Premier Mexican Construction Company Construcarr estimates the Guadalajara Colima highway project was finished 23% faster with Trimble GCS900 Grade Control compared to traditional staking and grading methods

As seen in Grading & Excavation Contractor 

Construcarr is a successful Mexican construction company that has quickly become a leader in highway construction and the production of high-quality asphalt concrete. The company, Construcciones y Carreteras S.A. de C.V. (Construcarr), was founded by Ricardo Luna, a leading engineer with more than 35 years of experience in the construction and building industry. 

Over the past several years, Construcarr has consistently demonstrated that it is on top of the field in terms of delivering superior highway and asphalt work. The organization has earned an ISO 9001 certification and has embraced other processes and technology that can deliver increased accuracy and productivity gains on the job. As part of the company's ongoing effort to raise its level of service, Construcarr purchased the Trimble® GCS900 3D Grade Control System supplied by SITECH de Occidente, the local Trimble authorized technology dealer. The Trimble machine control technology was then used on a four lane expansion project for the Guadalajara -Colima highway.

Guadalajara is Mexico's second most important city and Manzanillo is one of the most important commercial and tourist sea ports of the west coast of Mexico on the Pacific. The expansion of the Guadalajara - Colima highway is projected to have a significant impact for the community. Experts estimate the four lane expansion will reduce transit time across the city and neighboring communities by 40 minutes.

With support from SITECH de Occidente, Construcarr installed the Trimble GCS900 3D Grade Control System with Universal Total Station configuration on two of their motor graders.The system uses a digital terrain model (DTM) that is prepared using Business Center - HCE powered by Trimble. Business Center - HCE is a versatile software solution for data preparation used for machine control. After converting the data, the Construcarr team transfers the design to the in-cab control box. The information is then used to automatically move the motor grader blade to the correct grade.

The Universal Total Station takes as reference at least two surveying control points to determinate its position (north, east and elevation). The station then connects to the machine through the radio and sends the exact position of the target. The GCS900 software that runs on the CB430 in-cab control box, then calculates the blade position to millimeter level accuracy. This reading is then compared to the design to move the blade automatically to the correct position and grade.

Trimble machine control eliminates the need to stake and re-survey positions on the ground. Instead, Construcarr operators were able to achieve finished grade to millimeter accuracy with fewer passes and less machine run time. In fact, the highway project requires two fewer people to survey with Trimble machine control when compared to traditional staking and grading methods. The accuracy obtained with Trimble machine control based on design was twice (+/- 5 millimeters) as accurate, as compared with the traditional methods. On this project increased job site productivity meant the time needed for fine grading was reduced greatly, cutting fuel and operating costs.

Traditional Grading vs. TrimbleGSC900 Grade Control System

In order to measure the time saved using Trimble on the highway project, SITECH de Occidente analyzed the time required for traditional grading versus the results achieved using the Trimble GSC900 Grade Control System. The results were significant: With Trimble machine control, crews save an incredible 40 minutes per 100 meters of laying the cement base, cutting the time from 55 minutes to about 15. Overall, the crew estimates that the Guadalajara - Colima highway project was finished 23% faster with Trimble GCS900 Grade Control compared to traditional staking and grading methods. In addition machine run time was cut by 6%, saving fuel use and machine operating costs.

Job performed: Cement base

Job dimensions:     Length: 120.00 meters     Width: 5.50 meters     Thickness: 0.28 meters

 

Time hh:mm:ss	Comparison of use of time (machine)
Traditional Way	GCS900 Grade control system	Difference between methods	Savings %
Work previous to fine grading	Fine grading	Total	Work previous to fine grading	Fine grading	Total
02:15:00	00:25:00	02:40:00	02:15:00	00:15:00	02:30:00	00:10:00	6.25%

 

Time hh:mm:ss	Comparison of time of work (surveying)
Traditional Way	GCS900 Grade control system	Difference between methods	Savings %
Staking	Control measurements	Additional measurements	Total	Staking	Control measurements	Additional measurements	Total
00:30:00	00:15:00	00:10:00	00:55:00	00:05:00	00:05:00	00:05:00	00:15:00	00:40:00	72.73%

 

Fuel (Lts.)	Comparison of use of fuel
Traditional Way	GCS900 Grade control system	Difference between methods	Savings %
Work previous to fine grading	Fine grading	Total	Work previous to fine grading	Fine grading	Total
36.23	9.58	45.81	36.23	5.75	41.98	3.83	8.37%

 

Comparison of work effort
Traditional way	GCS900 Grade control system	Difference between methods
Operator	1	1	0
Surveyor	1	1	0
Worker	3(2 surv + 1 ope)	1 (top)	2
Total	5	3	2

 

Total time traditional way	Time saved	Saving %
03:35:00	00:50:00	23.26%

* Work previous to fine grading (mix, laid, compensate and compact material)

 

“When it comes to surveying, two fewer people are required with the Trimble GSC900 system,” said William Carpizo, surveying supervisor for Construcarr. “I save about 40 minutes per 100 meters, which is the time it used to take the surveyors to stake the work area. It also saves the operator's time because he doesn't have to look for levels or worry about taking out stakes, and the level of acceptance in base layers is approximately 1 centimeter.” 

With support from SITECH de Occidente and Trimble, Construcarr continues to deliver on its mission to develop quality highway infrastructure projects, using material and cutting edge technology that benefits the community, shareholders, and workers. The SITECH de Occidente team is confident that Construcarr success using the Trimble 3D Grade Control Systems for automatic machine control will pave the way for other contractors in Mexico to invest in the technology so they can also become more competitive with increased grading accuracy and greater job productivity.