Cameron Construction Co. Inc.

Profitable Production

Cameron Construction Co. Inc., finds GPS technology boosts production, cuts costs

For John Broadaway, vice president of operations for Cameron Construction Company, Inc., in Jonesboro, Ark., equipment purchasing decisions hinge on one major factor: production. Production is why you’ll see mostly Caterpillar® equipment in the 35-piece fleet on Cameron’s Arkansas State Highway 1 project in Lee County.

“Cat® equipment gives us the security to know we can produce the work we need to for our clients and contracts,” says Broadaway. “We believe it’s the best equipment on the market because production with it is highest. We don’t let initial price affect our buying decisions. We let productivity and the quality of the machine decide.”

Cameron Construction, founded in the mid-1980’s, maintains an equipment fleet and the manpower to stay available for any job possibility in a 100-mile radius of Jonesboro. Those projects can include commercial and residential subdivision site work, utilities installation, site management and heavy highway construction.
Cameron must maintain a tight production schedule, which means quality personnel and equipment are more important than ever on the job. “Dealer support from Riggs Cat — that might be the best part about owning Cat equipment,” says Broadaway. “Parts availability and service is a phone call away. Once they get on the jobsite, their field service personnel do an excellent job.”

GPS Efficiency
The Highway 1 project is the sort of giant job that Cameron crews relish. They’ve met the efficiency challenge on such projects through the years with technology. Now, on the Highway 1 project, they are seeing the benefits of satellite technology — with the aid of a GPS stakeless grade control system installed by Riggs Cat on a D6N LGP Track-Type Tractor that Cameron has rented.

Details of the job are awe-inspiring. Cameron is contracted to move 400,000 cubic yards of dirt, from initial clearing to final grading, of a two-and-a-half-mile stretch of roadbed. The job involves contours and elevations and is slated to take about a year to complete.

Besides the D6N LGP (which is equipped with the Cat exclusive SystemOne™ Undercarriage), other Cat equipment on the site includes several other track-type tractors (D4G XL, DD4G LGP, two D5M XL models and a D6R XL), two 12G Motor Graders, a 330 B L Hydraulic Excavator, 815B Soil Compactor and a CS 563C Soil Compactor (equipped with a pad foot shell) and a 966D Wheel Loader. The entire Cameron Cat fleet includes a total of six motor graders and eleven hydraulic excavators from the 312 to 330C L models.

Using the GPS satellite system, says Broadaway, is extremely user friendly. For starters, it minimizes surveying (and surveying costs) and eliminates the time and manpower required to stakeout a job. Using mobile “rovers,” crew members triangulated with a handheld GPS unit all crucial parameters to the roadway. Arkansas Department of Transportation crews established the initial design for the Highway 1 work. That information was inputted into a three-dimensional site design model at the offices of Associated Engineering, a Cameron associated company. Using a data card, the site design was loaded into the onboard computer of the D6N LGP dozer. Up and running, the operator then can either follow the on-screen readouts and manually control the machine, or the machine may automatically follow all computerized data to dead-on accurate levels and grades.

The beauty of the GPS system is that everything can be cut and bladed to grade on one initial pass — eliminating readjustments or “do-overs.” “As far as efficiency goes, I’m sure we’ll realize anywhere from a 10 to 20 percent increase in productivity from using GPS on this job,” Broadaway figures. “Plus, there is the additional reduction in surveying costs. It’s the wave of the future.”

Marvin Day agrees with that assessment. “We’ve been looking at GPS systems for several years, but were always a bit skeptical of it. Today the technology is there. It is an absolutely viable tool.”

“As far as efficiency goes, I’m sure we’ll realize anywhere from a 10 to 20 percent
increase in productivity from using GPS on this job.”

— John Broadaway,
Cameron Construction Co. Inc.,
Jonesboro, AR

COMPANY PROFILE

Cameron Construction Co., Inc., Jonesboro, Ark.

Principals: Mike Cameron, president,
John Broadaway, vice president/operations; Marvin Day, treasurer, project
engineer & manager
Applications: Heavy highway, commercial
& residential site work, utilities installation, site management
Cat Dealer: Riggs Cat