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M&E Pratt Excavations And Their Kobelco SK17SR Mini Excavator

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The Hunter region of Sydney has been the life source of many successful excavation and underground service-based businesses for some time now.

One such company that has risen to the top of their particular field is M&E Pratt Excavations.

It has operated primarily in the Hunter Valley Region of NSW since inception in 1989 and still retains a strong association with that area.

It gained an excellent reputation for its quality, professionalism and personal dedication before undertaking works in the Sydney Metropolitan area for AGL and other regional areas of NSW.

The company’s reputation for reliability and quality saw the demand for services increase significantly in the past 18 years and in 1998 operations were commenced in Adelaide and Brisbane. The company has focused on individual service perseverance and quality with controlled growth.

Mark Pratt has been with the company since its inception and specialises in utility reticulation and maintenance, in particular gas. Although the company offers a much broader range of services including: project management of civil construction work to client standards, commercial installation of concrete slabs, pits and pipes, steel pipeline construction and maintenance across diverse industries such as gas authority reticulation systems, for example pipelines, stations, and regulator pit installations, water authority work including pipelines, valves and associated equipment construction. M& E Pratt’s commercial irrigation installation and maintenance specialises in electronic reticulation designed systems, telecommunication cable and pit installation and power cable installation to energy authority standards.

ENGAGEMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

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One thing that sets M&E Pratt Excavations aside from competitors is their commitment to implementing their unique style of internal information management successfully.

This system is called EgMS (Engagement Management System). When asking Mark to spill the beans on this system, he shared, “One of the main roles of EgMS is to assist in the delivery of the ISO9000/2008 standard across all aspects of our business.

The system is based on individual teams within the company, which are private with no external access. The teams have a business-based hierarchy and system security. Staff comments can be added to all content within teams enabling team communication. In essence, this system has provided a way to deliver new standards in communications between team members that are directly applicable to their particular team and project. M&E Pratt Excavations is providing IT access to supervisors, team leaders and crews. These communications will facilitate the onsite safety requirements of and for all crews. The existing hard copy forms are being redeveloped as mobile-friendly documents, with the ability for crews to sign. The completed forms will be saved into EgMS and can be accessed instantaneously and kept on record for the requisite retention period.”

TWO NEW SK17SR MINI EXCAVATORS

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It’s not only technology-based IT systems that have led the teams at M&E Pratt Excavations to success, but improved technologies inspired by the need for greater efficiencies have also seen the resourcing of equipment over recent times become paramount to their business model and growth.

Any successful team consists of many elements and one such essential element for Mark Pratt has been his partnership with Kobelco. “Kobelco Dealer Gato Sales & Repairs, and in particular Marty Cook have been wonderful in all of our dealings to this point in time, often going above and beyond what could be reasonably expected, which for this day and age is not always the case. The relationship is built on a bit of old-fashioned respect for a person’s word. They say that they can achieve, and they keep their word.

They not only supply our Kobelco range but back up with service and ongoing advice on new equipment, as well as the servicing of our grundomats and directional drill,” said Mark.

Mark currently has two new mini Kobelco excavators that play a significant part in M&E Pratt Excavation’s role as the principal contractor for Jemena (Gas Company) for the Central Coast, Newcastle and Hunter regions of NSW. “These two new machines have provided outstanding performance and value thus far, and the fact that our operators have provided fantastic feedback on the machines cannot be understated.

Kobelco and Gato are both valuable parts of our team,” said Mark.

The Kobelco SK17SR mini excavator is the perfect choice for Mark and his team when working where space is tight and significant power is needed in a small machine. The machine is ideal for digging the trenches that house the gas lines that feed into new estates. In Mark’s closing comments he shared, “A lot of our trenches are roadside with limited space, so the mini excavators are the perfect solution and choice for this type of work. Depending on where we are digging we may need to go down to a depth of 900mm. The wide working range on the machine is top class and with a max digging height of 3.690mm and a max digging depth of 2.200mm, we can easily complete our tasks. We find our operators are getting the job done well and in good time with a max bucket digging force of 15.2. The combination of the side-ditch digging function and zero tail radius means digging next to fences or walls is not a problem. We are delighted with our new Kobelcos and the significant role they are playing in our business.”

[colored_box color=”yellow”]For more information on the Kobelco range, please visit www.kobelco.com.au[/colored_box]

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