Rocky Council shows off its new big Cats

High-tech machines bring range of benefits to ratepayers

Peter Kluver of Hastings Deering delivers a new grader to Michael O'Keeffe from Rockhampton Regional Council. Picture: contributed

ROCKHAMPTON Regional Council showed off its new 'big Cats' last week.

The two state-of-the-art Caterpillar graders will be involved in a new initiative which sees Hastings Deering providing 'remote health monitoring' of the Council's fleet.

Hastings Deering's Peter Kluver said the company would complement Council's maintenance program by providing an asset management system with online access to machine data.　

"Complimentary technologies such as Product Link and Vision Link® can tell you where your assets are, how much fuel they're burning and more,” Mr Kluver said at a work site on Kalapa-Black Mountain Rd.

"We can provide proactive, data-driven machine insights so you know when a machine needs attention and can schedule services rather than being caught out when work is at a time critical point.　　

"Council can track asset location, hours, fuel usage, diagnostic codes, idle time and more through the secure Vision Link® user interface.”

Mr Kluver also stated the technology made the council an attractive employment prospect for school leavers.

RRC Acting Civil Operations Manager Michael O'Keeffe said with more than 1,000 km of unsealed roads in the region, the Council was working hard to maintain the entire road network to the best possible condition and in the most cost-efficient manner for ratepayers.

"Gravel roads can become a cost to the community if they deteriorate because of rain or wear, such as pot holes, which can damage vehicles and also become a safety issue,” he said.

"Our rural team, including a roads' inspector, ensure we set a priority to guarantee continued maintenance.”

Mr O'Keeffe said Council replaced two of its six grader fleet with state-of-the-art Caterpillar graders, including fitting one with a larger blade to increase efficiency.

"We have a thorough tender process with a scoring process that covers off on assessment criteria such as the 'whole of life costs' to quality assurance, mechanical assessment and local preference,” he said.

"The key driver in replacing the ageing machines, with new, is to maintain low operational costs. We aim to maintain a relatively new fleet to ensure we have high performance, high productivity and reliability, along with reduced operating costs.

"The last thing we want is a machine to be in the workshop continually being repaired.

"So, there are many and varied benefits to this purchase.”　

Already to date this financial year, Council has graded over 300kms of unsealed gravel roads.

Originally published as Rocky Council shows off its new big Cats