Everyday Heroes: Meet Finning's service ... - Finning Canada

REMEMBER WHEN…Service preventive maintenance check plan 1963FINELY TUNED FLEET: Each 797 contains an on-boardVital Information Management System microprocessorthat monitors machine health and payload informationand still offers a smooth ride. “The machineis very popular with the operators in comfortand how it handles,” he says.Kearney adds that over the years, thetruck’s evolution has allowed Syncrudeto move even more materials per load.The truck has grown from a 380-tontruck to a whopping 400 tons.And Caterpillar continues to makesmall changes, he says. A web-basedmonitoring system compiles detailedinformation about how the equipment isfunctioning and allows Syncrude to recommendfurther refinements to maximize theperformance of this maximal truck on its oilsands sites.Finning’s Brent Davis has also seen thetruck evolve over the last decade. He sold thefirst 797 to Syncrude in 1999, when he was“You imagine putting yourhouse in the back of a pickuptruck and driving along;it’s quite a feeling.”working as a mining account manager.“Syncrude and another oil sands company,Suncor, were getting some of the first fieldfollows in the world,“ says Davis. “It was importantat the time because it was the first bigtruck in Canada in a long time and, of course,the first truck of its kind in the world.”The 797 replaced another truck the companyhad previously been selling, the 793C,which had a payload capacity of 250 tons.Initially, Finning sold six 797s to Syncrude,and the next year, eight more. Soon, the truckwas on the fast-track to becoming an industrystandard. These days, customers are purchasinglarger fleets of 797B trucks – sometimes20 or more trucks at a time.“It definitely has evolved from a newpilot test truck that we were developingfor the oil sands. It’s very successfuland the population is getting quite largein the oil sands now,” says Davis, now ageneral manager for mining marketing(Northwest Territories and the Yukon).In fact, in 2007, Finning marked the deliveryof its 100th 797 to northern Alberta.Davis goes quiet for minute, searchingfor a way to explain the experience of the vehicle.“It’s like driving your house.” he saysfinally. And there’s a note of incredulity inhis voice, even though he has ridden shotgun.“I’ve never driven one at that speed, butwww.finning.ca Spring 2008 • TRACKS & TREADS 69