Crawling on Versatility: Custom Carriers Improve Pipeline Process
Terramac crawler carriers are designed for customization, which makes its versatility nearly limitless, but the best way to show Terramac’s versatility is by highlighting the various support equipment the units are paired with.
The biggest benefit of the Terramac dealer network is the unified support it is able to offer customers. Together, the network has the ability to gather some of the most creative ideas and turn them into unique equipment solutions that fulfill customers’ needs and enhance productivity on their jobsites.
Terramac’s first dealer, Shafer Equipment LLC has embraced carrier customizations and is now sharing its support equipment combinations with other dealers across the country.Terramac welcomed Shafer into the dealer network in 2013 for the company’s expertise in pipeline equipment sales and rentals. Since then, Shafer has built an extensive carrier rental fleet and acquired a large following of customers that rely on them for pipeline equipment. Over the years, Shafer’s business grew by using Terramac’s simplistic approach to customization and equipping its carriers with various attachments targeted to pipelines. While working on those customizations Shafer uncovered an opportunity to produce custom weld decks and tac rigs that have proven to increase jobsite efficiency.
“After 16-plus years working on the pipeline you learn what equipment is available and what would make your job easier,” says Billy Evans, general manager at Shafer. “Both tac rigs and weld deck attachments were just difficult to find in the industry.”
Therefore, to acquire this type of attachment, Shafer would begin designing and developing its own weld decks and tac rigs. Shafer started by creating tac rigs for Terramac RT9 carriers that accommodates four welders, a canopy boom, a compressor, a generator and an electrical breaker panel on a single steel platform. When the Terramac RT6 carrier was released, Shafer expanded its designs with a weld deck that holds two diesel powered welders for a smaller and more compact unit. Although the new weld decks were designed with the RT6 carrier model in mind, they also fit the mid-sized RT9 carrier. Both the tac rig and weld deck attachments were fabricated to fasten and un-fasten from the carrier allowing customers the ability to easily interchange equipment on the jobsite.
Ace Pipeline, a premier pipeline contractor in the Appalachian region operates a number of Terramac tracked carriers outfitted with Shafer’s weld decks and tag rig attachments. With years of experience working on mid-stream and transmission pipeline installation and environmental remediation, Ace has developed a strong preference for Shafer’s tracked carrier rentals and can attest to the versatility of their unique pipeline attachments.
“Throughout the years we’ve used all sorts of tracked pipeline equipment, but we prefer Shafer’s track mounted weld decks and tac rigs for their versatility and efficiency,” says Jeffery Wade, president at Ace Pipeline.
Furthermore, Shafer’s designs afford them the ability to customize weld decks and tac rigs per customer request which sets them apart from the competition.
“Every time we’ve worked with Shafer on our tracked carrier customizations they’ve been extremely flexible, allowing us to dictate which brands of welders support equipment we want to use based on our required pipeline specifications,” Wade says.
Shafer is without a doubt an extremely hands-on equipment supplier with a customer centric focus.
“We choose to design our weld decks from scratch so our customers get exactly what they want out of their equipment,” Evans says. “Aside from that it also allows us to make even more enhancements as we discover them, such as reconfiguring the placement of lead racks to the front and rear bumper for added convenience.”
More often than not, lead racks are only on the rear of the unit forcing the welders in the field to walk the leads around the unit each time they reset.
“The addition of the front lead rack seems like a miniscule change, but the time saved over the course of our projects by utilizing Shafer’s new design is astronomical,” Wade adds.
Serving as a leader in tac rig and weld deck designs, Shafer is proud to extend sales and rentals to anyone looking for a custom welding solution.
Tags: Crawler Carriers, November December 2018 Print Issue, TerramacSavannah Adkins is digital marketing coordinator at Terramac, a crawler manufacturer based in Elburn, Illinois.
Comments are closed here.