that is why it is so important to listen to what the customer wants. In the past I have been as guilty as anyone in designing and providing product that in reality is way too complicated and can only confuse and disappoint. The challenge ahead is to provide truly scalable technology through 1D,2D to 3D that allows the customer to grow at his own pace and expand his product and technical capability when he is ready to do so.

 2. Filling a real void efficiently - Landfill machine control technology.

Those of you with an eye on the green agenda must be thinking that Landfill is an outdated concept that has seen its day? Not so, please read on....

The amount of waste that is being sent to Solid Waste Landfills’ in Europe and the UK has been reduced thanks to initiatives such as recycling and legislation such as the Landfill Directive, however Landfill still remains the most common method of disposing of waste; it is often the most economically viable. Landfill is a practice that can be traced as far back as the Roman’s and with over 22 million tonnes of waste being sent to landfill in the UK alone  landfill is here to stay.

In the UK alone there are almost a 1,000 active sites covering an area of over 100 square miles, this may sound like a lot but Landfill capacity is running out some regions in the UK could run out of Landfill capacity in the next 5-7 years and DEFRA suggest England’s landfill sites could run out of capacity by 2020.

If we are to successfully employ a sustainable waste strategy then the landfill capacity we have must be used wisely.

A Landfill has one extremely valuable commodity – AIR  Space and with the amount of airspace where we can dispose of our waste become consumed rapidly it is vital that this commodity is protected and managed, when it comes to Landfill there is no such thing as “free air”

The secret to managing this commodity is the compaction or density of the material that is put into it, if compaction can be optimised the life of a landfill can be dramatically extended.

As an example take a landfill site with a maximum capacity of 1,500,000m³ receiving 95,000 tons of waste annually

Compaction is achieved by using heavy plant, including purpose built landfill compactors making a set number of passes over the target area or cell, in most cases these pass counts are done manually, this methodology of course does not ensure maximum compaction. The landfill site is therefore susceptible to erroneous data recording and is not operating an efficient method of plant utilisation.

So with landfill capacity decreasing what options exists to protect this most important resource.

With the advent of machine control technologies successfully employed within the world of civil construction there are now the technological tools available, ensuring optimum use and control of a landfill site.  The main drivers behind this technology have been the increasingly accurate and commercially available GPS / GNSS solutions, machine sensor options and the specialist software systems to control the data flow producing the information required for the machine driver and the site management team.

The challenges faced with market area are very similar to those of excavator machine control: education to justify its application and knowing the subsequent cost benefits. The costs benefits and business case have been very well explained by Randy Noland in his article for this issue of MCO, as for education, then it is down to becoming involved with the landfill community, understanding their needs and ensuring that the product will fulfil their requirements. This will also be a long process, but it is an essential one if we are to successfully meet the landfill challenge and ensure that machine control will assist in the successful deployment of long term landfill strategies.

For more information on any of these products and OnGrade in general, please visit www.OnGrade.com

Please note that OnGrade Ltd is a UK based company and is not associated with On Grade LLC based in Canada.