Joe Heinicke, Rice Lake field service engineer, goes a long way to install CB-2 automated concrete batching systems. The farthest, so far, has been to historic Tinian island. Tinian is one of the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth of the United States.
The Marianas consist of 15 islands about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines. Only three of the Marianas are inhabitable, due to mankind’s discouraging experience with active volcanoes. One of those more hospitable islands is Tinian, with a population of less than 4,000. (It was from Tinian’s lone airstrip that the Enola Gay, B-29 Superfortress, took off for Hiroshima one August day in 1945.)
Joe never expected to become a world traveler, but that’s exactly what he has become. Last year alone, Joe traveled at least 30 out of 52 weeks. So far this year, he has worked with Rice Lake distributors in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, Iowa, and, of course, all the way to Tinian in the Northern Mariana Islands, 20 hours from the United States to Tokyo, Nagoya, Saipan, and then a short hop to Tinian.
Being a field service engineer for Rice Lake is not a nine-to-five job and doesn’t always involve travel. On one occasion, Joe spent hours on the telephone, until nearly 10 PM, helping a customer work through some issues with their equipment. While working with one customer to gain NTEP approval on a product, he worked 12- to 18-hour days for 21 days in a row, with only two days off — for a nap!
The majority of jobs that Joe works on are CB-2 installations. These usually last about three days. The first day is reserved for defining and marking all existing wiring. Day two consists of wiring the controller and calibrating the plant by noon. The afternoon is dedicated to running a couple batches and tuning the plant. Day three is set aside for employee training and making concrete. Depending on the situation, installation sometimes takes only two days and other times, it can take longer. Everything depends on the amount of preparation done ahead of time and the skill level of the people who will be using the CB-2.
One of the most important aspects of any installation is the site evaluation done prior to the installation. This is usually completed by the Rice Lake distributor Joe is working with. Everything needs to be looked at, including the power supply, wiring, location, space, and the size of the equipment. When the site evaluation is not conducted properly and thoroughly, there will almost always be problems. “A big time-consumer is when the wires aren’t labeled,” Joe says. “The CB-2 can automate any batching system in the world, but it can’t fix sticky gates or bad relays.”
