For more than 20 years, Plant Specs has been unchallenged as the publication which provides the only complete guide to earthmoving, construction and mass excavation equipment, used by Australian civil contractors.
For some time the CCF has been keen to develop an equipment specifications classification system, that is owned, managed and controlled by the Federation, for the benefit of its members and industry generally.
For a number of years Earthmover and Civil Contractor Plant Specs used the ERG classification system. Before that, it used Australian Standard AS2868-1986, which turned out to be so flawed as to be unusable.
The ERG system was originally developed by the ERG company, as a system of classifying machines, to provide manufacturers and distributors with sales statistics. While this data is relevant, the CCF believes the classification system should focus more on the needs of the end user.
As a result CCF and its publishing partner Informa Australia, have responded to comments from end users and the industry as a whole, and we have now developed our own classification system.
The CCF Plant Specs Classification System, will be included in the Earthmover and Civil Contractor EMCC Plant Specs from the 2010 edition. It will be published by January 2010.
The new system
The new system takes a fundamentally different approach. It has been designed so that it:
• Is easily understood and applied;
• Best meet the needs of earthmoving equipment end users, whether they be contractors, plant hirers, customers or others;
• Reflects common industry practice when specifying, ordering or selecting equipment, so that classification criteria ensure that machines are matched as well as possible to an end users’ needs; and
• Is flexible, so that classes can be easily fine-tuned as required, while minimising the chances of confusion, as class criteria are adjusted to meet changing needs and equipment design parameters.
Key principles
Equipment is classed according to the most appropriate criteria. These include:
• Operating weight: excavators, dozers, graders, rollers;
• Operating capacity: wheel loaders, crawler loaders, skidsteers;
• Payload capacity: dump trucks, scrapers; and
• Dig depth: backhoes.
Each type was initially classed using a consistent range of measurement increments, as follows:
• 1 <unit of measurement> increments up to 5;
• 2.5 <units of measurement> increments, 5-15;
• 5 <units of measurement> increments, 15-40; and
• 10 <units of measurement> increments, 40-100.
Larger increments apply for larger equipment (e.g. mining excavators, trucks, etc).
Some fine tuning has since taken place to ensure that classes and equipment sizes or capacities are more logically grouped.
These criteria will be further fine-tuned, as end-user requirements and industry feedback dictates, to ensure products are most appropriately grouped together, to ensure true like with like comparisons.
Class nomenclature is consistent and easy to understand, so that end users always know what size of machine a class describes.
Thus, rather than “Class 1”, “Class 2”, “Class 3,” etc, we have opted for class names that actually relate to the size or capacity of a machine.
Thus a CCF class 20 excavator is in the 20t range (20-25t), a CCF class 35 articulated dump truck is in the 35t payload range (35-40t) and a CCF class 6 wheel loader is in the 6000kg operating capacity range (6000-8000kg).
As classes are fine-tuned, the class names will reflect the actual numerical values used, ensuring end users can easily determine from the class name, what size machines are being described.
We will be broadcasting the CCF Plant Specs classification system widely over the coming weeks, via The Earthmover & Civil Contractor’s website and newswire, through CCF and via other media.
You can view all types of equipment covered by the system on our website at www.civilcontractors.com
We will be actively seeking comment and feedback, with a view to incorporating suggestions for improvement in Plant Specs’ 2010 edition. The cut-off for this feedback is the end of September.
