Tenix Maintenance Services, part of Tenix Alliance, is responsible for the installation of gas supply lines in western Victoria. Manager Jacob Bonisch welcomed John Walsh and Denis Vout from TT Asia Pacific and, they discussed the machinery, the relationship between the companies and the growth of the trenchless industry.
Mr Bonisch said “Along with our horizontal directional drills, earth displacement hammers form an important part of our trenchless capability. Having a variety of effective trenchless options is an important part of our commercial success in the modern marketplace.”
The selection
There are many different earth displacement hammers on the market. What made Tenix Maintenance Service choose TT Asia’s Grundomat machines? Mr Bonisch explained that an important component of the selection process was a side-by-side trial in a variety of soil conditions. Three hammers were trialled, comparing the time taken and the accuracy of the equipment.
“The genuine Grundomat earth hammers were the stand out performers. The Grundomats left the other two for dead. For us, it was a reasonably obvious choice in terms of actual time on the job,” said Mr Bonisch.
“While the Grundomat was not the cheapest option in the market, our driver was a total life cost that took into account the time savings in completing the bores in the field, the frequency of required servicing and the lifespan of the asset.”
The speed of the road crossing and the availability and reliability of the machines was an important factor in the selection process.
Other than a shovel, the earth displacement hammer is the most common tool on the Tenix Maintenance Service truck. Every truck has at least one Grundomat and some trucks are running two for the different sizes – 55 and 75.
In choosing the genuine Tracto-Technik Grundomat product, Tenix Maintenance Service reduces the long term costs as the hammer has been proven reliable and accurate.
“For us, time is money. A crew that is constantly waiting for repairs on earth displacement hammers is not an acceptable or productive outcome. We need strong performance and reliability from our trenchless tools,” said Mr Bonisch.
Tenix Maintenance Service is equipping its maintenance trucks with the Grundomat earth displacement hammer. The delivery of 46 hammers will ensure efficient and effective installation of gas supply lines.
In business
The business relationship ethos of both companies is founded on a desire for long term mutual benefit. Mr Bonisch says that in business, companies can choose to make a lot of money over the short term or companies can aim to make a reasonable amount of money over a very long time period. “We, at the heart, are a relationship company and with our clients we build long term relationships,” he says.
For example, Tenix Maintenance Service has had the same material provider and the same plant provider for six years. In recognition of the reality that their suppliers need to make a profit and stay in business, Tenix Maintenance Service values long term relationship over short term cost cutting.
“At both our customer end and our supply end we try to build long term relationships,” says Mr Bonisch.
In response, TT Asia Pacific National Sales Manager John Walsh commented that it is progressive, intelligent companies that choose to purchase TT Asia Pacific’s German manufactured equipment – companies that rely on the quality, durability and reliability of TT products. “You can not afford to have this type of machinery fail underground,” says Mr Walsh.
The trenchless advantage
Mr Bonsich explains that the company views trenchless as the way to go, due to the demand of councils, consumers, residents and other stakeholders and various environmental constraints. “This is why we are manning up in terms of our trenchless capability. We recognise that earth displacement hammers, such as the Grundomat, are an essential part of being both cost effective and time effective in terms of getting things done and also keeping the various stakeholders happy,” he says.
Mr Walsh highlights the benefits of Trenchless Technology for companies such as Tenix Maintenance Service, companies which are responsible for installing essential services such as electricity, gas and water.
The Grundomat enables Tenix to install gas supply lines under roads and driveways. The hammer can enter off the street, under fences and landscaping, eliminating the need to remove paving and other hard made services that are expensive and time consuming to reinstate.
“The Grundomat takes away the necessity of digging up people’s driveways or roadways. It will cut inconvenience. Once you have bored under a road with a Grundomat there is no ongoing maintenance,” says Mr Walsh.
The average drive with the Grundomat takes 30 minutes per 12 metres, depending on soil conditions.
The trenchless option also significantly reduces the cost of the job. For example, the cost to reinstate a concrete driveway is approximately $A175 per square metre. “So to be able to put a service in without having to have any reinstatement costs is a massive commercial benefit,” says Mr Bonisch.
In the future
Tenix is looking to use the earth displacement hammer across other applications, for example in an electrical environment to put in conduit, to supply domestic electricity and to install fibre-optic cable. Tenix Maintenance Services is currently in discussions with Tenix Alliance Power. Tenix Alliance Power does approximately 100 road crossing applications per month.
Mr Walsh believes that TT Asia Pacific and the trenchless industry in general will continue to expand in Asia and Australia.
“In Australia communications and essential services will continue to grow [despite the economic downturn], and therefore the trenchless industry will also continue to grow,” he says.