Author: Simon Hall
Rory J Holbrook (RJH) is a Bulk Haulage company, specialising in aggregates and muck away. Founded in 1988, the company started off with just one lorry, but has since expanded to a fleet of more than 85 vehicles. The company also provide a variety of other construction services to their clients, including earthworks, recycling, site clearance, surveying and engineering. In addition to their haulage and construction work, the company have an operational rail head located in Brandon, United Kingdom, that imports over 8,000 tons of material into the region each week.
MDiG is a new Machine Control & GNSS rental supplier and site services provider, launched in 2020.
MDiG provides businesses nationwide with technology solutions that optimise their construction sites enabling them to complete projects more efficiently, safely, and accurately.
Protecting sites from external noise
In late 2021, RJH were contracted to construct a noise bund at the recycling centre at RAF Lakenheath, a Royal Air Force station near the village of Lakenheath in Suffolk, United Kingdom. The engineering project is scheduled to be completed over the next 25 years to reduce the noise levels on the recycling centre site that have been generated by the base and the nearby Eriswell Gun Club. The bund is being constructed using 2.2million cubic meters of material, and is currently three years into the construction process.
Critical work processes
When these bunds are constructed, it is of vital importance that they built in completely level layers, thus ensuring that the bund is accessible to plant machinery all year round. If the layers are not built level, it runs the risk of the structure being compromised and safety issues would arise for the staff working on the site. Building in level layers also ensures that the project remains on schedule and work is completed in a far more efficient manner.
To overcome these challenges, RJH contacted MDiG to arrange the rental of their plant machinery fitted with machine control technology from Leica Geosystems. Other companies were considered for the tender, but the 12-week lead time made MDiG and Leica Geosystems the best choice to become construction partners to RJH.
“Improving our overall efficiency and precision when completing projects of our own and external contracts was a key decision when we chose to partner with MDiG”
Ryan Holbrook | Project Delivery Manager | Rory J Holbrook Ltd United Kingdom
Machine control software for your construction site
To support the digitisation of the heavy construction industry, MDiG installed Leica Geosystems MC1 machine control solutions onto their plant machinery. A revolutionising software platform for all machine control solutions and applications, Leica MC1 is the one-for-all software solution platform to guide and automate all heavy construction machines.
Comparing the design model to the actual position of the machine’s cutting edge, such as the bucket or blade edge, MC1 machine control software assisted the operators from MDiG and RJH to position the machine to achieve the planned design. MC1 software automatically controlled the position of the machine’s cutting edge, increasing efficiency for the operators on the construction site.
Leica MC1 is carried by the rugged hardware platform, the Leica MCP80 panel and MDS Series docking station, ensuring an interchangeable panel between machines on a job site. The new MC1 platform is fully integrated into the heavy construction workflow, supported by the cloud-based Leica ConX productivity platform for more efficient management of heavy construction projects.
MC1 software simplified the design data handling and is open to all standard design data types, enabling a flexible dataflow to support common workflows on a job site. All machinery on the construction site, as well as Leica Geosystems’ field solution iCON site, are now running on the same design data structure, meaning that no data conversion is required. Furthermore, a seamless data transfer between machines, field units within the job site and office are guaranteed.
Consistency in software design throughout all heavy machine control applications reduced training efforts and optimised the learning curve of the operators. The same software platform is used with different sensor configurations, which improves scalability and training. Furthermore, installers benefited from simplified installation and service processes.
“We already had a blade with the Leica GPS on hire, so when the new blade and equipment was delivered from MDiG with the Leica GPS, we simply swapped them over. The Leica Geosystems and MDiG teams were very helpful from procurement and installation through to after care. Once we told them what our requirements were, they quickly worked to source us the correct equipment and arrange a speedy installation. From start to finish the process took less than two weeks”
Ryan Holbrook | Project Delivery Manager | Rory J Holbrook Ltd United Kingdom
