Page 468 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

CORE VALUES:
TROUBLESHOOTING A BEAST (AUGUST 2007)
The late summer sun had already dipped below the horizon out at the Vulcan Materials quarry in Pleasanton. But for Ashley Harden, the day wasn’t over yet. He was deep in the bowels of a D11— solo—trying to diagnose a persistent hydraulics problem. It had a self-adjusting Carrydozer with a complicated electric-over-hydraulics system that was giving him fits. He and fellow field tech Doug Breche- isen had spent hours tag-teaming this beast all summer and still hadn’t been able to resolve the issue. Last year, Vulcan had bought two D11s, both still under warranty. Having one limp through its workday until 3:00 p.m. shutdown wasn’t what they’d paid for. Peterson wanted them to get their money’s worth.
As the light was beginning to evaporate, Harden heard a voice overhead.
Field tech Ashley Harden spent a lot of time troubleshooting Vulcan’s Carrydozer the summer of 2007
“Run into anybody lately?” It was the boss, Duane Doyle Sr. The Big Kahuna.
“Oh. You already know about that, huh?” A week earlier, he’d rear-ended somebody in his field truck. “Sorry about that. I’ve already got the parts. I’ll fix it on my own time.”
Ten minutes later, he and Sr. were huddled over a giant schematic held with magnets to the side of Brecheisen’s field truck. Doug had arrived earlier with his summer sidekick—Duane Doyle Jr.—to help diagnose the prob- lem. Now someone was holding a flashlight over the giant blueprint while somebody else traced along the path of the
466 | PETERSON: 85 YEARS AND GOING STRONG