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Trimble celebrates 40 years of innovation

More than 1,500 professionals from sectors ranging from aggregates production and hauling to road and bridge building, general construction, surveying and many more, flocked to the Trimble Dimensions 2018 International User Conference in Las Vegas this past November to check out Trimble’s latest technologies for optimizing efficiencies on jobsites around the world.

The bi-annual conference offered attendees three days of technology demonstrations and training, presentations from Trimble visionaries and customers, and a chance to see and try the latest solutions from the technology company.

The 2018 event also marked a major milestone for Trimble, which was founded by Charlie Trimble and two others from Hewlett-Packard in 1978.

Trimble senior vice-president Bryn Fosburgh took attendees on a journey through the evolution of the company.

“Just because innovation isn’t there today, it doesn’t mean it won’t be there tomorrow,” Fosburgh told the crowd, while showing off some of Trimble’s technologies and innovations from the past 40 years, including some of its original GPS technologies which he said were ahead of their time and didn’t work out when originally brought to market due to internet capabilities at the time. “Something that didn’t work 10 years ago doesn’t mean it won’t work today.”

Fosburgh advised attendees to look internally at their companies’ histories as a way to help guide them towards a successful tomorrow.

“Each of you and your businesses, look at your past, it’s your best guide going forward,” he said.

Fosburgh added that Trimble’s focus in the coming years will be geared more and more towards solving outcomes for companies, in addition to offering its impressive technologies for jobsites, which include working with OEMs on the autonomous operation of vehicles on worksites.

Trimble senior vice-president Bryn Fosburgh took conference attendees on a journey through the evolution of the company and its technologies .

“We’re seeing automation across the industry,” he said. “You’re not automating the work process to reduce labour, you’re doing that to use your labour somewhere else to build your business.”

During the conference Trimble announced the release of Trimble Earthworks Grade Control Platform version 1.7 with support for motor graders and automatic guidance for tiltrotator attachments. Trimble Earthworks for Motor Graders is a GNSS-based, 3D grade control solution designed to make fine grading more accurate, faster and easier than ever before. In addition, Trimble Earthworks now gives excavator operators using tiltrotators the advantage of automatic machine control, which can result in increased productivity.

Trimble staff also offered attendees an in-depth look at how the company’s technologies are used to improve efficiencies in aggregate production for quarries and pits around the world. The company offered sessions on how connectedness in a quarry drives value; the ROI of advanced aggregates technologies; improved safety, communications and efficiency through fleet management; how technology improves productivity in aggregates and ready mix operations; and more.

Conference attendees also had the opportunity to go off-site to see the company’s latest technologies in action across a variety of applications for the road building and aggregate sectors, including autonomous machine demonstrations for construction and the benefits of a connected quarry using Trimble Loadrite technologies. Other features of the off-site tours included Trimble machine control systems being used for earthworks, paving, drilling and piling; Trimble Site Positioning Systems, including the company’s augmented reality solution, Trimble SiteVision; telematics and fleet solutions, including VisionLink and Trimble Pulse; Trimble FieldMaster Logos; and hands-on office software training at computer kiosks. The 2020 Trimble Dimensions International User Conference will take place in Nashville, Tenn.