Page 185 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

The reason we exist
Ferma’s Cat 5110 excavator was the star of the show.They had built the mammoth excavator as an ultra-high reach machine, capable of 186 feet at full extension. And Harden had worked for a year getting it ready for its big debut. “They wanted to test it out on this jobsite. It was so mas- sive and strong it would grab the side of the freeway and rip it to shreds.” But af- ter fifteen minutes on the job, the 5110 broke down. Harden worked on it right where it sat, which happened to be where all the TV cameras were set up. “It was pitch black and we were right along the fence where all the news crews were. It was nerve-wracking because everybody was watching. And the Ferraris [Fer- ma’s owners] really wanted this thing to work.” The problem ended up being an electronic failure, which Harden fixed within minutes. “Personally, I thought it was too big for the job, but the Fer- raris really wanted to test it on the Doyle Drive project. And once I got it running again, it worked fine the rest of the job. It was amazing.”
The skill and availability of Peterson’s
field techs were baked right into the
contract. “Their knowledge and the tools
they needed to get the job done were
right there in their trucks,” says Verga.
“We didn’t need to call in for parts or
service support because they had all that with them. We consider Peterson part of our team. We couldn’t have done this without them.”
Throughout the weekend, the barrage of equipment and people asking, “Where’s my machine?” was a con- stant for the three-man crews, each made up of two Peterson techs and one from Ferma. “There was so much equipment running we would have four or five pieces broken down at once,” recalls Harden. “You’d have to prioritize. This one first because it’s the fastest one I can get up. We don’t have parts for that one. That one’s going to take six hours. Then you’d go on to the next one. And the next one. And at the same time, you’d get two more coming in.”
Harden and his crew worked nonstop, tag-teaming the next crew in for complete round-the-clock coverage. They touched most of the sixty tractors on the job, some multiple times. “It’s all a big blur now,” says Harden,
Top to bottom: Peterson’s ace field technician, Ashley Harden; Peterson field truck at Doyle Drive demolition site in 2012
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