Archive for category: Topcon

This year’s ConExpo show represented an immense unveiling of the newest equipment, technology and product breakthrough in construction. From earthshaking big iron to ground breaking innovations, it’s all assembled in one place to help you work smarter. If it’s new, it was there – there was plenty to see!

The show consisted of 2,500 exhibitors showcasing new products and technologies from for every major construction industry including asphalt, aggregates, concrete, earthmoving, lifting, mining, utilities and more. There were over 150,000 attendees that range from contractors, to dealers & distributors, to service providers, engineers, producers, municipalities, and more.

The theme of Topcon’s impressive booth (far more attractive and punchy than the competition, in our humble opinion!) was “The Intersection of Infrastructure and Technology”. Unlike previous years when Topcon has spread its portfolio across a number of different sites, this year all solutions were visible in the one location, which not only made it easier to learn about all that was on offer but also signals the shift in our industry away from product silos to integrated platforms.

The booth was broken up into the different construction product areas, such as Survey, Layout, Paving, Grading, Excavating, etc and was highlighted by the very impressive SmoothRide Theatre and the Dozer Arena, which ran shows a couple of times an hour throughout the day to go through applications and features of the MC product.

Upstairs featured a VIC (Very Important Customer) area where dealers and customers could have a drink and take a break from the show, there were also meeting rooms behind the booth that we could hold meetings with customers.

We had 4 Position Partners staff working on the booth for a portion of the show, all spent their time interfacing with customers on the booth in the North Hall, writing up quotes and spreading the word about all things Topcon. An excellent experience for our guys, who were looked after very well by Greg Frankish our Regional Manager and the rest of the Topcon team throughout the week.

Here’s a time lapse video of Topcon’s stand build:

This year Position Partners was joined by our largest ever Australian contingent, with around 170 of our valued customers coming to check out the latest developments in the industry. It was great for everyone to get an opportunity to talk to Topcon representatives and other contractors at this show that is like no other!

Queensland-based surveying firm All Points Surveys has increased productivity with high speed robotics and cloud-based software.

All Points Surveys specialises in residential set out work throughout South East Queensland. Having recently upgraded their robotic total stations to the new Topcon GT series, owner Andrew Corfield says the company has improved the workflow between field and office, saving the team time and money. 

“We were running older Topcon total stations and took advantage of a recent trade in special from Position Partners (Topcon’s Australian distributor) to upgrade to the latest model,” Mr Corfield said.

“The speed of the GT robotic is quite something, its performance is dramatically improved compared with the older technology and it very rarely loses lock with the prism,” he added.

To complement the new high precision total stations, All Points Surveys also upgraded its small handheld data collectors to the Topcon FC-5000 survey tablets.

“Having the larger touch screen makes it much more user friendly for our field parties and it’s easy to see the screen in all weather conditions,” Mr Corfield said. “We’ve also added SIM cards to the tablets so that they are more than just a data collector, they are computers with 2-way communication to the office.”

Before upgrading the company’s systems, Mr Corfield explained that at times information was transferred between field and office parties over the phone, whereas now it is done digitally by sending and receiving files via the Internet.

“In the past I would often have to give the field teams point coordinates over the phone, whereas now I can simply send them the file from my desktop and they will have it instantly on their tablet,” he said.

Seamless field to office communication is made possible thanks to MAGNET Enterprise cloud-based technology. It combines MAGNET Office CAD software, with MAGNET Field for the GT robotic and FC-5000 tablet, along with cloud connectivity that enables instant sharing of data files and real-time collaboration between field and office tasks.

“Although I was very happy using my old version of Civilcad, I must admit that the workflow productivity has been greatly improved with the cloud-based system,” Mr Corfield said. “The field guys are young and this technology comes as second nature to them, they picked it up straight away and they love it.”

Mr Corfield said the team needed very little training to get up to speed with the new instruments and software, although he does appreciate the service and support from Position Partners’ local team in Brisbane.

“The latest technology is fantastic, it’s a complete end to end solution and everyone on the team enjoys working with it on a daily basis,” he said. “The robustness of the hardware is impressive – I think you could use it underwater it’s so tough, although I’m glad of course we don’t have to lol!”

International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) announced there will be an extra second added to the end of this year (or the start of 2017 depending on your time zone!). An extra second will be added between 10:59:59 and 11:00:00 AEDST on 1st January 2017, or 23:59:60 on December 31, 2016 UTC. Such leap seconds are occasionally needed to ensure Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the official measure of time, stays in sync with changes in the Earth’s rotation.  

Topcon Positioning Group announces two new software platforms designed to provide multi-disciplinary model management and increased collaboration and integration. MAGNET® VDC solutions, including MAGNET Explorer and MAGNET Modeller further expand the MAGNET workplace portfolio.

 Matt Levick, Product Manager for site software solutions for Topcon’s Australian distributor Position Partners, explained. “MAGNET VDC gives key stakeholders the ability to visualise every stage and the associated costs of a major project and its many components such as roads, rail, temporary works, structures, bridges, drainage systems, electrical services, landscaping and noise reduction.

“This powerful software enables engineers, commercial managers, architects, project managers, design managers, foreman and supervisors to all see the big picture, identifying any problems sooner and therefore saving costs and reducing rework,” he added. “It combines all the proposed plans and existing infrastructure into a single 5D model.”

 MAGNET Explorer offers model management, simulation and design analysis for construction projects where multiple design disciplines need to function as one.

 “With MAGNET Explorer, infrastructure, buildings, utilities and structural models can be combined together and analysed in one single project model,” said Jason Hallett, Topcon’s Vice President of Global Product Management. “All of the data is managed in design coordinates and units as required by professional design simulation and analysis.”

 The software enables value-based clash detection for VDC (Virtual Design to Construction). “Modelling generated throughout construction phases can be simulated under real-world conditions, and analysed for potentially expensive clashes. Our unique detection approach produces better ROI (return on investment) than traditional clash detection tools,” Hallett said.

MAGNET Explorer also has connectivity with MAGNET Enterprise, enabling data sharing and collaboration with the complete suite of MAGNET solutions.

MAGNET Modeller is designed to produce blended models from a wide-variety of sources, making traditionally time consuming tasks more automatic. Hallett said, “With MAGNET Modeller, it is both easy to import and transform data into 3D models using one tool that is integrated with your common design software.

“MAGNET Modeller integrates smoothly to your existing tools such as Autodesk® AutoCAD®, Civil 3D® and Map3D®,” he said. “You can also import data in various standard formats such as open data models (LandXML, IFC) and generic 3D models.

“The two new software solutions are examples of Topcon’s commitment to make sure our users get the most concise and succinct workflow through collaboration, interoperability, and commitment to openness in our software. As a result, MAGNET VDC solutions empower BIM construction execution for increased productivity and cost savings for our customers,” he said.

Position Partners pools expertise to install Topcon’s new SmoothRide paving solutions for Changi airport’s third runway

Singapore’s Changi Airport is one of the world’s biggest and busiest airports, a major gateway to and from Asia. In the coming years, the airport is set to double in size with the addition of a third runway and two additional terminals (T4 and T5), with T4 planned for completion in 2017. By 2015, the airport is planned to cater for a staggering 135 million passengers every year.

The airport’s third runway entails extending and upgrading an existing military runway to the southeast of the airport, to enable its use for larger passenger aircraft. Joint venture Samsung C&T-Koh Brothers has the contract for the first phase of this project, which includes paving, drainage, security fencing, perimeter roads, mechanical and electrical works and other support services.

United has the sub-contract for paving works on the new runway and the team has selected Topcon’s new SmoothRide start to finish paving automation solutions to increase productivity and ensure accuracy at every stage. This includes Topcon’s Millimetre GPS solution on four paving systems, Topcon C-63 intelligent compaction solution for two compactors and SmoothRide surface profiling and scanning technology for two SAS vehicles.

As the first installation of Topcon’s new SmoothRide solution in Asia Pacific, local Topcon machine control dealer Position Partners pooled its expertise from the company’s Singapore and Indonesia branches, along with representatives from Brisbane and Sydney in Australia, to ensure the system was set for success from the first pass.

Mike Forrest, Managing Director of Position Partners’ Singapore branch, said the team worked effectively to ensure the installations and testing were done as efficiently as possible. “Led by Jeff Bratton [Australia Technical Support], the team showed a level of professionalism and team work, the like of which I have never before encountered in over 30 years in the industry,” he said.

Graeme Casen works for Position Partners Indonesia branch and assisted with the machine installs, while Eng Ming, based in the company’s Brisbane office and with extensive experience in paving automation, gained invaluable experience on the new system. Hanif Santoso from the Indonesian office assisted the team and gained training to be able to lead the engineering aspects of future installations.  

The job was not without its challenges, as Jeff explained there were a few instances where a bit of lateral thinking was required: “Unbeknown to us before we began, tow bars are actually illegal in Singapore, which made installing the RD-M1 surface scanning system a little tricky given it’s designed to fit to a tow bar,” he said.

“A few of the weld-on components were also missing from the kits, which meant we needed to make them on site using scrap metal, but the systems were installed successfully and the new system is working perfectly,” he added.  

Once installation was complete, the team conducted on-site training on the setup and user of the mmGPS paving system, as well as the survey rovers for collecting as-built data.