Proof is in the Payback
The project All Roads was tackling at the time called for grading a massive 56,000 m2 parking lot that CP Rail was leasing to Ford Canada to offload and store new vehicles. Labelle said that the general contractor doing preliminary grading for the project, was still coming in 5cm high utilizing conventional 2D GPS.
Using the Millimeter GPS, however, got us to within 3 mm,” said Labelle. “So, over that 56,000 m2, it ended up reducing the volume of gravel by about 6,000 tonnes — a savings of about $80,000. We were blown away, to say the least. The system paid for itself just on that one project.”
Labelle added that the parking lot had a decent amount of curves and swales to it, which, done using a conventional process or using a surveyor, would have been very pointed, with harsh corners rather than the rounded curves in the plan. Using the touch screen in the machine, the operator knew exactly where the swales were in relation to his machine position, so creating them was a breeze.
“Once we paved the lot, we found that our asphalt mixes were within a few tons of what specs called for, so it helped minimize waste on that end as well,” said Labelle. “After two days using Millimeter GPS, I kept Brandt’s grader, and sent our Cat 120M in to get it set up with the same system — I was that convinced.”
A post-script to that story bears mentioning. Because the project was winter work — a scarcity in itself, let alone one which calls for 8,000 tonnes of asphalt in January — All Roads essentially bid it with a minimal of markup. “When we were done, however, we blew our margins out of the water,” said Labelle. “For me, despite that being the only job I’d done using the millimeter solution, I was sold. I knew everything had to be done that way moving forward.”
All About the Prep
With the Millimeter solution for grading proven out in a big way, Labelle was anxious to see if they could achieve similar results on the paving side of the business. They took delivery of a GOMACO Commander III slipform paver in early 2019 and then, again working with Brandt, outfitted the unit with its own Millimeter GPS.
“It bears mentioning that we did some up-front work which included having our in-house survey team coordinate with the Brandt, Topcon and GOMACO people to ensure we had the proper files,” said Labelle. “We’ve learned that doing so is key; for this operation, it is all about the surveying and programming elements of the system. And, because this was an entirely new undertaking for us, we sent the operator to GOMACO’s school to gain familiarity with the paver. Finally, we did a couple trial runs before taking it to a job. We created a surface file for our yard and ran the machine without any concrete to make sure it was following the line and working as promised, and it was.”
All Roads took its GOMACO unit “live” on a municipal roadway project for Miller Capilano Highway Services in nearby Coquitlam, BC. According to Labelle, the results were impressive: savings in both time and materials and an excellent product at job’s end.
“While not having to deal with stringline is, of course, the overriding benefit, it goes much further than that,” he said. “Its ability to do very tight radii is truly impressive. I have a couple of 40-year veteran concrete guys who were willing to bet their paychecks that we couldn’t pull off some of the things we have. It’s been an eye-opener for all of us.”
Curb Service
Fast forward to the present and GNSS has become the de facto solution for almost all their curb and gutter work. On a recent project done as a subcontractor for Tybo Contracting, Ltd., All Roads brought both elements of its Millimeter GPS arsenal to bear — with impressive results.
“This was a time-sensitive reconstruction of 6 km of municipal roadway that we did in two separate pours,” he said. “Tybo is very tech savvy, so they were using GPS in the grading facet of the job and we worked off the file they created. They bulked in their gravel using GPS on the first section and when we came in with the millimeter-grade solution, we were able to improve upon the accuracies so much that we piled up 400 tonnes of gravel which they then used on the second phase.”
Labelle’s team had a target production rate of 400-500 linear meters per day and either met or exceeded that, despite some unavoidable challenges.
“Weather was a definite hindrance,” he said. “At the time that project was under way, we had so much rain that we would check the hourly forecasts to spot a small break where we could go out and do anything. Both Topcon and Brandt were great right from the start and were key in making sure we would be successful with the solution — that was huge for us.”
According to Brian Lingobardo, Topcon’s business manager for concrete paving, the 3D paving solution was precisely what the company needed, given its relatively new position doing that type of work.
“The curb market is highly competitive, meaning clients demand high productivity and a quality product,” he said. “The Millimeter GPS solution for their curb and gutter work will provide All Roads with an effective tool to provide that and more.”
Despite several capital investments in a short time frame, Labelle says All Roads is far from done expanding its operation.
“We have our sights set on getting into airport work at some point,” he said. “I can see the benefit of having millimeter-grade control on both the milling and paving facets of those jobs. For us, it’s a no-brainer — this technology is the future.”