The world’s largest terrestrial vehicle is the German-made bucket-wheel excavator known as “Bagger 293.” Used for open-pit mining, Bagger 293 hulks over the landscape at a length of 722 feet, and a height of 310 feet (twice the size of the Statue of Liberty). As a bonus, this beast-of-a-machine is made more ferocious thanks to remote technology.

First, let’s look at more Bagger 293 specs from Popular Mechanics. 

• 31 million pounds of cold steel.
• 71-foot-diameter bucket wheel for continuous scooping.
• The wheel is equipped with 18 buckets.
• Each bucket holds 1,452 gallons.
• Rips apart 8.48 million cubic feet of Mother Earth each day (equivalent to 96 Olympic-size swimming pools).

And here’s a video showcasing the steel leviathan that is, Bagger 293.

Practically speaking, your company has little reason to drop $100 million for a Bagger 293 of your very own--although, it would be money very well spent. Believe it or not, there’s a lesson in workplace efficiency that we can excavate from all of this. Namely, how utilizing remote technology can improve workplace productivity.

On the outside, the Bagger 293 looks like an enormous tank-shovel-death machine, but it’s actually a sophisticated piece of equipment that’s monitored over the Internet using remote technology. As explained by blogger and mining enthusiast Gielank Pradana:

Automation of the BWEs requires integrating many sensors and electrical components such as GPS, data acquisition systems, and online monitoring capabilities. The goal of these systems is to take away some of the work from the operators in order to achieve higher mining speeds. Project managers and operators are now able to track crucial data regarding the BWEs and other machinery in the mining operations via the Internet. Sensors can detect how much material is being scooped onto the conveyor belt, and the automation system can then vary the speed on the conveyor belts in order to feed a continuous amount of material.

By far, this makes Bagger 293 the largest thing on the Internet of Things. Let us pray that its owners, RWE Power AG, have a strong-enough firewall in place to prevent their machine from falling into the hands of terrorist hackers.

Thanks to technology that automates the entire mining process, this skyscraper-of-a-shovel is able to do its job of assaulting the earth’s crust much more quickly and efficiently. In fact, this steel behemoth only needs two brave souls to enter its belly to pull its levers. These two operators and the Bagger 293 are able to do the work of 40,000 miners. How can automation software solutions help your business dig deeper profits?

Even though Bagger 293 only needs two operators inside the machine, there’s still a team of high-tech miners outside remotely monitoring its systems. Using an Internet connection, more eyes can watch the performance of Bagger 293’s critical systems and make adjustments accordingly to maximize its earth-busting performance. This is the same kind of remote technology that Network Synergy uses to monitor your company’s network via Internet connection with our managed IT services.

With remote support and automation solutions from Network Synergy, your business can be as impressive and efficient as Bagger 293. Call us at (203) 261-2201; we’ll move mountains to find the right solutions for your business.