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eiengineering efficient excavator bucket savings

In order to offer the most competitive tender, and make a profit, you need to know precisely what your costs are.

So, of course, if you could find a way to reduce your costs, you will not only be more competitive, but you will win more work and make a reasonable profit.

Until recently, it was thought that all excavator buckets were the same – that is, they dug holes, then something got built on the holes they dug.

If you’re a contractor involved in tendering for projects, large or small, your success revolves around not only your ability to win the contracts, but also to ensure you cost them competitively, as well as make a profit from them. This can be tricky, because you really need to show excellent value for money, and are expected to give value for money, then complete the job on time and within budget.

When you’re digging 30% more efficiently, basically that’s what you’re getting. Free fuel, free operator costs, free machine amortisation costs, free service costs, every fourth day is free! There’s no way anyone can compete on projects, when their competitor’s costs have the fourth day FREE.

Save with better buckets

At eiengineering, we realised that by changing the design a little and reducing the drag on the excavator bucket, we could not only still dig holes, but we could dig them quicker, at less cost – and we’re not talking about a little bit quicker, we are talking about 30% more efficiently.

This has a massive impact on the costs associated with large projects, as costs of excavation, including building, sewer, storm water, electrical, fire and infrastructure can add up to a huge proportion of the overall costs.

If the machine digs 30% more efficiently, firstly it uses 30% less fuel, the operator costs are reduced because he is in the machine 30% less time, there are 30% less machine hours being used, so there is a saving on service and spare parts costs and because there is 30% less fuel being burned, there are 30% less greenhouse emissions.

What sort of savings are we talking about?

Around $25,000 per year just on a 5 tonne machine, more on larger machines!

We know all of this because we have done the tests.

Proven digging efficiency

We have had excavators dig a trench for an hour with one bucket, then another trench alongside the first for an hour with our bucket using the same machine and operator with the only variation being the bucket. We have carried out around 10 of these tests on various sized machines from 1 to 22.5 tonnes, and the results are largely the same, although, believe it or not, some are actually better.

Apart from the absence of fuel or the operator, nothing effects the way an excavator digs more than the bucket.

So, the bottom line is that if you are tendering for large jobs, and your buckets don’t dig very well, you won’t be as competitive as companies that are using machines with buckets that dig efficiently.

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