The Xsite® PRO excavator control system demonstrated its effectiveness near the airport in Pirkkala, Finland, when Jani Saarinen of JASA Yhtiöt Oy and Pirkkala municipality’s officer in charge of civil engineering Mika Kuivanen found themselves in a tight spot. The task was to install a new rainwater drainage system, to rearrange the junction area and to turn the old road into a cycle path.

“It was a tight dig, over four meters deep and with almost vertical sides. The ground around it was very unstable and it would have been extremely dangerous to put a workman in the trench. With the help of the system we were able to do the work without endangering any lives. Without it we would have needed to use excavation supports and other measures to achieve it, which would have made the job very awkward,” says Kuivanen. “Had we needed to reshape the slopes, to make it safer, it would have tak-en two or three days longer and a good deal more work,”

Like other contractors who use the Xsite® PRO 3D system, Jani Saarinen also says that using the system has made his daily work easier: “It’s easy to work when you can see the situation on the monitor screen all the time. Unnecessary jumping in and out of the machine is eliminated and so working becomes more efficient.” Pirkkala municipality’s chief civil engineer Mika Kuivanen also sees the benefits of the 3D control system: “The surveyor had to come out to the site to measure only once,” he says.

Experience with 3D systems

Jani Saarinen has worked in the industry for over 20 years, and 3D control systems were already familiar to him through his previ-ous employer. Even though it has been a while since he last used a 3D system, everything went well: “No problems! If needed, help and guidance it is available over the phone or by using the remote connection.” When choosing a contractor for this task, 3D sys-tem was not a necessary criteria, but the municipality of Pirkkala has already been keen to try out these systems. “Jani Saarinen was already known to us and we also knew that he has prior experi-ence of using 3D systems. We got the 3D modelled drawings through our partners FCG, who were also interested in starting to use 3D modelling. They provided the drawings for this project as a kind of pilot, so this has been a bit of a learning experience for everyone,” says Kuivanen.

The future of 3D control

3D control systems are becoming increasingly common in Finland. “It is the thing of the future, especially in larger projects”, estimates Saarinen. Kuivanen also has a clear message: “I see 3D control systems soon becoming standard. Compared to Sweden and Norway such systems are not yet very widely in use here, but their use will most certainly become more common.”

Xsite PRO Finland en.pdf