Operating in the wide-open spaces of Texas requires durable equipment, such as the Vermeer D24x40 S3 horizontal directional drill. In a territory where you can drive an hour before seeing a town, retrieving parts for a down machine creates costly delays.
XIT Communications is a telephone co-op that serves 20 counties in the Texas Panhandle. Their coverage area stretches roughly four hours from one side to the other. Employees can drive two hours one-way to get to the jobsite from their shop in Dalhart, Texas.
“We cover a massive area over the whole panhandle,” said Glen Powell, construction foreman. “We have a lot of drive time with this job.”
Working across this distance requires advanced planning to visit Vermeer Texas-Louisiana to pick up what they need. Vermeer Texas-Louisiana Outside Sales Representative Brody Hooper understands the unique demands of this territory and helps XIT Communications overcome its unique challenges.
“Here at Vermeer Texas-Louisiana, we try to meet our customers where they are at. We try to stay close to the jobsites. The territory is very rural, so being able to answer the phone before hours, after hours, looking up parts and providing service for the customer if they are having issues is important,” said Hooper.
Every mile matters when XIT Communications is on the job. That’s why Vermeer Texas-Louisiana offers flexible parts transport, helping save time when critical parts are needed. The dealership also invested in replenishable parts consignment boxes stored at XIT Communications’ shop. To eliminate excess travel time, the consignment boxes are inventoried and replenished by Vermeer Texas-Louisiana every month.
“With us having a parts cabinet at our shop, being able to run and get whatever we need is an awesome benefit for us having this machine,” said Powell.
Remote areas demand reliability
Downtime used to be part of the job for XIT Communications. Before switching to Vermeer, the company experienced frequent breakdowns and parts availability challenges with a previous manufacturer.
Construction Operator Kelly Brown has been running the company’s horizontal directional drills for five years. He currently operates a Vermeer D24x40 S3 HDD.
“When we ran other drills, we had a lot of downtime. We were always going back to the shop. Since we bought the D24x40, we’ve spent a lot more time being productive,” said Brown.
This proven performance is backed by support from Hooper at Vermeer Texas-Louisiana and the Vermeer Confidence Plus® asset protection program that helps protect the productivity of the company’s drills. With it, multi-point inspections and required maintenance and service are conducted by Vermeer dealer service technicians using genuine Vermeer parts.
With the Vermeer Confidence Plus program, XIT Communications doesn’t guess on equipment expenses. They know what it costs to operate and service the drills, including parts, fluid and labor.
Train for success
Hooper recognized that XIT Communications needed extra support, parts and service that the other brand was not providing. He checked on them on a regular basis, and the relationship grew from there. Hooper’s persistence overcame anxiety about changing brands.
“We were concerned about learning a new machine. Ultimately, it was a good decision,” said Powell.
XIT Communication’s product knowledge made the transition from competitive machines very easy. The XIT Communications team already knew how to run and maintain HDD equipment. Vermeer-specific HDD training on the D23x30 S3 HDD and D24x40 S3 HDD elevated fiber installation to the next level.
“We sent a couple of our guys to the factory in Pella, Iowa, to learn a little bit more about those machines. Then Brody came down to educate us more on how the machines work. It’s helped our production massively. We get a lot more line put in the ground,” said Powell.
Brown quickly adapted to the Vermeer D24x40 S3 HDD.
“I started out on a competitive machine. From running the other machines, the D24x40 was pretty easy,” said Brown.
Local expertise on call
Across miles of West Texas terrain, ground conditions can change quickly. Bores can run up to 500 ft (152.4 m) with crews switching between a Gauntlet bit for hard ground conditions to a paddle bit for softer ground. Vermeer Texas-Louisiana has a tooling specialist and a drill specialist who can go out on jobsites.
The D24x40 has proven to meet the hardest ground conditions with automated features that keep it on the desired bore path. A 270-rpm rotational speed rivals larger drills, while a carriage speed of 240 fpm (73.1 m/min) and 28,000 lb (124.6 kN) thrust/pullback help XIT Communications install more linear feet per day. And progress can be tracked on the DigiTrack® Aurora touchscreen display.
“It’s very productive for hard ground,” said Brown.
A narrow body design helps navigate tight jobsites and transport between jobsites. This versatility helps XIT Communications tackle projects from open spaces to urban areas.
No matter how challenging the project, XIT Communications has confidence that local expertise is a phone call away.
“No matter where we’re at, it helps to know Brody will answer. All we have to do is give him a call, and he will take care of it. Brody has always been persistent. He has always been there when we needed him. That’s one of the main reasons we chose to go with Vermeer,” said Brown.
This article contains third-party observations, advice or experiences that do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Vermeer Corporation, its affiliates or its dealers. Testimonials and/or endorsements by contractors in specific circumstances may not be representative of normal circumstances experienced by all customers.
Vermeer Corporation reserves the right to make changes in engineering, design and specifications; add improvements; or discontinue manufacturing at any time without notice or obligation. Equipment shown is for illustrative purposes only and may display optional accessories or components specific to their global region. Please contact your local Vermeer dealer for more information on machine specifications. DigiTrak is a trademark of Digital Control Incorporated. Vermeer, Vermeer Confidence Plus, and the Vermeer logo are trademarks of Vermeer Manufacturing Company in the U.S. and/or other countries.
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