Elaine Sheldon, grandmother and T'mara Deridder granddaughter, are Cobleskill Stone Products equipment operators on a roll, thanks to the company investing in new Dynapac roller equipment. The two highly skilled operators are part of an experienced team of 10 responsible for compacting blacktop on road projects throughout New York State.
The company's recent investment has seen a fleet of new equipment purchased to support its growing business with twelve new rollers from Dynapac regional dealer, Anderson Equipment Co.
Cobleskill Stone has also supported its operators by investing in the very latest CC5200 VI rollers which the business is now using with intelligent compaction control. These machines have already been supporting key road projects with the New York State Department of Transportation.
Support Means Everything
As a family run business, Cobleskill Stone has been a part of its local community since 1954. A key part of its ongoing success is based on its staff's skills, as Mike Moore, vice president of Cobleskill Stone explains: "We pride ourselves in looking after our people and being a longstanding and inclusive employer in the community. There is no better example of this than two of our operators running our larger Dynapac CC5200 VI rollers. Elaine Sheldon is one of our best operators and she has been with us for 23 years. In June 2015, we were proud to welcome her granddaughter T'mara Deridder who was trained by Elaine right from day one. She has also now become one of our leading operators."
Moore knows that it's incredibly important for his company to invest in the right solutions for their customers and that means knowing they have the backup equipment and support needed to deliver projects to ever tighter deadlines.
"This is why we have built a strong and long-term relationship with the Dynapac brand, working with both Anderson and the Dynapac team," Moore says. "A great example of how this helps our business is how Dynapac dealer sales manager, Sean Engle, has helped our team develop our proposition and skills throughout our journey. We have also had great support from the Dynapac and Anderson teams, as we move into using intelligent compaction control. This technology is now available on the Dynapac equipment and in our case training from Topcon Solutions for our operators, has help us quickly get to up to speed using the GPS enabled technology."
Moore says his team has also benefitted from great support from the Anderson Equipment Co. team, led by Steve Kenny.
"This has been a constant throughout all new equipment introductions, demos, walk-arounds and service support," he adds. "This ongoing relationship helps us get the most out of our machines, using new technologies and equipment to optimize our performance on the jobsite. Equally by keeping our equipment in great condition, we can achieve industry-leading uptime, helping us to maintain a competitive advantage."
Building Brand Loyalty
As part of the fleet investment, Cobleskill Stone has also opted for an extended warranty program on its new CC5200 VI rollers, working with Anderson to build this into the fleet finance package for the equipment.
"Ever since we started working with Cobleskill Stone over 30 years ago, they have been a real brand advocate," Steve Kenny at Anderson says. "They love the build quality of the products, and together, we have developed a strong relationship with the team, who are very proactive in identifying any maintenance required. We also get to know the equipment very well, so we can recommend any preventative maintenance to maintain the high uptime levels they demand."
Talking about operating the rollers with the latest technology, T'mara said: "I have been operating the equipment for some time now. What I like is how comfortable and simple it is to control. As I also work on quite busy sites, the visibility from the front and back of the roller is very good, which helps me feel like I can keep other people safe onsite."
More recently, T'mara said she has enjoyed learning about the capabilities of the Dynapac CC5200 VI rollers as they support intelligent compaction technology.
"This comes with a display in the cab that gives me all the information about the job and it is very easy to understand," she said. "Having had training on using this 3D technology I now know how to upload the models into the system and how to follow them on the display. I particularly like the fact that this technology also visualizes the compaction levels reached. For example, I can now see my work in real-time with completed areas highlighted on my in-cab display. It's certainly the way forward, especially for larger jobs.”
Moore knew the importance of the intelligent compaction technology to growing his business.
"The move to intelligent compaction was very swift and smooth, as we had already been introduced to the possibility of integrating this technology on Dynapac rollers with Steve Kenny demonstrating the technology," he said. "This allowed us to confidently specify the technology within a bid for a key project, which we won.
“As soon as we were awarded the job, Steve and his team very quickly worked with us to coordinate the delivery of the machine, installation of the added sensors and display needed to use the intelligent compaction solution. Having trained our highly experienced operators, we are already delivering all the benefits of a 3D enabled Dynapac machine to our clients."
Cobleskill Stone has already proven the benefits of the new rollers, and as more work is bid, the company is taking full advantage of the productivity and quality benefits associated with using its Dynapac roller fleet.
