During peak construction, Torrington, Conn.-based O&G Industries Inc. has more than 5,500 tires rolling, including those on a fleet of 100 front discharge mixers and 100 dump trucks. An integrated materials producer and heavy civil and non-residential building contractor, it has made fleet management and truck spec'ing as much a part of its business as bidding and billing.

Attention to equipment detail has allowed O&G to realize what management sees are some of the highest resale values on mixers and other rolling stock. The latest specification it has standardized for mixers, dumps and off-road diesel-powered equipment is an oil filtration system (note box, page 24) engineered to capture particles down to 2.78 microns in diameter.

“We tested the device with Cat, Mack and Detroit power, and safely ran some engines up to 1,200 hours without an oil change,” notes O&G Assistant Vice President James Zambero. “This method gives us a range of maintenance options, including a filter change with three gallons of fresh oil at 250 hours, and a full drain every six months.”

“We have lower oil consumption and our mechanics save time by not having full drains as frequently as they would with conventional filters only,” he adds. “But you have to have a good sampling program to use this method, because you need to consistently monitor the quality of the oil.” To that end, he adds, O&G typically has 6,000 or more samples tested through lubricant supplier Mobil each year.

Mixers and other rolling stock at O&G's 10 ready mixed and 10 asphalt plants, and four quarries, are maintained locally throughout central and western Connecticut. The company tracks all maintenance of its 1,600-plus vehicles on an Elke software system.

One of the largest family-owned materials producers in the Northeast, O&G is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year. The 1,100-employee company has most recently expanded its ready mixed production along the Connecticut (Long Island Sound) waterfront. It recently added a twin alley wet/ dry plant in Stamford and is building a similar unit up Interstate 95 in Bridgeport.

FILTRATION SYSTEM

O&G Industries is one of the concrete industry's first producers to specify the Filtration Solutions F-2500 filter as factory-installed option or, with kits, a retrofit on existing mixers. It has tested the filter on mixers — primarily with Cat C12 power — and other heavy-duty vehicles, plus a generator at a quarry, but not taken delivery of any October ‘02 engines.

Filtration Solutions engineers contend that most engine wear is attributable to contaminants in the 4 to 7-micron range, while their 5 ∞ 11 in. filter can stop up to 99 percent of such contaminants by removing particles down to 2.78 microns diameter. Operating independent of an engine's full-flow system, whose filter must accommodate rapid transfer of large amounts of oil, the FS-2500 receives a small percentage of oil during a cycle and slowly filters it through a dense element. The cleaned oil is then returned to the full-flow system. The manufacturer reports that heavy equipment and on-highway truck users average oil drain intervals, respectively, of 850 hours and 65,000 miles. — Filtration Solutions, Olathe, Kan., 888/440-9056; www.fs2500.com