Edward Ehrbar hosted a Customer iMC (Intelligent Machine Control) Demo Day on Oct. 21, in Bellport, N.Y. The day began with a breakfast presentation, featuring those famous New York bagels, followed by discussions posing different questions to everyone in attendance.

Pat Ahern, president of Edward Ehrbar, opened the event by asking everyone in attendance to be open-minded to learning because utilizing this technology translates to being more profitable. He added that at some point, everyone would be using iMC technology. He also assured everyone that one of Ehrbar’s main objectives is to help its customers grow.

Mike Salyers, senior product manager, I.M.C. Komatsu touched on the challenge of finding qualified operators in today’s market. He focused on the idea that this technology can be used to combat the lack of operator experience coming into the workforce, in addition to completing jobs more accurately and profitably.

Ken Calvert, director of product support systems, Komatsu, used his time to discuss KOMTRAX and “big data” in the industry. Big data is a buzzword used to describe a massive amount of data that is difficult to process using traditional software. He wanted business owners to understand how they should embrace technology and not let big data intimidate.

Big data has the potential to actually help companies improve operations and make intelligent decisions. Calvert said they should put the data to use and make it work for their companies. He suggested they choose only certain data and work with that first. For example, if a company’s idle time is high, they could use that data to simply train operators about fuel cost savings.

Komatsu’s on board machinery monitoring, KOMTRAX provides considerable data such as idle time, attachment run time, fault codes, machine location to name a few, all via Internet. The primary message to all was recognizing the information capability and using only what makes sense to benefit the individual owner if he or she owns one unit or a fleet of many. Otherwise, all the data can be overwhelming.

Participants then drove a quarter mile down the road to the demo site to operate the iMC Komatsu equipment. Dozers and excavators were the featured equipment of the event. The demo site was enormous and allowed individuals to use it as their own sand box. They were shown the machine’s capabilities and had the opportunity to use the equipment for as long as they wanted. Everyone was very impressed with the technology. Ehrbar stocks, sells and rents “iMC” equipment, and has since its introduction.

The event ended with a BBQ lunch and raffle. Three lucky winners received a week-long equipment rental.

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