Industry Day

Mobile Crane

This crane was lifting this ceiling

section into place on top of the wall

section. The ceiling section had

HVAC equipment on it already

installed. The crane operator from

Kiewit told the group that he could

find out the radius of the area with

his gps on the crane. He allowed one

guy in the class to direct the crane

by hand signals. Some of the signals were a fist to stop, two thumbs

pointed to each other to

close the boom, and two thumbs opposing each other to have the

boom stretch out. A few other students connected the straps to

the crane. The one guy guided the section into place with the

tagline. After about 15 minutes or so, the ceiling section was in

place. Then four men secured the ceiling section to the wall

section with bolts. They then started to add more piping and

other things to the sections.

Survey Equipment from American Infrastructure

The survey equipment is the 3D site on a small LCD screen.

It is very strong allowing the operator to see all the grades and

other things to control the construction site. The survey

equipment can tell a bulldozer where to grade the land exactly

to the point necessary. It saves a lot of time trying to work with

this equipment compared to older survey euqipment such as

grade sticks. It is also a lot more accurate and more precise. It

allows a worker to learn more about the site and become better

at his or her job.

Crane Simulation

The crane simulation is a piece of equipment that is used by

American infrastructure to train equipment operators. It helps

the operators to know their equipment better so that they can

perform their work better. It is important for the operators to

succeed in this training so that they can succeed in their actual

job in the field. The simulator is set up just like an actual piece of

equipment. It has all the same gadgets but the work is being

shown on a television in front of them. The simulator is on wheels

so that it can be transported in and out of the trailer easily. The

set up of the simulator is unique and is a great technique to learn

for equipment operators. The simulator costs about $45,000

with everything including the equipment.

Chandler Inc. Cement Truck

This is a brand new cement truck. I talked to a man from

Chandler named Ricky. He drives the trucks. He said that this

was brand new with under 5,000 miles on it. It cost $160,000

to buy and the company has over a hundred of these trucks. It

can hold 10 1/2 yards of concrete on back roads and 7 1/4

yards of concrete on the highway. It has water temperature

gauges and hydraulic line gauges. In the picture above is the

stack. This stack was $12,000. It is a environmental truck

because no matter what, the stack will never blow out exhaust.

The truck has a 71 gallon diesel tank on it. It also has six gears

on it even though it is an automatic. Ricky said that it drives

great on the back roads and anytime that it is offroad. He said

that this company is in Virginia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas.

Concrete Product Flat Bed Truck with Fork Lift

This is a flat bed truck from a concrete product company in

Christiansburg. It is a Mack truck and delivers supplies from

the warehouse to the job site. The fork lift on the back of the

truck make it easy to unload and load the supplies on and off

the truck. The truck can carry 40,000 lbs. It has a 55 gallon

diesel fuel tank and it is a very durable off road vehicle. It does

not have very good turning radius when it turns around.

American Infrastructure Motor Grader

This was the last piece of equipment that I looked at for Industry

Day. It is a motor grader, more for horizontal construction and

not used in cities too much. I talked to a man named Walter from

American Infrastructure who is an alumi from VT. He majored

in civil engineering, got his masters from Myers Lawson School

of Construction, and now works for American Infrastructure. He

said that he works a lot with other civil engineers using many of

the skills that he learned from VT. He said the most important to

him are his note taking ability and his speeches in front of crowds.

They are the reason he is in the position that he is today. Walter

told me that the motor grader has gps on it for grading. He can

move soil with it within a hundredth of an inch of where it is

supposed to be with the gps. He said that it takes some training

but it is well worth it, especially when you are running the piece

of equipment in the field.

Interesting Points

The things that I found interesting at the Industry Day was the

crane simulation, the concrete truck, and the gps for the heavy

equipment. I found the crane simulation fascinating because

the way that the operators of the equipment can practice

their technique before they even step foot on an actual piece of

equipment. The concrete truck was stunning with the numerous

gadgets that it had on it. The pressure gauges, the water and

hydraulic tanks were unique along with the size of the truck. The

smoke stack was also great because it makes the truck great for

the environment. The gps was very advanced with the way

a piece of equipment can be controlled to the hundredth of an inch

of something. The precision and accuracy of the gps was

amazing.