In the past, the construction industry operated within limited resources. So much so, the concept of portable scaffolding was unheard of. Therefore, the majority of the population was content with a roof on their heads.
However, the demands of people have changed with the passage of time. The current generation wants lavish houses, sparkling apartments, attractive buildings, etc.
Resultantly, the construction industry has also evolved in order to live up to the expectations of people. You may have caught a glance of a construction site and witnessed much heavy equipment. Well, these heavy machines are categorized into the following types:
Material handling equipment
Material handling equipment refers to the heavy machines that are used to shuffle construction material within the territory of the job site.
In the old times, this task used to require a tremendous amount of labor because construction material weighs a lot and the workforce had to literally risk their neck to get the job done.
Luckily, the element of risk has sharply declined due to the advent of the following material handling equipment:
- Hoists: A hoist typically contains a drum or lift-wheel to lift or lower the weight. When it comes to using a hoist, it offers a variety of options. For example, if the weight is too much to be pulled by your hand, you can operate it electrically as well as pneumatically. Apart from hoisting the construction material, the equipment is equally capable to lift a worker to a specific height.
- Cranes: Crane is one of the most common equipment witnessed at a construction site. Anyone who has an eye for construction work would venture to say that no other heavy machine has evolved with the pace of cranes. Though the modern-day cranes can easily be exploited to serve multiple purposes, contractors usually find it a fitting alternative for material handling.
- Conveyers: Constructions sites are one of the dirtiest places around. Contractors need to take different measures to keep them clean so that work can be conducted in a clean atmosphere. Conveyor systems are very useful to suffice this need. What makes them stand out from the above equipment is its potential to carry the liquid and solid material with equal command.
Earthmoving equipment
Earthwork is indispensable to almost all types of construction. Irrespective of the scale of a project, it would typically require stuff like soil grading, moving large chunks of earth, and digging foundations. And this is exactly what earth moving equipment is used for.
There is a long list of equipment that falls into this category. But we are mentioning only top-tier earth moving machines:
- Excavator: As the name reflects, the primary purpose of an excavator is to dig up the earth. It is divided into two portions; an extended arm and a cabin. The operator can rotate the cabin to 360 degrees. The manufactures of Vacuum Excavators are well aware of the fact that the surface of construction sites can be different. So the vehicle is available in wheeled as well as tracked structure.
- Skid loader: Be it demolition, grading or excavation, a skid loader does it all with the same authority. Unlike much construction equipment, the size of the skid loader does not prove to be a hurdle at all. In other words, its application in an indoor setting is not going to be a headache by the project managers. Moreover, it can also come handy to save money because instead of hiring workers you can tag various attachments in a skid loader and perform a variety of tasks.
- Grader: The chief function of a grader is to smooth the surface. Provided this specialty, graders are considered as a go-to choice for maintenance and roadwork. According to their typical structure, graders are equipped with six wheels and a robust engine. The multitasking ability of the equipment has earned it various names including motor grader, maintainer, road grader, etc.
- Bulldozer: Since bulldozers are based on tracks, they can potentially be called crawlers. They employ a blade in the front which removes heavy material like dirt, sand, etc. bulldozers never entertain the nature of the terrain. They are able to operate everywhere without compromising on efficiency one bit.
Tunneling equipment
When it comes to tunneling, it is all about high-performance equipment. While the majority of the machines might remain the same, you might have to incur a few different equipment at the job site. For example:
- Wheel loaders: Contractors are scared-away by the costs of high-end machines because they consume a lot of fuel. However, wheel loaders keep fuel consumption under the check. As tunneling is challenging for security reasons, the operator of the wheel loader is quite unlikely to go through the wear and tear of the job site. In a nutshell, it enjoys confidence from project managers as well as the workers.
- Road headers: When tunneling is underway, the foreman has to ensure that no harm should be caused to the underneath substance. Guess what, road headers master this skill. And that’s what brings them in good books of the authorities of mining projects.
Transportation equipment
Transportation vehicles remain involved in the construction process from the beginning right until the end.
Their job is to carry heavy material like steel, concrete, wood, etc. on the job site. And once the construction is finished, contractors rely on them for the cleanup process. The popular transportation options include the following vehicles:
- Tankers: Tankers are given the first preference whenever the construction crew needs to extract out the wastewater from the workplace. Since they are capable to carry liquids with utmost precision, tankers are used to bring fuel for the heavy machinery. What’s more, they are versatile enough to transport gas as well.
- Tippers: A tipper is designed in such a way that it can unload the heavy substance quicker than any other transportation vehicle. Its rear platform is able to be tipped up from the front end which allows the load to drop down on its own. That way, contractors also end up saving money because they don’t need labors to unload the truck.
- Dumpers: Dumpers are also popularly referred to as dumper trucks. They may be used in the earthmoving process but dumpers specialize in transportation. Their ability to bear up with as much as 20000 lbs. makes them an ideal bulk vehicle. As with the tippers, a dumper is equipped with all the necessary features to “dump” the entire load with the help of gravity.
The final verdict
Well, from the above list of heavy equipment it is safe to say that the construction industry has blossomed like anything. Its resources have increased leaps and bounds to meet our ever-changing demands.
The house you are living in today is erected with the combination of nearly all these machines also.