A John Deere 624K wheel loader was retrofitted for the remote plant loading project.
Teleo
Teleo and John Aarts retrofitted a John Deere 624K wheel loader and started remote plant loading at its Tillsonburg, Ontario facility. The plant is slower, according to Ryan Aarts, CEO of the John Aarts Group, so the loader operator, Eddie Duff, wears multiple hats at the site. Using the operating station for remote operation means Duff doesn’t need to climb in and out into the machine constantly, or spend idle time waiting in the seat – instead, he can handle other tasks between loads. That adds up to improved productivity, plus a unique draw for new operators when Duff eventually retires.
“It’s rather obvious when you can take an operator out of the seat. This is something that impacts our health and safety. We have people that hurt their back and then they can’t work. With Teleo, you have the opportunity to actually put them in a much safer, secure environment. This opens the door for the types of people that can do this work,” says Ryan Aarts.
Remote operation is the first step in a new approach for John Aarts. The next move will be to have one batch plant operator and a loader operator running multiple plants, simply switching back and forth between machines and batch plants over the Internet to make concrete in several locations.
Retrofits on additional machines across multiple sites mean that one operator can multiply their output, making it easier to deal with labour challenges in the future.
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