Heavy Equipment

It is going to be harder for you to move building materials like steel, concrete, or large beams by hand. You can use this type of vehicle to lift, transport, and place tons of material safely. Also, this will improve safety because using manual handling can be dangerous and prone to injury. 

Heavy equipment, also known as heavy machinery or construction equipment, refers to large, powerful machines. The purpose of this type of vehicle is to perform tough construction tasks that are too difficult or time-consuming to do manually. Moreover, it can perform earthmoving, lifting, demolition, roadwork, and other types of projects.

How to classify heavy equipment?

You can classify heavy machinery based on function or use. Each of them has a different type of design for each task. Some of them are used for digging, lifting, shaping, and many more. However, not a single machine can do each of those tasks efficiently. In doing so, there are plenty of options for a specific purpose, environment, or material.

There are six types of heavy equipment, depending on their function or application. They are earthmoving, construction or lifting, material handling, road construction, concrete, and drilling and pile driving. For more deeper insight, here are some details about each type:

Earthmoving

This heavy equipment refers to vehicles that can excavate, transport, load, and grade soil, rock, and other earth materials. Oftentimes, you find this in the building sector and road building, where manual handling would be too slow or impractical. Additionally, here are some of the types you might have seen in real life:

• Excavator – A large machine with a long arm and bucket that can rotate 360°.
• Bulldozer – A heavy equipment with a wide, flat blade in front. It moves on track for better grip on rough terrain.
• Backhoe loader – A smaller vehicle with a digging arm on the back and a loader in front.
• Wheel or track loader – It has a large bucket on the front for scooping and loading.

Construction or lifting

This type of heavy equipment is for handling activities like lifting, moving, and positioning heavy loads, such as building materials, tools, or structural components. These machines become the key to providing efficiency, safety and precision in small or large-scale projects. Also, they are useful for tasks requiring different reach, height, and weight capacities.

1. Tower crane – A tall and fixed crane that can lift heavy loads to great heights and rotate 360°. Additionally, you can find this type of heavy equipment on high-rise construction sites. 
2. Mobile crane – A crane that is mounted on a truck or crawler for easy movement. It has a telescopic boom to extend its reach.
3. Forklift – Smaller than the others, this heavy equipment is a truck with forks to lift and carry materials. Moreover, it is useful for moving heavy items over short distances.

Material handling

It refers to tools, machinery, and systems used to move, store, protect, and control materials and goods throughout the process. What this heavy equipment offers is an increase in productivity, enhancing safety, and lowering physical effort when handling heavy or bulky items. Furthermore, the purpose of this is to deliver goods to the right place, at the right time, in the right condition. 

• Tip lorry – For transporting items like dirt, gravel, or demolition waste.
• Conveyor belt – Mechanical systems that automatically move items along a fixed path.
• Crawler loader – Combining the features of a loader and crawler tractor, this heavy equipment is useful for digging, loading, carrying, and dozing materials.

Road construction

In this type of heavy equipment, it is used for building, maintaining, and repairing roads. On top of that, the machine can handle tasks from earthwork and paving to compacting and finishing surfaces. Furthermore, each type has a specific role in different phases of road development. The purpose is to create a road that is durable, level, and safe for use.

1. Motor grader – Long equipment with an adjustable blade under its body for grading and surface levelling.
2. Road roller – Heavy equipment with large drums to compact soil, asphalt, or gravel.
3. Asphalt paver – This machine is for laying hot asphalt mix evenly across the road surface.
4. Cold planer – This is used to remove old or damaged asphalt surfaces before paving.

Concrete equipment

This heavy equipment is for mixing, moving, placing, compacting, finishing, and curing concrete. Concrete is one of the primary tools in construction because it is the main element in building projects. Generally, people use it for foundations, slabs, and structures. The right tools ensure strength, durability, and efficient process.

• Concrete mixer – This is used to blend cement, sand, aggregate, and water to form concrete. There are portable mixers and truck-mounted mixers.
• Concrete pump – To transfer liquid concrete from the mixer to the placement location via pipes.
• Concrete vibrator – This heavy equipment is utilised to remove air bubbles and ensure proper compaction within the formwork.

Drilling and pile driving

The purpose of this type of heavy equipment is to make foundation and subsurface construction work. For example, it is helpful for penetrating, stabilising, or reinforcing tasks, including bridges, high-rise buildings, marine structures, and more. It can create deep holes or shafts in the ground, while pile driving involves inserting long columns into the earth to support structures.

1. Rotary drilling rig – This heavy equipment has a rotating drill bit to bore deep holes into the ground. You can mount it on tracks or trucks.
2. Auger drill – It uses helical screw blades to drill into soft to medium soil.
3. Core drilling machine – It is effective for extracting cylindrical samples of soil, rock, or concrete.