At a job site in Utah’s West Desert, Broken Arrow, a multi-faceted contractor expertly harvests clay to deliver products to their business partners.
“My father started this business back in 1972. Since then, we have just organically grown based on our focus on quality, integrity and relationships,” said Jared Bunn, Broken Arrow’s President. “If we say we will do something, we’ll do it.”
Dave Kolesky, RDO Equipment Co. sales professional based in Salt Lake City, immediately recognized Broken Arrow’s commitment to excellence and the natural partnership between their team and team members.
“Broken Arrow’s team adopts a multidisciplinary approach to projects,” Kolesky said. “They bid, accept and complete infrastructure, landfills, subdivisions and underground utilities projects. From start to finish, Broken Arrow team members rely on RDO to deliver the equipment, technology and service needed to support their numerous job sites.”
“When you’re in this business as long as we have been, you learn it’s the people that you deal with who make all the difference,” Bunn said. “We know we can call anyone at RDO, and they can get you what we need, even if it’s not the usual dozer or excavator model.”
That’s evident with the Broken Arrow team’s experience with their WingtraOne Gen II drone at a clay processing job site location a few hours outside of Salt Lake City.
Watch Bunn and Dave Cummings, Senior Vice President of Construction Services explain how tracking excavators and dozer grades helps them to sustainably deliver clay materials on time and on budget.
John Deere’s SmartGrade Plus Wingtra Drone Increases Efficiency
Dave Cummings, Broken Arrow’s Senior Vice President of Construction Services, said machines with grade control plus drones have dramatically reduced the amount of time their team takes to process clay.
"Our Wingtra drone helps us to keep track of all the quantities and surfaces we are mining with our John Deere SmartGrade excavators,” Cummings said. “To accurately process clay at this site, we can only dig about 5 to 6 feet deep without hitting sand.”
Before RDO, Cummings explained that excavator and dozer operators had to regularly check in and measure their grades. Once they recorded their grades, they would communicate with project managers to determine if they needed to stop all machines to survey with LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) lasers.
“Before RDO, our SmartGrade excavators and Wingtra drone, our clay harvesting process took way more time and effort,” Cummings said. “Without this real-time info, keeping the job site on track became difficult. We had to take extra care to process accurate amounts of clay for our partners without contamination.”
Cummings said the ability to set machines to precise grades, automate data collection and quickly collect real-time surveys of a large job site allows their team to process clay accurately and quickly.
“When I’ve looked at models of clay processing sites with SmartGrade excavators and dozers versus those without this grading technology, we’ve increased the amount of product we’ve harvested by 15 to 20%,” Cummings said.
Wingtra’s Automate Flight Path and 3D Models Keep Track
Cummings said when he first took the WingtraOne Gen II out to the job site, he noticed its ability to take off and land vertically — an important feature when you’re in environments like Utah’s West Desert where ground moisture, a particularly important factor in clay harvesting, can vary greatly.
“Our Wingtra drone captures GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) points at the sub-centimeter level,” Cummings said. “With these daily surveys, our dozer operators can move a specific amount of clay at the right time so it processes to its appropriate grade.”
Known for its advanced features in aerial data collection, Wingtra drones can fly at speeds up to 36 mph, following a preset flight path that covers large areas for up to 59 minutes.
Watch this episode of The Track with Dave Cummings as he shares his experience flying Wingtra drones.
Wingtra’s survey maps can be uploaded into CAD (computer-aided design) software to create 3D maps. Cummings shares these maps with his fleet managers and business partners so Broken Arrow can quickly calculate both the amount of clay it’s processing and when it will be delivered.
Cummings and Broken Arrow team members expressed that a partner like RDO understands their need to use technology to monitor their equipment fleet so they can accurately and quickly calculate the clay material that will be delivered. The grading and surveying information, plus reliable field service from RDO, allows Broken Arrow to instill confidence in its customers. They know they can rely on Broken Arrow to deliver the right amount of clay without fearing the materials being unusable.
“No one is guessing about anything,” Cummings said. “It’s a comfort to know that we have a partner like RDO who will go the extra mile to supply the resources we need to get the job done.”
Founded in 1968, RDO Equipment Co. sells and supports intelligently connected agriculture, construction, environmental, irrigation, positioning, and surveying equipment from leading manufacturers, including John Deere, Vermeer, and Topcon. With more than 80 locations across the U.S. and partnerships in Africa, Australia, Mexico and Ukraine, we deliver creative solutions so our customers can grow and build the world.
Inventory to Get the Job Done
From John Deere to Vermeer and Topcon, our equipment experts are ready to help you find the machines and technology you need.
Contact Us
