In The Dirt

What is earthmoving and mining like in New Zealand? Well Mack travels around the world to find out. On this episode, Mack sits down with Richard Clark, Brand and Events manager with Terra Cat to talk all about Mack's adventures in New Zealand. We visit all the big dirt contractors and mining companies on both North, and South Island to learn about equipment, projects, mining, and culture in N...

How BIG is Ritchie Brothers spring auction? Well on this episode, we find out! Mack sits down with Mark McPyke, Edmonton yard refurb manager, and Rob Chappell, Regional Sales Manager for Ritchie Brothers to talk all about Ritchie Bros big spring auction in Edmonton Alberta We learn about what it takes to move thousands of pieces of equipment through the Edmonton yard to buyers around the world. Fr...

Arguably Cat's most iconic dozer, the D8, turns 100 this year alongside Caterpillar. Mack sits down with Sam Meeker, market professional for medium track type tractors (D4-D8 size), to talk about the next gen D8 which so happens to be in production the year Caterpillar turns 100 years old as a company. You won't find a more genuine Cat guy than Sam. Mack and Sam talk about what has and w...

How are buckets designed and built? Mack sits down with Ryan Parker and Fred Duling of Hensley Industries to talk everything buckets and GET. They discuss the history of Hensley Industries, engineering/designing a bucket, what makes Hensley buckets unique, ground engaging tools (GET), metallurgy of GET, designing buckets for customer specific applications, and more! Learn more about Hensley here h...

Why is operator training so important for the modern day earthmoving or mining company? I sit down with Jay Collup of Collup Enterprises to talk everything operator training. Jay has an incredible background working for Caterpillar at Tucson Proving Grounds and other Cat dealers, which has made him an incredible resource for companies looking to train their people on all types and sizes of equipme...

Mack sits down with Ed Lingel, President of Daequip Premium Attachments, to talk everything buckets and entrepreneurship. The episode details the Daequip story products they offer, how they work with customers to spec custom buckets, the new Daequip quick coupler, their new facility in Abbotsford, Dormel Roll off bins, where the company is headed, and more! Learn more about Daequip by visiting the...

What is marketing and why should earthmoving contractors market themselves? Mack sits down with Aria Morgan, marketing director for Plateau Excavation, an earthmoving company based out of Kennesaw, Georgia. They cover everything marketing for earthmoving contractors, from where to start, what value social media provides, websites, generating content on site, role of a marketing director, and more!...

Revolutionzing the logging industry many years ago, winch assisted logging has enabled contractors to harvest previous unreachable timber resources. On this episode, Mack sits down with Kelway Cox, President of Timbermax USA, to talk all about the Timbermax product. They cover how/where the idea for winch assist slope work started, the origin of Timbermax product and how it is built, applications...

Learn all about the largest earthmoving machines in the mining industry, the electric rope shovel! On this episode Mack sits down with Nicholas Voelz, Sr. Manager - ERS Product Management for Komatsu electric rope shovels. They dive into the history of the P&H rope shovel, current Komatsu ERS product line, application for rope shovels in mining, technology on these machines, and of course the...

On this episode Mack sits down with Ryan Haasen of Civil Craft Studio to talk all about how Ryan designs, builds, and delivers the incredible board room table dioramas he is most well known for. Ryan has a long history in both construction and building things with his hands, originally starting wood working he soon found himself building construction dioramas and eventually the first board room ta...

Clearview Demolition has a long history clearing the way for tomorrow demolishing buildings, bridges, pulp mills, and more. They recently began to acquire Link-Belt excavators, and now operate the largest fleet in Western Canada at 17 machines. Mack sits down with Brad Morrison of Clearview Demolition, and Mark Williams of Inland Group to talk all about Clearview's fleet of LBX machines, how...

When most people think of renting equipment, they think mini excavator or bobcat, not many people know mining companies rent large haul trucks, dozers, wheel loader, excavators, and more! Mack sits down with Cody Harman, President and Founder of Harman Energy LLC, a large equipment rental outfit based in Bluefield West Virginia. Mack and Cody talk all about the business of renting big equipment, a...

The construction industry is changing, while it is still a male populated industry, more women are entering at all levels as operators, trades, managers, even CEO's. On this episode Mack sits down with Amanda, grader operator, to talk about her career, barriers she faced when entering the industry, what she enjoys about heavy equipment operation, and shares advice how other women can get star...

Cat diesel engines have a long histroy powering our world whether it be in heavy equipment, on highway trucks, generators, and more. On this episode Mack sits down with Allen Chen, product manager for the new Cat C13D engine, they talk all about the new C13D engine design, testing the engine, applications for the engine, and much more! As you’ll hear, the Cat C13D engine platform enables the use o...

Autonomous equipment operation has been widely used in Mining since the 2000's, whether on haul trucks or dozers, its become a popular business practice to help miners be better miners. Lately, autonomous technology has been deployed in the construction industry to help contractors/companies be safer, more efficient, and more productive in certain applications.  Mack sits down with Bibhrajit...

The history of the Le Tourneau large wheel loader product is well known in the global mining industry, today the Le Tourneau product is now Komatsu's surface mining wheel loader product line. Mack sits down with Michael Fleet, product manager for Komatsu electric wheel loader (EWL) line to discuss everything large Komatsu/Le Tourneau wheel loaders! They cover how the product has evolved over...

Landfills are an important part of modern day society, and successfully managing a landfill comes down to optimizing equipment in the field and managing the flow of waste materials. Mack sits down with Shaun MacIntosh of Propeller to talk about how propeller is helping landfills with technology, from measuring compaction to maximize density (minimize airspace in waste materials), machine telematic...

Starting with a 988B wheel loader loading out railcars with ballast, to multi million dollar civil and mining projects throughout Western Canada, the story of MacKay Contracting is one worth hearing about. Mack sits down with Rob MacKay, President & CEO, alongside Brandon Pighin, General Manager for MacKay to talk about how MacKay started, the projects they work on, managing people, and moving...

Mack sits down with Steve, Mike, and Jeff from BelPacific Excavating & Shoring LP to talk all about deep excavation and shoring work in downtown Vancouver. Starting as a Limited Partnership, BelPacific has contributed to the Vancouver skyline working on projects such as Shangri-La tower, The ButterFly, and more. We discuss how BelPacific started, why deep excavation is needed for high rise pro...

The Cat D10 track type tractor has been a staple of the mining and heavy civil construction industries since introduction back in 1977, it is arguably one of the most iconic dozers on the market. Mack sits down with Dave Gleissner to talk all about this legendary tractor, from first prototype where the high drive sprocket made an appearance, through the N, R, and T series, to where the D10 is toda...

Big Komatsu dozers have been a staple in the mining and heavy civil construction industry for a long time, and their new dash 8 (-8) series D375 and D475 dozers are a testament to Komatsu listening to customer feedback. Mack sits down with Chad Perrault, technical specialist with SMS Equipment for D375/D475 dozers, to talk about what's new with the dash 8 series dozers, the new fingertip stee...

Ever wondered what it takes to be a high reach demolition operator? Or how buildings are demolished? Mack sits down with two of Priestly Demolition's finest high reach operators, Matt Baker and Rob Morrison, to talk all about their careers in the demolition industry, how buildings are demolished, Priestly's new SK1600 high reach, and more! Find Priestly Demolition on social media @priest...

From running equipment as an employee to buying 325 excavators and feller bunchers for land management projects throughout BC, I sit down with Matthew Antifay of Mattco Excavating to chat about his story becoming an owner operator. We dive into what it takes to become an owner operator, the ups and downs of owning heavy equipment, the pain 10 cent O-rings will cause you, and advice for others star...

Investing in your people with training is becoming an incredibly important component of the modern day construction company, and Wilco's in house training program is a fine example. Mack sits down with Doug, H.E.O Training Manager to talk all about Wilco's heavy equipment training program, why training is important, the results they are seeing, and more. Check out Wilco on social media b...

From getting out of school and starting as a driller helper/laborer to now being one of the managing partners of T&A Rock Works Inc, Sam is an absolute wealth of knowledge when it comes to the drill & blast industry. Sam sits down with Mack to talk about his story in the industry, drilling & blasting in urban (close proximity) settings, how T&A is investing in people to grow their...