Trimble GCS900 Grade Control System Offers Improved Efficiency for Trimmer Machines

New Version Supports Machines Often Used on Road Projects

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Feb 02, 2010, 06:30 ET

LAS VEGAS, Feb. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Trimble (Nasdaq: TRMB) today announced that the latest version of its Trimble® GCS900 Grade Control System now supports trimmer machines often used in new road construction projects. By expanding the GCS900 system heavy equipment machine mix to include trimmers, Trimble reinforces its commitment to meet the contractor's needs for productivity technology across all types of development projects and all phases of the construction life cycle. By leveraging the same core hardware and software components across 3D machine configurations, Trimble also makes machine control solutions cost-effective and easy-to-use across the entire fleet of heavy equipment.

The announcement was made today at World of Concrete 2010, the concrete industry's annual international event dedicated to the commercial concrete and masonry construction industries.

New Machine Configuration for Trimmers

Highway contractors can utilize key Trimble machine control components on more machines and for more applications, allowing both new and existing users to realize a high and rapid return on their investment in technology.

The new configuration for trimmers also allows contractors to implement total station-based machine control technology across more machines in their fleet. The Trimble SPS Series Universal Total Station is ideal for either high accuracy work or operating in areas with limited or no GPS coverage, for example in tunnels, under overpasses, in pits and around trees. Using GCS900, contractors can now port their machine control system components between dozers, graders, excavators, soil compactors, trimmers, paving and milling machines.

Improved Efficiency for New Road Construction

On new road projects, Trimble GCS900 now provides increased efficiency on subsurface grading using trimmer machines. Often used in place of motor graders, trimmer machines perform bulk earthworks and fine grading of surface material in preparation for compaction and paving of new surface concrete or asphalt roads.

Using Trimble GCS900 Grade Control System on a trimmer, a heavy and highway contractor can realize significant material savings and increased new road smoothness during the ensuing paving operation. Automatically controlling the drum cutting depth to design grade means the contractor is less likely to overcut existing surface and less likely to require additional costly asphalt or concrete material in the re-paving process.

Automatic control of the cutting implement and auto-guidance of the machine to a road alignment can also improve the operator experience, reduce operator fatigue over long runs, and can dramatically increase the quality of the graded surface.

And finally, controlling the cutting depth can also reduce the number of passes required of the trimmer, the need for additional grading or re-trimming work, and wear on the trimmer machine and blade. More efficient use of the trimmer allows the machine to be moved to the next site more quickly to save time and reduce cost.

Trimble GCS900 Grade Control System for trimmer machines is available now through Trimble's worldwide Heavy and Highway Construction Distribution Channel.

About Trimble's Construction Business

Trimble's Construction Division is a leading innovator of productivity solutions for both the heavy and highway contractor and the building construction contractor. Trimble's solutions leverage a variety of technologies, including Global Positioning System (GPS), construction lasers, total stations, wireless data communications, the Internet, and application software. As part of the Trimble Connected Site strategy, these solutions provide a high-level of process and workflow integration from the design phase through to the finished project—delivering significant improvements in productivity throughout the construction lifecycle.

About Trimble

Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring position or location -- including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the field and the back office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.

For more information Trimble's Web site at www.trimble.com.

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SOURCE Trimble