September 7, 2010

THORNCRETE

The Gomaco GT3600 looks pretty much like a non-GPS curb machine, but those twin antennas sticking up along with the guidance system double the $250,000 price tag.

FOCUS | Roadbuilding

GPS-guided curb-making machine saves $1 million in waste

IAN HARVEY

correspondent

Pouring concrete curbs used to come with a lot of strings attached.

That’s because before a single shovel of concrete hit the ground, the run had to be strung out for grade, alignment and all those other details and it was a lot of man hours with a couple of guys with stakes and string methodically working their way around the job site.

So when the Ruscica family, owners of Concord, Ont.-based Thorncrete Construction Ltd., got a good look at a Gomaco GT3600 with its GPS (Global Positioning System) guided system, they quickly did some number crunching to justify the $500,000 price tag.

“It was $250,000 for the base machine and then $250,000 for the GPS system,” says Ross Ruscica, the second generation of the company founded in 1973 and specializing in curbs.

“But because we need no stringing at a job it’s much faster and we save manpower. Also, because there’s virtually no waste with this system, we figure on saving $1 million in waste in a year.”

THORNCRETE

The company expects to save up to $1 million a year in waste because the GPS-guided machine is much more accurate.

The machine is pretty similar to other curb machines on the market with one big exception. Its controls are computer guided with GPS assistance. It is sold by Gomaco out of Ida Grove, Iowa.

The company has other curb machines, including another Gomaco model, but this is the first with GPS for them and indeed, anywhere in North America, Ruscica says.

“It took a bit of work to get up to speed on it,” says Ruscica. “But once the guys got to know it, it’s been great. The learning curve was two to three weeks and it really wasn’t more difficult than learning a cell phone.”

One of the big advantages, he says, is that the company’s major clients at the De Gasperis group (Aspen Ridge, Metrus and Condrain) are all using GPS, so the critical data is already included in site drawings or is otherwise available.

This makes it particularly easy to get the numbers, plug them into the GT3600 and get to work.

“Everything is there, level, everything,” says Ruscica, adding the technology was unimaginable when his father founded the company nearly 40 years ago.

He says the machine can output almost any design of curb and needs only to be set in place with the program punched in and started up.

The only waste is on the finish, which leaves a small pile that can be quickly cleaned up with a couple of shovels.

“Before you’d have the string, and then men with shovels and paddles, edging it by hand,” he says. “The elimination of the wastage is amazing.”

Thorncrete, which has between 200 and 300 employees depending on season and work, also provides wastewater flushing, snow removal, road sweeping and sewer vacuum truck services.

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