With 27 years in business and a mission statement of “Bioservices to grow on,” Chamness Technology focuses on capturing organic matter and converting it into something of value.
With its extensive scope of work, sustainability is one of the most important values to Chamness, according to the company. With four compost sites located throughout the Midwest, the company takes commercial and industrial organic streams of material and converts it into soil-enhancing compost. For Chamness, the idea of sustainability goes beyond just its end product — the company puts the same principles into its equipment buying decisions, working to match productivity goals with equipment that proves efficient in terms of fuel use and emissions standards.
“Sustainability is about efficiency. We hear the legitimate discussion about environmental concerns. Economics has to balance with that, too,” said Dave Klockau, director of sales and marketing at Chamness. “When you put those two together, that’s why it’s so important. That’s where environmental issues and economic goals come together with efficiency. That’s really what it’s about for any company running equipment, be it a wheel loader or a tractor-trailer. It’s finding those efficiencies.”
The company boasts a fleet of more than 40 different pieces of construction equipment, including wheel loaders, skid steers and excavators. The company added a new Tier IV Interim 921F from Case Construction Equipment to its fleet. Powered by a selective catalytic reduction (SCR)-only Tier IV engine and proving to boast noticeable fuel efficiency ratings — the machine has fit squarely in the company’s mantra of sustainability and efficiency.
Engine Technology Tops List
Chamness Technology is not your typical “technology” company. It’s an organics recycling company that works in four different disciplines including composting, wood grinding and lagoon cleaning.
The company also has a business called GREEN RU, which collects food waste from commercial sources such as grocery stores, restaurants, hospitals and schools. With two routes in eastern Iowa, they use the collected food waste to make compost.
“This is a production facility. We bring in about 50,000 tons a year to make our product. We total about 30,000 tons a year just for the site in Iowa,” Klockau said. “You’ve got to have the equipment to do that job.”
That’s where the 921F wheel loader comes in.
According to Klockau, maintaining sustainability is all about efficiency. When they first started researching potential wheel loaders, Chamness wanted one that was up-to-date with today’s technologies with good fuel efficiency and power.
The 921F purchased by Chamness uses SCR technology to meet Tier IV Interim regulations (Case has since released a Tier IV Final 921F). This system treats emissions separately with Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF), which doesn’t require the engine to re-circulate exhaust gas. SCR is an after-treatment system that works separately from the engine, so it lets the machine maintain horsepower without sacrificing breakout force. This optimizes combustion and machine performance, lowers temperatures, lowers fuel consumption, and reduces maintenance and downtime. There also is no need for recirculation equipment or a diesel particulate filter (DPF) for lower long-term maintenance costs
Not to mention the wheel loader created the opportunity for Chamness to save somewhere between $17,570 and $30,120 in fuel savings per year .
“Depending on how much drive time we do each day, we’re running around 3 to 4.5 gallons per hour. On our old loaders, it would be anywhere from 4.5 up to 6.5. We’re saving about 2 to 3 gallons per hour,” said Stephen Chamness, a wheel loader operator at Chamness Technology. “Fuel is one of your largest costs for how high gas prices are nowadays. A gallon here, a gallon there — it adds up when you’re running a loader like we do every day.”
The 921F wheel loader also features four programmable power modes: ECO for maximum fuel efficiency, Standard for quick loading, MAX for aggressive digging and AUTO for engine output that responds on the fly — further helping manage fuel economy.
“The four power modes really help. There’s no sense in me running full throttle for 500-feet when I can have it in ECO mode and get the job done just as well, if not better, while saving fuel,” Chamness said.
The Right Partnership
When Chamness was looking for a wheel loader, another one of the top considerations was a loader that would provide them with a great warranty and proactive service. In case an issue arose, they wanted a reliable company to fall back on while receiving the help they needed.
Because of that, Chamness Technology went to its local dealer, Titan Machinery in Des Moines, and learned about the ProCare package that came standard on their new 921F wheel loader.
“I think what separated this loader versus the competitors was the service that Titan offered us through ProCare and the telematics,” Chamness says.
ProCare is an all-in-one heavy machine support program that comes standard on Case wheel loaders. It includes a suite of product assurances including a three-year/3,000-hour full machine factory limited warranty, three-year/3,000-hour planned maintenance, and a three-year advanced SiteWatch telematics subscription.
Depending on the customer and application, ProCare can generally provide at least $7,500 in savings from planned maintenance costs alone over the first three years of the machine .
“With ProCare, they do all the oil changes and filters, and it’s all included with the purchase price,” Chamness said. “By having them come down, they have their trained mechanics do the servicing themselves. That way, it’s done up to Case’s standards.”
Case SiteWatch is a telematics, remote monitoring and data reporting solution that tracks machine maintenance, health and utilization so contractors can easily manage their fleets and optimize machine performance and utilization.
“You can tell when the loader was on, if it’s been sitting, or it also sends out an email warning if it were to have a low engine oil level. It will send out an email to whoever you would like it to just to say, ’Hey, you need to check on the loader and get it back up to standards,’” Chamness said.
Titan proved to Chamness that they were willing to do as much work as possible to keep their equipment at a high standard. That dealer-client relationship helps optimize uptime and productivity — not to mention overall satisfaction.
“They’ve stopped by just to make sure everything is working right. They’ve had a service guy — we didn’t call him out — who was just in the area and thought he’d stop by just to make sure everything was good,” Chamness said. “It showed me that even though we never asked them, they’re willing to drive out of their way to make sure everything is okay.”
He continued, “Having a company such as Titan that wants to come out and take care of the equipment that they sold in order to keep us up and running was a huge factor.”
Finding Comfort
in a Cab
On a normal day, the operators run the 921F wheel loader anywhere from 10 to 13 hours a day. With a 4.5 cu. yd. (3.4 cu m) bucket, the company consistently fills 200 to 300 buckets per day. In order to stay on top of their game, it’s crucial for Chamness to maintain a full bucket load. Case’s Ride Control feature does just that.
Ride Control automatically reduces loader arm bounce at elevated speeds and features industry-leading adjustable speed settings, giving operators full control of their load retention and comfort.
“If you have ride control, when you drive over a surface with bumps, the bucket compresses. It reduces the amount of rocking that the loader does by just stabilizing the bucket,” Chamness said. “Even on an empty load, it’s amazing how much smoother it rides with the Ride Control.”
Because the operators sometimes spend as long as 13 hours a day in the machine, cab comfort is a very important feature for them.
With one of the largest cabs in the industry, the 921F’s cab features a dual air filtration system and an isomount cab design that reduces external noise and vibration. The wheel loader also features joystick steering, which allows operators to move between the joystick and steering wheel. The ergonomic design and responsive control reduce operator fatigue and help improve cycle times.
“I love how comfortable the cab is. You get in some loaders and get tired of sitting in it. There are days that I sit for five to six hours at a time before I get out and walk around. The 921F cab is really comfortable.”
Another feature that Chamness found important was the wheel loader’s maintenance accessibility.
“All grease points are super easy and accessible,” Chamness says. “You don’t have to crawl around under the loader and open up certain doors. When you check the hydraulic oil and the transmission oil, the sight glasses are right next to each other. It’s also really easy to check your engine oil.”
In such a unique working environment, Chamness Technology realized that, in order to be successful, they needed a machine that could match their end-goals with power, precision and ease. They found all those characteristics and more in their 921F wheel loader.
“I was really quite impressed with how smooth it rode, how easy it was to operate and how user-friendly it was. I’ve ran loaders almost my whole life, so I’ve been around equipment,” Chamness said. “It’s a terrific piece of equipment.”
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