Every member of the Sage Oil Vac dealer network shares their customers’ commitment to doing the job right. Throughout the company’s history, our dealers approach customer relationships with passion and dedication that help them go above and beyond the call of duty in sales, marketing, product knowledge and promotional activities that are all essential to year-over-year growth.
This year, we’re honoring our dealers who went even further to take care of their customers — an especially tall task in a year shaped by a once-in-a-generation pandemic — with the 2020 Sage Oil Vac Dealer Awards. These awards recognize the commitment of our dealer network in a year that posed unique challenges to everyone in our industry. See past dealer award winners.
“Our customers faced some unique challenges in 2020, and the award winners exemplify the dedication that is such a common thread among all Sage Oil Vac dealers,” said Sage Oil Vac CEO Aaron Sage. “The 2020 winners were integral to not just our company, but also the continued success of those they serve in some essential U.S. industries. We’re proud to call them members of the Sage Oil Vac family.”
Platinum Dealer Award: Oil Patch Power
Sage Oil Vac systems are in high demand in the Permian Basin oil fields around Odessa, Texas, where Dwayne and Goldie Green own and operate Oil Patch Power. The Green’s have long been a leading Sage Oil Vac partner, and have helped refine our product line to better serve oil field service contractors in their region, offering lube trucks, skids, trailers, carts, accessories and full LubeBuilderTM systems. Dwayne is one of the nation’s leaders in skid and lube sales and Goldie is the brains behind the operation that keeps everything running smoothly!
Since the Green’s are a big name in their area’s oilfield equipment service and maintenance sector, they’ve been integral to our advertising and getting our name out in West Texas, as well as demonstrating the benefits of our systems for their customers. We’re lucky to have the Green’s and Oil Patch Power as part of the team.
Gold Dealer Award: ACME Truck Body
ACME Truck Body is a member of the Sage Oil Vac dealer network and a leading provider of construction equipment and generator maintenance around Vero Beach, Florida. Company President Mark Steinberg has come to depend on Sage Oil Vac lube trucks and LubeBuilder systems to help his company’s customers get their jobs done, and in the process has become one of the area’s leading Sage sales and service providers. Steinberg and his team have singlehandedly helped grow the Sage customer base in the Florida construction equipment maintenance market.
Silver Dealer Award: Perfection Truck Equipment
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma-based Perfection Truck Equipment has come a long way in its 70-plus years of business. Today, the company that started with five truck lines now supports more than 120 truck lines and 100 lines of truck- and trailer-mounted service and maintenance equipment for the oil, gas and construction industries. And Sage Oil Vac LubeBuilder systems and lube trucks have become integral to the service the Perfection Truck Equipment team provides both its new and long-time customers in a major geography for Sage Oil Vac.
Looking ahead, Sage said he hopes to strengthen working relationships with members of his dealer network who can continue to deliver industry-leading mobile lubrication and equipment maintenance to key industries like oil and gas production.
“Our 2020 award winners embody what we value and what we know our customer’s value, and that’s an ethic of hard work and service to men and women focused on getting the job done right,” Sage added.
Contact your nearest dealer to learn more about the full range of Sage Oil Vac products.
Being more efficient with your air compressor run time is important for several reasons. A favorite reason among operators is the cost savings it can bring to the table. Our competitors use conventional diaphragm pumps and air piston pumps in the tanks of their fluid exchange equipment. These require constant air volume from an air compressor to run. Sage Oil Vac systems conserve air by creating and maintaining vacuum pressure within the tanks. This is compared to conventional air pump systems which need to run air compressors 100% of the time.
When using Sage systems out on the jobsite, you can pressurize your tanks with the compressors you keep at the shop or on the jobsite with a gas-powered air compressor that can be added to your Sage model. Once you have necessary air pressure to dispense new oils, the compressor can be turned off. Sage professionals advise operators turn off machines once 20 inches of air pressure has been captured within the system. Using this advice ensures that the Sage systems reduce air compressor run time by up to 70% over conventional systems. This practice reduces the amount of wear and tear and our product operators often comment that the reduced noise of a Sage system prevents fatigue during the workday. For smaller and shorter shop applications, the Sage lube and fuel carts can be hooked into existing power and air compression systems to help power the task at hand.
Reduced air compressor run time + a standalone power lube truck = money in your pocket
Sage Oil Vac also offers lube truck options with standalone power for even more wear and tear savings. A standalone power lube truck uses a small diesel engine mounted on the body to run hydraulics for the fuel pump and the air compressor. That means fewer engine hours translates to reduced maintenance costs. Additionally, there are reduced fuel consumption costs from your truck and gas-powered air compressor and/or energy use costs if you’re using an electric air compressor. These added savings mean a standalone powered Sage Oil Vac lube truck could literally pay for itself.
Learn more
Want to know more about the benefits of Sage Oil Vac? Check out our full-line product brochure, lube truck brochure, LubeBuilder Brochure and product spec sheets.
Originally published September 30, 2016.
Changing irrigation engine oil can become a cacophony of empty five-gallon buckets rolling around the bed of a pickup. The remaining dregs of some of those containers creating an oil slick covering just about everything in reach. Combined with the heat, the odor of burned or used oil, and the dirty or muddy conditions common around most irrigation engines, and it’s a scenario familiar to just about everyone familiar with a dirty jobsite oil change— and one that few enjoy.
In 1993, that exact scenario had become reality for Gary Sage, and he was looking for a change. The inventor integrated the oil vac system he invented in servicing his own irrigation engines. The result: not a single drop of oil spilled on himself, his equipment, his machinery or the ground.
A range of jobsite oil change options
Now almost three decades later, Gary’s invention has become the foundation for Sage Oil Vac. This company is committed to efficiency and environmental sustainability on jobsites. Jobs range from irrigation and wind turbines to heavy excavation in the United States and around the world. Currently, Sage Oil Vac offerings include lube trucks, fuel and lube trailers, lube skids, lube carts, and a LubeBuilder™ system that can be customized to fit any vehicle and operation size.
All Sage Oil Vac oil exchange systems feature a pump-free design. It uses vacuum pressure technology and compressed air to exchange fluid at up to 15 gallons per minute, speeding up the process of a jobsite oil change. In addition to improving cleanliness and efficiency, Sage Oil Vac systems eliminates maintenance issues more common with pump-driven systems.
A decade of expansion
Eight years after his original system sparked the ambition to create Sage Oil Vac, Gary opened a full-time shop. The shop was dedicated to fabricating the systems in Amarillo, Texas, in 2001. In the decade that followed, he expanded the company by diversifying Sage Oil Vac systems. They started to outfit service technicians maintaining heavy equipment, generators, rental fleets, and oil and gas field machinery performing jobsite oil changes around the region. In 2004, the company created a partnership to custom-build oil vac systems for the U.S. Army Reserves.
After opening a new 24,000-square-foot facility to accommodate the growth that partnership created, Sage Oil Vac’s diversification continued with the 2007 development of the Gear Oil Exchange (GOEX) system for changing oil and servicing wind turbines. The GOEX system is available in a variety of platforms. This includes skids, open trailers, enclosed trailers, and trucks or offshore containers. It also includes an on-board filtration system that reduces wear particles on wind turbine gearboxes. This system significantly increases component and gearbox life spans.
The resulting niche market created by the development of the GOEX system took Sage systems to overseas customers when it gained distributors in Europe and Australia. In 2012, the company’s decade of evolution netted it the Top Small Business of the Year award by the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce, as well as the President’s “E” Award for Exports.
The next generation of leadership
Four years later, Gary Sage retired as Sage Oil Vac CEO, paving the way for son Aaron to take the company’s reins. Since becoming CEO in 2016, Aaron has continued to grow the family business. It now has a dealer network of more than 30 locations around the U.S. Though the company has evolved a great deal since its inception, the primary focus of Sage Oil Vac has not changed.
“We’re just as committed to bringing efficiency and environmental responsibility to consumers through the use of our mobile lube equipment as we were in 1993,” Aaron said. “Those who choose to ‘change with Sage’ do so because of the guaranteed quality equipment and unbeatable customer service.”
Learn more about how you can grow your business and make jobsite oil changes more efficient with the right Sage Oil Vac system.
When the COVID-19 pandemic threw the brakes on different parts of the global economy, some industries were brought to a crawl. For others — like some sectors of the construction business — it was a busy time in which general contractors around the U.S. continued to contribute to essential services and infrastructure work.
But for others idled by the virus, it’s created the time and the opportunity to focus on equipment maintenance as a way to both keep the workforce engaged and prepare for when more “normal,” busy operations resumed. In either case, Sage Oil Vac has had a role in the economy’s continued rebound from COVID-19.
“COVID-19 created all sorts of new challenges for our customers, and it took a toll on a lot of the men and women we work with every day,” said Sage Oil Vac CEO Aaron Sage. “Whether it’s been through mobilizing more service capabilities to bring more maintenance to your jobsite or ramping up maintenance operations to be ready when things return, we’ve worked to help keep our customers doing what they do best, making sure equipment that is in the field and on the job is well-maintained and performing at its peak potential.”
Sustaining essential work
In the wake of COVID-19, transportation fleet service and maintenance company operators and contractors working on essential infrastructure projects and jobsites were enabled to continue despite safeguards put into place to limit personal contact and the virus’ spread. Contractors and workers faced social distancing requirements and other recommendations to slow the virus. Often, that created challenges in how service and maintenance was performed. Mobile on-site maintenance was one way contractors not only continued operating on the jobsite, but did so while abiding by social distancing requirements.
“It’s impossible in a lot of cases to take something like an excavator off the jobsite or a truck off the road for maintenance when the service shop was closed or limited in appointments for social distancing,” Sage said. “Our mobile systems helped take oil changes to the jobsite. It helped operators keep trucks and machines running and minimized disruptions, and it also helped better maintain social distancing.”
Getting better for the future
For contractors and fleet managers who weren’t working on essential infrastructure projects, the pandemic created a slower pattern and downtime. Temporary lapses created time windows many — including rental store owners — used to service their equipment fleets, examining equipment maintenance strategies and making changes to improve their overall jobsite productivity. Though the integration of a Sage Oil Vac system can normally be a key component of a company’s growth strategy, the same tactic can help contractors and managers add value to otherwise lost time in the work stoppages.
“The COVID-19 interruption enabled many contractors fleet managers to make changes and integrate equipment that can make them more efficient in the future,” Sage said. “One of those adjustments is adding a Sage Oil Vac mobile system that best enables contractors to do their job based on the specific working conditions they are facing.”
Available in truck or trailer-mounted units, on skids or shop carts, Sage Oil Vac mobile systems are available in a range of sizes and configurations to meet the mobile oil change requirements of any contractor or rental store manager. You can even custom-build a system that meets your needs and fits within an existing footprint of a truck bed or sprinter van with our LubeBuilder™ system offering.
Find out which Sage Oil Vac system is best for your operation here.
Job sites don’t just come to a halt because of cold weather. But changing the oil in a piece of machinery outside — on the job site, on the farm or in the field — in the dead of winter is no fun.
But a cold weather oil change has to be done, and with the right procedures and equipment, managing oil and fluids during the cold winter months doesn’t have to be such a challenge.
Maintenance when the temperature drops
It all starts with temperature. Just like you bundle up to head outside when the temperature dips, any cold weather oil change has to happen at the right time to be effective and prevent long-term engine damage.
Temperature is what makes changing oil more difficult during the winter, and it is temperature that you need to be most attentive to in the entire process, according to Sage Oil Vac CEO Aaron Sage. He recommends performing an oil change within minutes of engine shutdown after operating at normal temperatures.
“If you’re in the field in fall or winter, the best thing is to have the operator pull up to the oil change site and do the oil change within the next five minutes while the engine is warm,” he said. “You can’t go to a job site where the equipment’s been sitting for 10 days without doing anything, then do the oil change. It’s stone-cold and all the contaminants in that oil are settled on engine parts. Simply pulling the plug then is not going to yield a good oil change.”
Even though heat can sometimes be dangerous when changing oil using conventional equipment, most experienced technicians know it’s important to get the engine warm so oil is viscous enough to drain. But there’s more to it than that; the functionality of engine oil declines in cold temperatures.
“It’s not only viscosity but the position of the oil and the suspension of the minerals in that oil,” Sage said. “That oil is there to clean wear metals and get contaminants off moving parts and suspend them in the oil, and they’re usually suspended equally in the oil. If you run the engine to warm it up, then shut it off, those contaminants are going to settle out in the bottom of the pan, on valves and pistons and other parts.”
Assembling the right system
The ideal scenario for a cold weather oil change is to change the engine oil when it is near operating temperature, viscous enough to remove contaminants so they don’t inflict further damage to engine parts. However, handling hot oil can be dangerous and difficult, making the right facilities, tools and equipment critical to doing the job effectively and safely.
“If you know you’re going to be changing oil in the winter, you really need to have quick disconnects on your oil pans. It’s really helpful to have those to close the loop with the crankcase,” Sage said. “Some drain into buckets because they have a mindset of ‘That’s the way granddad did it, and that’s how we’re going to do it.’ A Sage Oil Vac system eliminates the need to deal with buckets and helps get the job done at optimal temperatures, even when they’re far from optimal outside.”
A heated fluid tank can help, too. Sage Oil Vac heated tanks use immersion heaters that use standard coolant fluid and probes inside the tank to transfer heat to the oil. Leveraging a tool like this can enable operators to more easily change oil in cold winter conditions at optimal temperatures.
“Some say they take their machinery into the shop where they have an oil pit and temperature can be better controlled. But that shop might be 70 miles away from the job site, so they may lose two days of production,” Sage said. “Time is money, and a Sage Oil Vac system and heated fluid tanks will pay for themselves quickly, especially when you take engine loss into account.”
In addition to the effectiveness of changing oil at the right temperatures, and the convenience and cleanliness of using a Sage Oil Vac system, there’s a cost benefit, too. Many choose to change engine oil inside a heated shop or building during cold winter months. But that can quickly erode revenue potential, especially when the machinery is integral to a job site’s overall operation.
Cold weather maintenance in action
Cold weather oil changes are a convergence of circumstances for Tom Fisher, product support manager for Plasterer Equipment Company, Inc. The 107-year-old John Deere construction, forestry and commercial equipment dealership with four locations around southeast Pennsylvania provides service to contractors around the region, where no one is a stranger to operating in winter conditions.
The region is far enough from the Great Lakes to avoid treacherous conditions like lake-effect snowfall during the winter, but low temperatures from December through March commonly dip into the 20s, with daytime highs averaging from the mid 30s to upper 40s. At those temperatures, oil begins to flow slowly because of increased viscosity, something that can hinder jobsite equipment maintenance operations, Fisher said. Efficiently serving such a diverse customer base can become a challenge when winter weather conditions cause operations to slow down. The effort to overcome that challenge was the start for Plasterer to begin working with Sage Oil Vac.
Plasterer Equipment initially started with a truck cab and chassis, then added the Sage LubeBuilder™ system and constructed an enclosure box around the oil change equipment. The team was able to integrate the system into an existing service truck that could meet specific service goals efficiently and at a lower cost, even in cold, snowy winter conditions.
The main motivation of Plasterer Equipment to integrate a Sage system into mobile lubrication service was a combination of the ability to provide efficient, timely service — including in cold, snowy winter weather — without the undue higher operating costs associated with a larger service truck with capabilities beyond the company’s customer needs. “We’ve always offered preventative maintenance services and regular lubrication services to customers with regular service trucks. We discussed a new truck internally, did a lot of research and decided to go with a Sage system that could give us the lube service capabilities to perform all the routine preventative maintenance our customers need,” Fisher said.
According to Fisher, the company is in the process of building a second lube truck, with an ultimate goal of having four units, one providing mobile lube service from each of Plasterer’s four locations.
Sage is excited to announce our placement among the top 100 companies from around the world selected for the 15th annual Aggie 100. The Aggie 100 honors the fastest-growing companies owned or operated by former students of Texas A&M University.
“We are incredibly honored and humbled to be named as a 2019 Aggie 100 honoree,” said Sage CEO Aaron Sage. “Our team has put in a lot of collective hard work to reach this stage in our annual growth rate and it’s exciting to see it recognized in an official capacity.”
The 100 Aggie-owned companies with the highest compound annual revenue growth from 2016 to 2018 were recognized at a formal celebration at the Hall of Champions at Texas A&M University’s Kyle Field on Friday, Oct. 25, 2019. Sage was recognized as number 88 with a compound annual growth rate of 32.6%.
“As we mark the 15th Crystal Anniversary of the Aggie 100 program, we celebrate our success by raising up the newest class of Aggie 100 honorees,” said Blake Petty, director of the McFerrin Center for Entrepreneurship. “Knowing how each member company of the Class of 2019 has overcome their own adversities to reach astounding levels of growth and prosperity, we dedicate this significant milestone to the excellence exhibited by our newest additions to the Aggie 100 family.”
A complete Aggie 100 list can be viewed at aggie100.com.
The team at Rabern Rentals don’t consider themselves too tech-savvy or earlier adopters of the industry’s latest advancements. They are just hard-working, practical people who want to provide quality service to customers and be diligent about maintaining their equipment fleet. So when they discover a good idea, whether at their local American Rental Association chapter meeting, a trade show or from a fellow rental store owner, they implement it only if it aligns with those two values.
With two locations in Amarillo and one in Hereford, Texas, Rabern Rentals Owner Steve Berner said their team is always looking for a better way to manage and maintain Rabern Rentals’ rental fleet. “We classify ourselves as heavy equipment people — any contractors looking for large equipment that typically isn’t stocked at other rental stores has been an important niche for our business,” he explained. “We carry everything from large excavators and wheel loaders to forklifts and aerial equipment. Our fleet across the two stores is massive, and we regularly call on contractors who are working up to 200 miles away. Ensuring that preventative maintenance (PM) was being routinely performed is a huge undertaking, which is why we’re always looking for tools and equipment that can help simplify the process.”
Fleet service challenges
Every rental store manager and owner understands the challenges of maintaining a large rental fleet. To ensure the manufacturer-recommended PMs are performed, many rental operations rely on customers to monitor their rented equipment or make frequent trips or calls to jobsites, themselves. Others merely wait until a machine comes off rent to perform PMs, which is a recipe for downtime and costly repairs.
Rabern Rentals didn’t want to be just another rental store, which is why performing PMs on schedule has always been a priority for the team. However, to stay on top of the service intervals to its distributed rental fleet across four different states, Rabern Rentals’ service technicians have to spend a lot of time behind the wheel of a service truck traveling between jobsites.
“A typical day used to consist of loading the back of the truck up with supplies, including as many 5-gallon buckets of motor oil as I could fit, driving to a jobsite, spending a lot of time looking for the machine that needed to be serviced, performing the PM, and then cleaning up,” explained Tim Poland, service technician with Rabern Rentals. “It’s inefficient and messy, but normal for most service techs.”
Upgrading PMs
Rabern Rentals began to upgrade its PMs process a few years ago with the integration of telematics and a mobile lube system. “Many of our equipment suppliers started to offer trials of their telematics systems when we purchased new equipment,” explained Berner. “So that gave us a taste for what we could do with telematics, and after that, we began to add it to many of our larger machines. With better data, we also wanted to have a better way of performing routine maintenance, which led to us purchasing a Sage Oil Vac lube trailer. I just wanted the process to be easier on our guys and faster for the customers.”
Now for telematics, Rabern Rentals uses a mixed system that incorporates data supplied through original equipment manufacturers (OEM) telematic systems and aftermarket systems from Mix Telematics. Machine data is fed to a customized dashboard that everyone at Rabern Rentals has access to. The dashboard lets them know when a machine needs to be serviced, and with geofencing and GPS, they always know exactly where their machines are. Instead of service technicians having to wait for a customer to contact them when service needs to be done, they call the customer to let them know when they will be coming by to do it.
Poland said the Sage Oil Vac lube trailer is the perfect complement to telematics. “What good is service data if a person doesn’t have the time to perform the PMs efficiently,” he joked. “With our mobile lube trailer, we’re able to carry a lot more fluids with us to jobsites, reduce the amount of time it takes to do an oil change, more accurately measure the amount of oil we add and reduce the risk of dripping or spilling oil. It’s made a big impact on our business.”
Trailer setup
With customers spread throughout four states, traveling back and forth from Rabern Rentals facilities to drop off used oil and pick up fresh oil was a significant time waster. When spec-ing their mobile lube trailer, Berner’s staff worked with the team at Sage Oil Vac to develop a custom solution to reduce their travel times. The mobile lube tandem axle trailer includes two 250-gallon tanks — one for 15-40 fresh oil and another to hold waste oil. There are also three 30-gallon tanks on the front to carry hydraulic fluid, a grease kit and an air compressor that powers the system.
The tanks on Rabern Rentals’ mobile lube system has a pump-free design that uses vacuum technology to dispense and drain fluid. Compressed air is used to push oil out of the tank and vacuum pressure to suck up used oil into the waste tank; the service technician just needs to flip a switch to create suction. There are no moving parts inside the tanks, and the vacuum system is completely sealed. The pneumatic grease gun kit also runs off the same air compressor.
“With 500 gallons of fresh oil onboard, I can handle multiple services in a single trip, and get rid of all the buckets I used to have to carry in the back of my truck,” Poland said. “With that much oil, I can do PMs on seven wheel loaders without having to come back to the shop. And having hydraulic tanks allows me to be able to add fluid if a machine’s hydraulic system is a bit low, or when a machine blows a hose and loses a lot of fluid. Having an air-powered grease gun has also made greasing a machine a lot faster, and it has a lot more force behind it than a hand-pump gun.”
Better for everyone
The results of integrating telematics and a mobile lube trailer are positive. Rabern Rentals employs several service technicians, and they all have complete access to data from the 300+ machines in their fleet with telematics. The trailer also makes it easy for any one of them to hitch it to their service truck and go.
“The changes we’ve made have helped our team better manage and maintain our rental fleet, but that’s only part of it,” said Poland. “Equally important is we’ve been able to reduce PM downtime for our customers. With telematics, we can plan better, and with the Sage Oil Vac system, we can get the work done faster.”
Service is the difference
The high level of service customers receive from the team at Rabern Rentals is a key differentiator in a competitive rental market. “Service has allowed us to demand higher rental rates. We may be 5-10 percent higher than other places, but our customers continue to choose us because they don’t have to worry about getting poorly maintained and dirty equipment that is more prone to breakdowns. We want our customers satisfied and working, our employees safe and happy — making an investment in service has helped make all of that possible,” concluded Berner.
Time is money on the jobsite. If you’re spending too much time using conventional means to change oil on the job, it’s likely costing you money, and certainly preventing your operation from working at its peak capacity.
When we talked to Michigan-based Caterpillar heavy equipment dealer, we learned just how much productivity is gained when using a Sage mobile lube or oil system verses a traditional pump system. The company frequently changes oil in power generators and beyond so when they heard about Sage Oil Vac they were ready to give it a try. Check out the comparison below to see the full scope of Michigan CAT’s potential time savings.
Before Sage Oil Vac
Michigan CAT services and maintains a group of power generators in the lower peninsula of Michigan, a job that requires the removal and replacement of 110 gallons of oil for each machine. Using conventional means — typically comprising delivering two 55-gallon barrels of oil to the jobsite, switching out oil manually and returning barrels of used oil to a central shop — Michigan CAT service technicians averaged almost three hours per oil change.
To break the time savings down further, let’s do some math. Michigan CAT started their oil exchange process by loading two 55-gallon drums of oil into their truck before driving to the generator. The generator, which holds 110 gallons of oil, takes 55 minutes to vacuum the used oil into two empty drums. Then it takes an additional 55 minutes to pump two drums of new oil into the generator. Once this is complete, the operator returns to the shop to dump the used oil into a used oil tank which takes yet another 55 minutes. All in all, the total oil change cycle lasts a total of 165 minutes.
Jobsite time savings with Sage Oil Vac
Using a Sage 1C5F-2100 preventative maintenance (PM) trailer cut that maintenance time drastically. What took Michigan CAT techs almost three hours took just a fraction of the time.
According to Michigan CAT, the time comparison when using a Sage system was felt right out of the gate. Before leaving the shop, it took 13 minutes to fill the 1C5F-2100 PM Trailer with two drums of fresh oil. Then it took about 13 minutes to vacuum the used oil from the generator, 30 minutes to refill it with fresh oil and another 13 minutes to discard the used oil when they returned to the shop.
In all, technicians can save an average of 96 minutes per oil change start to finish. In many cases, that’s enough time to conduct at least one more oil change per day, enabling operators to create new efficiencies, service more equipment and build new business growth opportunities.
“Saving this much time per day adds up to major savings for the operator,” said Sage CEO Aaron Sage. “In addition to our systems making it easier to maintain a clean jobsite, operators can simply get more work done and get more machinery serviced every day.”
See more details about how time can be saved. Find your nearest Sage dealer to make the change and get more from your time on the jobsite.
More than 250 pieces of machinery working on anywhere between 12 and 15 commercial or industrial excavation jobsites across as many as seven states. That scale of work takes a lot of resources to keep every machine operating at peak capacity.
It’s the daily reality for Port Allen, Louisiana-based Beard Construction, and that’s why Equipment Manager Lee Morrison relies on Sage Oil Vac systems. And he recently took that relationship to a new level with a customized machine that meets specific, unique needs of many of Beard Construction’s jobsites.
By the time Morrison joined the Beard Construction team in 2010, the company was already using Sage systems for mobile fluid changes. The company’s 25 – 30 job superintendents were already familiar with the benefits of using Sage systems for mobile oil changes and lubrication services on the jobsite after having previously worked with a local company to build lubrication units. As mobile maintenance requirements grew and evolved, Morrison saw a need for maintenance equipment that was simple, straightforward and efficient, but could accomplish more on each jobsite.
“Our old units were standard large tank trucks with each unit having its own oil pump. The problem with those units is there are so many pumps and there’s always a leak somewhere, or there’s an issue with the plumbing or pump itself,” Morrison said. “Sage systems are so much less problematic with no pumps, and the plumbing is virtually problem-free. They’re customizable, more compact and they really hold up well.”
Designed for specific applications
The ability to customize Sage systems is a benefit that extends well beyond basic jobsite functionality, and it’s one that Morrison is fully leveraging with the latest addition to the 15-year-old Beard Construction maintenance fleet. On top of the two multi-tank Heritage skids and their jobsite trailer currently doing services, Morrison worked with Sage Customer Service Specialist Kyle Ottmers to build the company’s latest system from the ground up. The process started with an idea and a conversation.
“I wanted a unit designed for specific applications that only had what we needed on it and nothing else,” Morrison said. “We knew the dimensions and that we needed full containment, and we got together and sketched out some drawings and came up with what would work best. With a lot of companies, you’re at their mercy, they have what they have and if you want it customized, you have to do it at your own shop. With this Sage system, we worked together and came up with the exact rig we needed.”
The process yielded a one-of-a-kind machine: By combining a Sage lube skid with a Morooka tracked vehicle, Morrison now can solve a long-standing problem on many jobsites. Working in the southern and southeastern U.S., heavy, wet soils are common on many jobs, making it difficult for operators to maneuver large, heavy service vehicles where they need to be to perform service and maintenance.
Customized machine benefits
Morrison needed a smaller, more maneuverable vehicle to get the job done. Between a Sage lube skid with a smaller physical footprint and a tracked vehicle with a 10×7-foot bed, Morrison worked with Ottmers and the Sage team to customize a maintenance vehicle with everything necessary to provide jobsite maintenance for the company’s excavators and other jobsite machinery.
“The vehicle is based on a Morooka tracked machine and a Sage lube skid. It’s not like anything we’ve ever done before. We have customized vehicles before, but this machine is unique in that it has two product tanks, a place for diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) and a place for grease,” Ottmers said. “The footprint is smaller, and the fluid containment system and different components are all pretty specialized and geared specifically to what Lee was looking for.”
The benefits of the customized machine stretch beyond productivity. It helps Morrison better manage labor, and it’s a safer, cleaner way to provide jobsite machinery maintenance.
“Some of the jobsites we got this unit for probably have $10 million worth of equipment on them. The better you can keep that equipment serviced, the more value you’ll have in it in the long run,” he said. “This machine matches our needs 100% from a labor standpoint, and it helps us achieve our No. 1 priority of safety. Everything is at an arm’s reach for the operator, and the controls are simple and easy to use. And, we’re not leaking any grease or oil on the ground. That’s huge for us since being environmentally sound is important to this company.”
Future work with Sage
Moving forward, Morrison expects the company’s next 15 years to build on the success of its first decade and a half. A big part of that growth and advancement will come in streamlining equipment and machinery to best meet the specific needs of the large-scale excavation jobs that are common for the company. Tools like Sage mobile lubrication systems will be a large part of that ongoing evolution.
“As we continue to update our fleet, I want to continually add customized systems like this to our mobile lubrication lineup so that we are working with machines that meet our direct, specific needs. Gone are the days when we will work with machines that are generic and straight off the shelf. These Sage systems are low-maintenance. We believe in quality, and quality pays.”
In addition to the utility of Sage systems on Beard Construction’s jobsites, Morrison said they have already shown promise for other areas of the business. Not only do they work more efficiently, they also provide a visual representation of Beard Construction’s innovation and attention to productivity and efficiency.
“In the long run, if you buy quality equipment, it will generally pay for itself,” Morrison said. “When we go to our large industrial clients, it’s no small bid. You are selected for these large bids based on your performance, safety, innovation and how proactive you are with how you operate and the equipment you use. These machines help us get the job done and leave a better impression with our customers.”
On the jobsite, a piece of machinery is only making you money when it’s running. Downtime — whether from unexpected breakdowns or routine maintenance — is a quick culprit of productivity and revenue loss. At the end of the day, anything you can do to keep the wheels turning and engines running will contribute to an operation’s bottom line.
Sage mobile lube systems can make a universal task quicker and more efficient, helping every machine spend more time doing its job. Like any piece of equipment on a worksite, a Sage system is designed to take care of a very specific function: Conduct lubrication and oil changes in the field. That makes it important to purchase and operate the right system to meet your specific mobile lubrication and maintenance needs with minimal work disruption, helping sustain and improve the return on investment (ROI) of machinery and equipment.
“Whether you’re moving beyond using buckets to manually change oil, driving machinery back to a shop to conduct maintenance or you’re upgrading from a different type of mobile lubrication system, a Sage system can help you keep your machinery operating by efficiently taking care of these common maintenance tasks in the field,” said Sage CEO Aaron Sage. “To maximize that efficiency, you have to match your Sage system to your specific jobsite maintenance needs.”
Here are a few things to consider in determining which Sage system is right for your operation.
Your biggest fluid management pain points: This may be the mess of manual oil changes, the time required to conduct maintenance with current methods or having the right workforce to do the job efficiently.
What you’re using to change oil now: Are you changing oil manually with buckets, or using another type of lubrication maintenance system?
Where you’re conducting maintenance: Are you changing oil and servicing machinery in a central shop or doing it on the job site?
How much machinery you’re maintaining: How many machines and different types are you maintaining?
Service frequency: How often do you change oil in the machines you service?
Maintenance services you’re providing: Are you simply topping off fluids on-site and seldom conduct full oil changes, transmission and full hydraulic exchanges, as well as 250 hour engine oil changes?
Current equipment: Do you already have trucks, skids or trailers? What is your existing payload or towing capacity?
Time on the road: How far do you travel between jobsites? How far do you travel before you make it back to the shop?
How you handle waste fluids: Do you dispose of used engine oil and other fluids in a central location? How frequently do you dispose of waste fluids?
Working conditions: Do you change oil and provide maintenance in cold temperatures that would require heated fluid tanks? Do you work best in an open or enclosed system?
Working with used oil filters: Consider ways to avoid the messiest part of the job with a Filter Stinger and used filter receptacle
Other tools and equipment: Do you have your own compressor? Do you need storage for supplemental jobsite tools and equipment?
Answering these questions about your specific operation is especially important, given the range of Sage mobile lube equipment options ranging from lube carts and skids to the largest trailers and Class 8 trucks that can provide service to multiple pieces of machinery on different jobsites. Once you know the specific improvements you want to make to your jobsite maintenance operations, it can help you know what system will work best for your business, in both the short and long term.
“Being able to identify these parts of your operation is important to your ability to select the right Sage system that can both meet your needs as well as fit in with existing equipment and processes,” Sage said. “Starting the process of integrating a Sage system — whether a lube truck, skid or trailer — into your business by having a clear picture of where you stand today can help you identify the direction to go in the future to achieve gains in productivity and efficiency that can help your business grow. We think of Sage systems as not just tools to do a job, but components of a strong growth strategy.”
Start the process to evolving your mobile lubrication services by checking out the range of Sage system options.
