The event was held to provide a more in-depth look at Komatsu products and included a bus trip to Tennessee for a tour of the Chattanooga Manufacturing Operations (CMO) plant, which produces medium-sized Komatsu excavators and forestry equipment.
Upon the conclusion of the plant tour, guests headed back to the Cartersville customer center to enjoy a catered lunch and time to reflect on the morning's journey.
After a Q&A session and an overview of safety on the site, attendees took a walk to the demo site pavilion, where they received a comprehensive rundown of all the machines that were on site and available for demo time.
A mini-excavator skills competition took place during the demo time as well. More than 30 Komatsu construction machines of all sizes were available for demo including excavators, wheel loaders, dozers, off-road trucks and motor graders.
The Komatsu HB365LC hybrid excavator was among the products on the demo site. Jim Purcell of J2 Builders, Caseville, Mich., said the machine, although a hybrid, actually seems to have more power for digging than others in its size class. He stated simply that it's a nice, smooth, great cab machine.
The Komatsu PC170LC excavator was a machine of interest and one that James Montgomery of JTB Rentals, Calhoun, La., was particularly interested in test-operating at this event.
"We usually buy and rent larger excavators, and we're looking at this sized machine now, Montgomery said. "Also, I really like the Komatsu dozers. We're planning to buy a handful of dozers for the rental fleet and these dozers are quiet, have great visibility, good power and we'll definitely consider these as well."
Joshua Lisowski of Stuart Lisowski Excavation, Covington, Pa., operates a Komatsu PC55MR excavator during the excavator competition.
Watching what these machines are capable of was just as enjoyable as actually operating them.
Getting a little test operation time on a Komatsu PC170LC excavator, a machine size that he is interested in putting into his rental fleet, is James Montgomery of JTB Rentals, Calhoun, La.
Getting a little test operation time on a Komatsu PC170LC excavator, a machine size that he is interested in putting into his rental fleet, is James Montgomery of JTB Rentals, Calhoun, La.
Watching one of their buddies take a run on an Intelligent Machine Control dozer (L-R) are Jared Nutter, Komatsu-Northeast, Moorestown, N.J.; Jeffrey, D’Annunzio, D’Annunzio & Sons Inc., South Plainfield, N.J.; Ron Schwieters, Komatsu product manager, Chicago, Ill; and Christopher D’Annunzio and Sergio Couto of D’Annunzio & Sons.
Reflecting on the machines they have operated (L-R) are Hannah Whited and Todd Kyle of Rish Equipment, Bluefield, W.Va.; Richie Jeter, Komatsu America-Virginia; and Greg Middleton, also of Rish Equipment.
Komatsu excavators of virtually any size were on site and ready to be operated.
A bit of a line formed for demo time on some of the machines, including the Intelligent Machine Control excavators.
Komatsu’s Rizwan Mirza provides an in-depth presentation of MyKomatsu, the Komatsu machine management system for providing customers with better access to data on their machines.
Attendees take the short walk from the customer center in Cartersville, Ga., to the demo site on Day two of the three-day event.
The Komatsu excavators and dozers with Intelligent Machine Control integrated grade-control technology were among the favorite machines to test-operate.
Komatsu’s Bob Post goes over the key features of the entire lineup of machines on the site before demo time gets under way.
The WA600 wheel loader is well-matched for loading the HD465 rigid-frame off-road truck, as was evidenced during the demonstration.
(L-R): Midlantic Machinery’s Kelly Weikel is joined at the demo site by Dustin Olander, Robert Krutsinger, Gene Snowden III, Lee Heffley, Nick Koetter, Chip Young and Brandon Karem, his friends from Brandies Machinery.
Customers and staffers of Tractor & Equipment Co. (TEC) taking advantage of some machine demo time included (L-R) Richie Sievering, of TEC; Jamie Montgomery, Hill Brothers General Contractors, Daphne, Ala.; Clay Ammons, Ammons & Blackmon, Spanish Fort, Ala.; Charlie Hill, also of Hill Brothers; and Autrey McMillan, TEC.
The Intelligent Machine Control dozers got quite a workout throughout the day.
Kevin Woosley of Liter’s Quarry, Louisville, Ky., pulls a substantial incline with total ease in a Komatsu HD465 loaded with rock.
(L-R): Ray Henry, Linder Industrial Machinery; Howard Murrell, Quality Environment Company Inc., Naples, Fla; Chris Wilkes, Linder; and Mike Gavin of Komatsu watch as contractors test-operate machines on the demo site.
The afternoon session kicked off in the main theater area of the customer center, where in-depth presentations were provided on MyKomatsu, the Komatsu machine management system designed to give customers better access to condition monitoring service (CMS) results and data, and a presentation on KOMTRAX, Komatsu's remote-monitoring system.
