PERRIER TP is an earthworks contractor that is now part of the Colas Group. Colas Group operates in every aspect of construction and maintenance for roads and for other types of transport infrastructure (air, rail and marine transport), as well as on...

The Satolas Site Project

The SATOLAS site, where PERRIER TP is carrying out the excavation work for a new landfill, is a new forum for the group to display its capabilities.

The company, its people, and their expertise are recognised throughout the region, particularly for their specialist skills that enable them to complete highly technical jobs. The SATOLAS site, where PERRIER TP is carrying out the excavation work for a new landfill, is a new forum for the group to display its capabilities. The SATOLAS site project requires tremendous skill in terms of both precision and modelling, which PERRIER TP aims to demonstrate every day.

The company's project engineer, Mr. Pierre-Yves Esparcieux, and the head of the topography unit, Mr. Laurent Pastor, explains the SATOLAS site project was especially challenging because of the complexity and tight deadline.

Mr. Pierre-Yves Esparcieux, the company's project engineer.

"We had six months to complete all the phases of this project," said Pierre-Yves Esparcieux. "We had to perform all the 3D modelling and excavate a 230,000 cubic meter part of a landfill site that was already active. It was never going to be a piece of cake in terms of the deadline, but even though we started excavating one month late, we are now completing the job one week ahead of the original schedule."

The Mindset of an Advanced Company

PERRIER TP's technological investment choices demonstrate the company’s forward-thinking attitude that has gone hand-in-hand with the company's growth.

Mr. Laurent Pastor, Head Surveyor.

"Our machines have been equipped with a guidance system since 1996 and we have used 3D guidance systems since 2002,” said Mr. Laurent Pastor. “The results are so good that we have continued investing regularly in new technologies."

"Our company has always been one step ahead,” he said. “Our teams have always taken the approach of looking for solutions that will optimise our way of working. Even back in the days of grade stakes and cords, our level men demanded laser technology. We have never looked back."

For the SATOLAS worksite, a pure excavation project, the company set itself the challenge of completing it without any stakes. The technical aspect of landfill site excavation projects involves good measurement of the materials to be excavated and creating very complex strata.

To face this type of challenge successfully, the company relies on every employee.  And at PERRIER TP, every employee, no matter what his or her job, believes in the benefits of machine guidance systems, not only for the company profit, but in simplifying their own everyday tasks.

"Before, when I applied the traditional method, I levelled 2000 square meters a day,” said Mr. Guy Tyrand, Levelman for PERRIER TP. “Now I work with a Trimble 3D guidance system, and my grader can level as much as 11,000 square meters a day!"

 Mr. Guy Tyrand, Levelman for PERRIER TP.

 Mr. Tyrand's grader equipped in 3D.

Using Machine Guidance for a Competitive Edge

Like almost all the companies that have chosen to equip their machines with guidance systems, PERRIER TP started by equipping the graders and dozers in its fleet.

Convinced that guidance systems would also be useful for excavation projects, the company managers also decided to install them on their excavators. Today, they do not regret this bold decision.

 "We started by kitting out a 20-tonne excavator for another worksite, essentially for finishing work,” said Guy Tyrand. “And then, when we submitted a bid for SATOLAS, we had the idea of testing the dual 3D GNSS system on a bigger excavator to see if that would work equally well. And it's a good job we did!"

 The company installed a Trimble 3D GCS900  system on a 40-tonne Volvo excavator. The results on the site were quite impressive.

 "I asked the operator to excavate the embankments thoroughly,” said Guy Tyrand. “After the 40-tonne machine had done its bit, when it came time to use the compact finishing grader to adjust the embankments, the only thing left to do was more or less just brush it to remove the tooth tracks."

Mr. Sébastien Fabre, the excavator operator.

In fact, the excavator operator, Mr. Sébastien Fabre, was able to come within 10 centimetres of the finished design. This allowed the team to save a tremendous amount of grading time.  The company was therefore able to use just one grader, whereas three were normally needed for this type of job. 

"Another advantage of this system was the additional safety it provided,” said Sébastien Fabre. “There are no more operations taking place behind me for the purpose of checking or planting stakes, and I no longer need to get out and check every five minutes. That is definitely reassuring for us operators. Not to mention the time we save!"

Laurent Pastor explains that, using a traditional method on this type of worksite, there would be far too many stakes and therefore a lot more manpower would have to be deployed.

"In fact, the Trimble site positioning and machine control systems we used helped us to meet our project deadlines," said Pierre-Yves Esparcieux.

Mr. Alexandre Willerval, Rhône-Alpes Sales Representative with SITECH France.

Mr. Alexandre Willerval, Rhône-Alpes Sales Representative with SITECH France, explains that PERRIER TP is a perfect candidate for machine control technology from Trimble.

"PERRIER TP is one of the region's great success stories, all the departments in the company work together in support of machine control and new technologies. Yves Pinsard, SITECH's application engineer in the region, provided training and after-sales service when they installed the equipment, and very soon, all the teams were completely autonomous. Today, in terms of 3D technology, the company is one of the best-equipped players in the region. With Trimble positioning equipment, two graders, one bulldozer, and three excavators equipped with Trimble 3D systems, this is one of the companies that has really understood the benefits of machine guidance systems for all types of construction and the significant competitive advantage they can bring.”