In the early part of 2015 we spent some time in the foothills of the Brecon Beacons with Midwest Plant. The rolling hills and peaks providing a suitable backdrop for us to see their new Komatsu D61PXi-23 get stuck in.
Midwest Plant are the experts in their region. They have been established construction and civil engineering contractors to local authorities for over 30 years, but Midwest’s unique selling point is their experienced staff and operatives who help to deliver a range of services to all their contracts. They’re also big Komatsu lovers, so we thought we’d pay them a visit.
We like to think we’re pretty flexible with allowing our machines out on demo, even our busy iMC demo machines. So when Midwest Plant asked us for a demonstration of the features of iMC, we knew it would be beneficial for them to see the machine put through its paces. Jeff Davies from Midwest Plant explained:
“We all noticed a huge time saving by using intelligent Machine Control, and the D61PXi excelled on site. Once the site information was set into the machine, there was no over or under digging – even at speed it was right first time. “
The D61PXi-23 they’ve just taken delivery of after a successful demo period has been put to work in unfamiliar territory. Its new home is a Lead/Zinc Mine; a pretty unusual setting for a Komatsu dozer. When we visited, Midwest Plant were remodelling the entire area and constructing lagoons to stop any contamination leaching into the water table on a local scale. Jeff explained:
“This contract was perfect for GPS technology, the complicated profiles with tight tolerances had to be accurate to control the surface water. We have to adopt the latest technology to stay ahead. Another important feature for us is Sitelink. This allows us to remotely send job files to the machine, and also receive progress reports directly back to our office. The D61PXi has made it clear that GPS control is the future.”
