Projecting the future of WIM technology

By |  April 10, 2020
Intercomp's Chris Berg

Berg

What does the next frontier of scale technology look like in the United States? If you ask Intercomp’s Chris Berg, he says it’s a greater movement toward weigh-in-motion (WIM) systems.

“In this country, it is not legal to buy and sell using one of these systems,” says Berg, market specialist at Intercomp, during an interview at ConExpo-Con/Agg 2020 in Las Vegas. “However, a lot of the national organizations are working to push in that direction. Other parts of the world have successfully used WIM technology for 10 to 20 years as a means of buying and selling. It’s just seen as a lot more efficient for businesses.”

Until then, Berg continues to see interest and adoption of WIM systems among U.S. aggregate producers – and for a couple of key reasons.

“Those guys are really interested in being able to track their inventory,” Berg says. “They also want to make sure that their vehicles are legal when they leave the yard.”

Intercomp showcased its LS-WIM scale system at ConExpo-Con/Agg 2020. Photo: P&Q Staff

Intercomp showcased its LS-WIM scale system at ConExpo-Con/Agg 2020. Click to enlarge | Photo: P&Q Staff

Through Intercomp’s LS-WIM system, for example, producers can capture a truck’s individual axle weights to ensure the vehicle is road legal. The system provides a gross weight and a net weight per vehicle, allowing producers to utilize the system to track materials leaving their facilities.

“That’s kind of the big draw to our system,” Berg says.

WIM systems also offer safety and maintenance advantages, he adds.

“It’s making sure you’re not overloading the vehicle,” Berg says. “Then, there’s extra vehicle maintenance needed because some piece of equipment gets overloaded.”

Although WIM systems aren’t necessarily a producer’s primary scale system, they do provide efficiencies when utilized by producers as an add-on tool.

Through the LS-WIM system, users can capture a truck’s individual axle weights to ensure it is road legal. Photo: Intercomp

Through the LS-WIM system, users can capture a truck’s individual axle weights to ensure it is road legal. Click to enlarge | Photo: Intercomp

“The way I look at it is that investing in a scale system is investing in the future profits of your business,” Berg says. “It allows you to control some of those controllable costs that creep up.”

According to Berg, Intercomp is pushing out new software to support its LS-WIM system.

“The software allows a person who wants to go back in to assess a day or a week,” he says. “It provides the capability to have information, be able to import it and manipulate that in a proprietary computer system to help you run your business more efficiently. We try to give business managers and owners the opportunity to be more efficient.”

And eventually – not today, not tomorrow and not next week – WIM systems will become more mainstream, according to Berg.

“The weigh-in-motion technology is the wave of the future,” he says.

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Kevin Yanik

About the Author:

Kevin Yanik is editor-in-chief of Pit & Quarry. He can be reached at 216-706-3724 or kyanik@northcoastmedia.net.

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