Manish Arora, Business Head, Mahindra Construction Equipment digs into the details of how the machine control technology helps in enhancing motor grader performance.

In the current times when great emphasis is laid on up-gradation of National Highways and various special expressway projects, construction of bypasses and ring roads around major cities, development of rural road infrastructure and clearing of all the pending road construction projects in the country, the market of heavy construction equipment like motor graders is definitely expected to see a boom. In fact, if numbers are to be believed then the motor grader market is expected to grow from 750 units in 2016 to 850 units by 2020 (as per Off-Highway Research). This is because they are the most common equipment used for road construction and maintenance.

Given their increased usage, over the years, the motor grader market has highly evolved with advanced machines equipped with intelligent features and smart machine controls. Particularly, the advanced machine control technology of motor graders has been able to offer various new ways to operators to operate the equipment more efficiently. It has reduced the operator’s difficulties considerably in last few years. In addition, they offer a host of other benefits as well like reduced rework, reduced maintenance and wear/tear, greater productivity, greater accuracy, improved job planning, simplified operator training and reduced cost and effort associated with re-staking jobsites. Well, with such benefits, machine control technology is only expected to give a further boost to the demand for motor graders in the country.

Let’s take a detailed look at how the machine control technology has helped significantly in improving motor grader performance:
• Reduced rework and increased productivity: Rework is always a pain for the contractors as it involves extra cost, time and effort. The need for rework arises when the work is not considered up to the mark. Earlier, often motor grader operators had to rework since the machine did not deliver accurate results. However, with enhanced machine controls, the task of rework has reduced considerably over the years. Today, machine control technology allows the motors graders to reach the final grade much faster with more accuracy, thus, saving time and cost associated with rework tasks and allowing contractors to move forward easily without looking back.
• Reduced maintenance and wear/tear: It goes without saying that the more the equipment is used, the more it experiences wear and tear. The more usage of the equipment also piles up more hours on the engine and machine’s filters and fluids, thereby, increasing its age considerably. Like any other equipment, the case is same with the motor graders, its mouldboard and other components. Here it is to be noted that by allowing a task to be completed in less time and with accuracy, the advanced machine controls greatly reduce the maintenance cost of the equipment and lead to less wear and tear.
• Improved job planning: Since the machine is able to perform efficiently, advanced machine control also helps the contractors to more intelligently sequence and plan their equipment. This means, if the contractors know that the motor grader will perform any task in the given time, then they can plan for other tasks involving other equipment effectively without wasting any time.
• Reduced need of operator training: Generally, motor graders are considered to be one of the most difficult construction equipment to operate and thus, it is always a humongous task for the contractors to find the right operators and then train them. Well, machine control technology reduces this need of the contractors also as even less-experienced operators are able to work easily and achieve grade characteristics similar to those with more field experience. So, while experienced motor grader operators can maintain efficiency levels throughout the day, less experience operators can definitely be more productive and produce better results with advanced machine controls.
• Improves jobsite safety: Machine control technology also improves jobsite safety by removing the need for regular checks.

In a nutshell
Overall, for contractors to win more and more big projects, it is required that they employ motor graders with advanced machine control technology. Although such equipment may cost a bit more, but it is better to invest in them as they can drive more profit in the long run. What more? Machine control technology also makes the machine more flexible and increased flexibility any day drives in more profits.

At present, there are only few manufacturers in India manufacturing motor graders with advanced machine control technology and one among them is Mahindra Construction Equipment. Its RoadMaster G75 motor grader offers an affordable, un-compromised and mechanised grading solution. The equipment is designed to provide optimal output at affordable cost with its simple yet rugged design.

The RoadMaster G75 comes with remote monitoring system DigiSense that keeps a track of your machine with the touch of a finger. Through this, be it business information like daily work reports, fuel level or warnings like low fuel, filter clogging and low engine oil, you can get constant updates on your equipment.

Further, its 3,000 mm mouldboard comes with an option of having its size reduced by 400 mm. Depending on the requirement, the blade size can be reduced by 200 mm on both sides. The cutting-edge machine has a lasting life of about 600 hrs on standard operation cycle. In addition, the RoadMaster G75 comes with the option of having additional fitments i.e., the ripper and dozer for added versatility. The ripper is perfect for ripping hard compacted surfaces before grading while dozer helps with spreading.
Above all, RoadMaster G75 is highly fuel-efficient and results in more savings with Mahindra DiTec engine. With better technology and design enhancements, it also lowers lubricant refilling requirement with extended service intervals, thus, reducing the overall maintenance cost. In addition, it possesses ergonomic layout and seating with all the controls smooth and easy to reach and has spacious canopy, lockable storage and mobile charging. Thus, RoadMaster G75 can definitely be your best bet when looking to buy a motor grader with advanced machine control technology!

Authored by:
Manish Arora,
Business Head,
Mahindra Construction Equipment
www.mahindraconstructionequipment.com