Phil Meyer, operations manager of the Whitman County Public Works Department, searches tirelessly for the most cost-effective roadside management tools. His 42-person team maintains 1,900 miles of roads and 360 bridges in southeast Washington, a daunting workload often complicated by heavy rain and snowfall plus temperature extremes that affect expansion and contraction. In 2004, Meyer's efforts included finding attachments that could increase the productivity of excavators and backhoes. "Our tilting buckets didn't offer the rotation we needed and weren't durable enough," says Meyer. At the time, the department's tilting buckets only had 90-degree rotation. Plus, the buckets' exposed cylinders and rods often got damaged and hoses were frequently torn off. To remedy the problem, he traded in his older attachments for seven Power-Tilt swing attachments, which can be used with backhoe loaders and excavators up to 75,000 pounds to connect attachments, and one multipurpose PowerGrip jaw bucket from Helac Corp., a local manufacturer. Since then, crews are finishing jobs in less time than they used to take, says Meyer. And since the hinged-jaw bucket can both tilt and grip, the purchase also helped reduce the number of attachments and crew members needed on jobsites.
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