Cardinia Shire Council has placed its trust in Flocon Engineering for its machinery and equipment needs. Machinery operator Tiaki Hammond explains how this faith is being rewarded.
Cardinia Shire Council covers more than 30 communities, ranging from the Dandenong ranges, across to the shores of Western Port Bay in Victoria.
The region is at the forefront of Victoria’s metropolitan boom, situated in Melbourne’s rapidly expanding south-east growth corridor.
As such, road rehabilitation and maintenance form an integral part of the council’s services. Not only for local residents today, but also an expected residential boom in the coming years.
To conduct its road maintenance works, Cardinia Shire Council employs the use of Flocon Engineering’s multi-purpose vehicles for asphalt, rock and emulsion dispersal. These adaptable and customisable units now make up the bread and butter of Cardinia Shire Council’s machinery fleet.
Operator Tiaki Hammond joined Cardinia Shire Council just over two years ago. In this time, Hammond says the Flocon unit he operates has become his daily workspace.
“The unit is pretty much my office now,” he says. “It’s a nice space to be working in.”
Built tough
Cardinia Shire Council has two Flocon Engineering units across its fleet, both used on a daily basis for crucial road rehabilitation and maintenance works.
Despite the varying requirements and scale of each individual job, Hammond says the units are well equipped to handle whatever’s thrown at them.
“We mainly work with asphalt, but we work with rock as well. We can do as many as 30 individual jobs daily, but not every day is the same,” he says.
Each Flocon unit – including Cardinia Shire Council’s – is developed in-house, with Flocon Engineering able to utilise its more than four decades worth of experience to ensure the quality and robustness of each machine.
All components are also regularly checked to ensure that they can meet industry requirements and specifications.
The result, Hammond says, is a high-quality machine, able to safely and accurately lay asphalt consistently. Flocon’s road maintenance machinery can also support the use of hotmix, coldmix and premix asphalts and aggregates.
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Hammond adds that the machine is suited to Cardinia Shire Council’s needs, particularly when it comes to the use and transportation of hotmix asphalt.
“It’s a perfect machine for us. We don’t need a massive paver and we don’t need to take huge amounts of asphalt. [The Flocon unit] makes it easier for us to move up and down streets with traffic, which is perfect for what we do,” Hammond says.
Peace of mind
When he joined Cardinia Shire Council two years ago, Hammond admits that the professional move was a big change up from his previous endeavours. However, he says the ease of operation and comfort of Flocon Engineering’s unit made his life much happier.
“It only took a few weeks for me to learn everything from the ground up,” he says. “With the controls, it is a lot easier than some of the older trucks.”
The internal systems that come with each unit allows the operator to efficiently control all operations from the cab.
This streamlined design aims to move away from older switch systems to a more streamlined user face, including clear instructions and readings for each compatible component. This allows operators to quickly familiarise themselves with the machine, in order to optimise its output sooner.
Each unit can be configured to the individual needs of each customer. Hammond says Flocon Engineering’s transparent process allows operators and road authorities to have direct input into the optional extras and capabilities of each machine.
“I’ve never been in a machine like this where there’s so much stuff packed into a single machine. When we were getting the unit done [Flocon Engineering] were actively asking us questions around what we wanted, how big we wanted to cut the side compartments and more,” Hammond says.
“Flocon is more than happy to answer any questions. They’re also more than happy to bring you in and show you what they’re doing. They’re very helpful in every way.
“It’s really surprised me just how much gear they’ve been able to place on just a single machine.”
Hammond expects that the two units will endure as a mainstay of the council’s machinery fleet, with even a possibility of Cardinia Shire Council acquiring additional units.
“I’m sure these units will be with us for a very long time,” he says.
This article was originally published in the October edition of our magazine. To read the magazine, click here.