Andrade Gutierrez, one of Latin America’s largest infrastructure implementation groups, has just finished testing an Allison fully automatic-equipped concrete mixer in conjunction with projects designed to prepare Brazil for the Olympics and Soccer World Cup in 2014.
Equipped with a 3500 Series fully automatic transmission, the truck was significantly more productive than its manual equivalent and extremely popular with drivers.
“The equipment exceeded our expectations,” said Ermano Silva, the engineer responsible for equipment maintenance at Andrade Gutierrez. “We have been able to verify Allison’s fully automatic truck affords increased equipment availability and greater comfort for the operator, who finishes his job in better physical condition than those who drove the manual transmission-equipped mixers.”
During the demonstration period, the automatic mixer worked alongside a manual, accomplishing varied tasks at the BRT Transcarioca construction site – a nearly 150 km-long bus corridor constructed to connect opposite ends of Rio de Janeiro. Accumulating nearly 200 duty hours, the Allison automatic provided superior fuel consumption (1557 litres verses 1596 litres) and carried more concrete (531.5 m³ verses 488.5 m³).
Allison said this means 8.8 per cent more concrete was conveyed in 7.1 per cent less time, while consuming 2.5 per cent less fuel – an impressive 11.5 per cent improvement in fuel utilisation measured in cubic metres of concrete delivered divided by the number of litres of fuel used. Overall, the automatic truck was far more productive – delivering 16.5 per cent more concrete per hour.
“The results we were able to obtain for a company the size and stature of Andrade Gutierrez make us extremely happy,” said Evaldo Oliveira, South America operations director for Allison Transmissions. “They confirmed our expectations, but there is nothing more important than the client arriving at this conclusion based on personal experience and quantifiable results. We appreciate the endorsement of the quality and reliability of Allison fully automatic transmissions.”
