Intelligent By Design

Feb 27, 2020 - 5 years ago

FRONT PAGE STORY: London, Ontario’s CH Excavating realizes improvements in productivity and cost savings with Komatsu’s Intelligent Machine Control system.

*CH Excavating founder and owner Peter V. Chiacchia stands next to one his fleet’s Komatsu PC360 LCi excavator, featuring Intelligent Machine Control.*

In 1983, CH Excavating was founded, starting with the excavation, backfill, and site grading of new home builds. Over 37 years later, the company is in its second generation of ownership, led by Peter V Chiacchia. Today CH Excavating is a fully integrated heavy civil company with over 80 employees, servicing all markets large and small; residential, commercial, institutional, municipal reconstruction and new home subdivisions.

CH Excavating manages a wide variety of municipal projects and municipal roadworks including full-scale reconstructions (new services, surface works, and specialty works), road widenings, median replacement, beautification contracts, and much more.

“Utilizing the Komatsu fleet has given our business a significant competitive advantage due to their reliability, fuel efficiency & longevity,” said Peter Chiacchia, owner of CH Excavating.

“At [the job] site, we are impressed with the operation of each Komatsu machine we have in our fleet ranging from the PC138USLC, PC290LC, PC360i, PC390i, PC450LC, PC490VG, PC650LC, even their PC800LC excavator, to their D39EX, D51i (4), and D61i Dozers,” said Chiacchia.

The Komatsu fleet has directly benefitted CH in securing large scale development projects with their integrated GPS (Intelligent Machine Control; iMC) — a huge savings of man hours and rework, especially when working in new home development site servicing and commercial land development.

Intelligent Machine Control features a unique sensor package, including stroke sensing hydraulic cylinders, an IMU sensor, and GNSS antennas. This technology utilizes 3D design data loaded into the control box to accurately display machine position relative to target grade to limit over excavation. “Having recently expanded our fleet to include Komatsu’s industry-leading Intelligent line-up of dozers and excavators along with their smart reporting systems, has directly contributed to delivering a better result to our clients, efficiencies, profits, and business growth,” said Chiacchia. “These machines allow us to get on and off each job site faster, while getting the work done more accurately. Improving the fleet’s utilization results in increased revenues. All Komatsu machines come with the strength and quality we expect.”

“We just wrapped up three large scale subdivisions in London,” explained Chiacchia. “Edgevalley (Owner: Drewlo Holdings) - located in north east London, consisting of over 21,000 linear feet of pipe to service over 500 single & multifamily units & large storm water management pond; Creekview (Owner: Southside Group) - located in Northwest London, consisting of 125 single family detached home lots; Silverleaf (Owner: York Developments) - an upscale executive neighbourhood in Southwest London comprising 118 single family home lots as well as constructing arterial roads to access the neighbourhood,” continued Chiacchia. “Presently, we have a medium sized commercial plaza in north central London, a 5-tower apartment complex in south west London, and new home development in Stratford.”

“We can definitively state that with Komatsu along our side, CH Excavating is a recognized leader in our marketplace, delivering satisfaction to our customers and their clients alike. Whether it’s working in open fields for site development, tight city streets for reconstruction work, environmentally sensitive areas for storm water management pond development or rehabilitation or general excavation,” said Chiacchia. “What’s great about Komatsu and our local dealer, Equipment Sales & Service Ltd., is they care about our outcome and our client’s success,” said Chiacchia.

“Every company is only as strong as the contribution of the sum of their parts. Everything from: Employees, Customers and Suppliers are critical links to success! Success breeds success, and we are grateful to have the Komatsu brand working alongside with us,” concluded Chiacchia.