By: Leslie Morgan
Scott Minkler, supervisor of the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Northwest Region, is diligent about maximizing the productivity of his team. With a mandate to restore and preserve streams used by native fish populations and that circumnavigate more than 3,000 miles of roads and 1,700 stream culverts, it’s easy to see why it is mission critical to be efficient and productive in every activity.
Accordingly, when Minkler heard about the success that other branches of the Washington DNR were having with PowerTilt , he couldn’t wait to try out the attachment, manufactured by Helac Corp.
“The [swing attachment] has allowed us to double our productivity and produce a better finished result across a broad range of tasks,” Minkler said. “Our equipment operators were frequently repositioning the machine, building benches, doing nearly everything imaginable to get at the right angle for the job prior to using a tilting attachment. Now our equipment operators can just work from the road surface and use the PowerTilt to adjust the angle of the attachment instead of moving the entire excavator around.”
Tony Holt, the equipment operator, agrees. “We had previously used a conventional bucket and thumb combination to complete our projects around the jobsite. After adding the [swing attachment], I now get a better finished appearance in half the time. “
With such a daunting workload, it was clear to the Washington DNR that it needed to maximize the productivity of its machine. The swing attachment is used for a whole host of tasks throughout the stream restoration and roadside maintenance process, such as slope stabilization, ditch maintenance and sidecast removal.
“We’re working in a rugged, tough environment every day, and we need tools that are up to the challenge,” Holt said.
In more than 4,500 hours with the swing attachment, the Washington DNR team has never had a problem. The attachment skips seamlessly between all tasks, saves time and provides a better job outcome.
The swing attachment is specifically engineered to work with a variety of attachments, improving a machine’s versatility. PowerTilt is compatible with wide buckets, brush cutters, narrow buckets, hydraulic hammers, rippers, mowers and more.
