Many years ago, the Occham’s Razor theory — that the simplest solution is best — was alive and well and living in the construction industry. The problem in those days: providing the power and productivity of heavy equipment to the tight confines of small job sites. The solution of today: compact or mini equipment.
According to many manufacturers, compact equipment can benefit a wide range of contractors and perform a wide range of tasks. While some, like Will Sorenson and Curt Unger, of Yanmar Diesel America Corp., said that “the most benefit is for the utility contractors who concentrate on small jobs,” others believed that larger construction projects, as well as demolition projects, can often benefit from using compact equipment as utility machines for material handling tasks and clean-up, according to Mark W. Sprouls of Caterpillar.
The bottom line is simple. “You need to have the right machine for the task at hand,” said Takeuchi Manufacturing. The company maintained that it is not cost effective to bring a John Deere 330LC to dig a water line to a house or to have a highway contractor working under a 12-ft. (3.6 m) bridge with a Cat 330C L excavator to dig a sewer line.
“A compact excavator needs to be used [for those tasks],” added Takeuchi Manufacturing.
Keeping it Under Control
Landscapers, as well as utility and demolition contractors, and house and site developers, often work in small tight areas of a job site where controlling site damage is imperative.
“Lightweight [low ground pressure] compact excavators equipped with rubber tracks are able to track across lawns with virtually no damage compared to a larger machine,” said Mark Wall, business analyst manager of John Deere Worldwide Construction and Forestry Company.
In addition, when a contractor has to remove fencing or otherwise damage a site to gain access it takes extra time, especially for cleanup. “It is expensive to replace landscaping shrubs and trees,” said Sorenson and Unger. “It is cheaper if the contractor does not destroy them in the first place.”
They added that in some areas, a contractor could charge more money to do a job if he or she can leave more of the natural landscaping. “Especially if it is in an area where it takes several years or decades to replace large trees, like in the southwest United States. Skid steer loaders, larger backhoes and other large equipment may create a bigger job to clean up than the initial job contracted.”
Maneuverability
Another advantage of a mini-excavator, compared to a rubber-tire backhoe, is the ability to dig parallel to a foundation or other obstacle, eliminating the need for the time-consuming backfill of holes created by a less accurate backhoe. “If the operator moves less dirt, then he has to backfill and compact less dirt,” said Sorenson and Unger.
Wall stated that, “Allowing the operator to focus on the work in front of him and not worry about hitting an object when he swings the machine,” reduces the chance of property damage and lowers a contractor’s liability. “This is one reason compact excavators are so productive,” added Sorenson and Unger.
Another reason is that compact excavators are simply more maneuverable than large equipment. “The operator can dig faster and reposition the equipment faster so he can be more productive,” they said.
Reducing Downtime
Compact equipment also can help reduce costly downtime by working through wet and muddy conditions that would mire larger equipment.
“In the past, contractors had to wait for a job site to dry out or use large equipment that created ruts and made clean up expensive,” said Sorenson and Unger. “With compact equipment these problem conditions are overcome because the compact equipment has much less ground pressure than the larger equipment.”
They added that this lower ground pressure would help increase the contractor’s utilization of his equipment making it a better value than larger equipment.
Move It
Compact excavators also are more mobile, cutting transportation costs. “You do not need a 40,000-lb. trailer and large dump truck to transport these machines,” said Wall. Transportation costs are a major cost savings, according to Kobelco.
Labor Ready
Sprouls indicated that plumbing, electrical and landscapers also frequently use compact equipment to trench, backfill and grade rather than using manual labor. “Compact equipment often performs tasks that would have been accomplished with manual labor,” said Sprouls.
The same also can be said for demolition contractors. “What used to be done with manual labor and air hammers is now being done with compact excavators and hydraulic hammers,” said Wall. “These machines can break up the concrete, remove the concrete, dig the hole and backfill without taking up a lot of room.”
“Compact equipment is used on demolition jobs today that in the past had to use much more labor with hand held equipment,” said Sorenson and Unger. “With the compact equipment, you can use fewer people and get the job done faster.”
The Future
While compact equipment seems to benefit just about every aspect of the industry, from large and small projects to the rental market, manufacturers believe there is room for growth. According to Sprouls, the company wants to continue to push the market by offering a broad range of work tools and quick couplers to enable contractors to perform a wide range of tasks with a single compact machine.
Sorenson and Unger maintained that more powerful hydraulics and compact diesel engines now mean compact equipment can do work that required larger equipment in the past. “The nature of jobs would have to change to spur the development of other types of compact equipment,” they said. “Necessity is still the mother of invention.”
Small Beginnings
John Deere began marketing its current series of compact excavators in 1999. In April 2002, Deere introduced a small compact backhoe, the 110.
Takeuchi Manufacturing launched its first series of production compact excavators in early 1971. In 1991, the TL26 compact track loader was introduced to the U.S. marketplace.
Caterpillar introduced its first mini-excavator and compact wheel loader in 1998. Caterpillar compact, rubber-tracked multi-terrain loaders were introduced in 2001.
Yanmar began manufacturing compact construction equipment in 1967. The first unit produced was a small dozer called the 1D5. The YB600C was developed and introduced in 1971. The company also introduced the first zero-tail swing unit in 1994.
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