b'AIRFIELD MAINTENANCESGR57changer as small units could be appliedneeded to find. Another internet search in to equipment such as mowers, heApril 2024 turned up RC Mowers, based recalls. Crews promptly fitted five of SGRsin Suamico, WI. I had almost given up mowers with GPS trackers to collect turfbefore finding RC Mowers and was going management production rates. Naturally,to go with the zero-turn, 60-inch cut there were variations with differentJohn Deere mowers as we were already machines, operators and types of turf cut,familiar with John Deere, says Durbin. but the GPS data showed an averageInstead, he reached out to the production rate of 2.48 acres per hour.company through its website and Durbin was pleased that his guesstimatedasked for a demo of its new AMR A-60 pencil and paper calculations of 2.55 acresmodela gasoline-powered, zero-turn per hour were not far off from informationmower, with 60-inch mowing deck, that the GPS recorded.can be operated autonomously or run by Typically, mowing required five to six ofan operator seated on the unit. the airports nine maintenance staffers.The model was only two years old, What I wanted to do was save on labor,and the companys first trial in an airport he explains. I wanted to take butts outenvironment was dubbed a resounding of seats that were mowing seven hours,success. RC Mowers checked all the five days a week, and move those dollarsboxes, Durbin summarizes.to lighting or other necessary items. And it did so just in time for his budget Weighing the Options presentation to the City Council Finance Owens knew that Durbin was keen onBoard. The data showing how much autonomous mowing equipment, so whenmoney his department could save by a company selling them approachedreplacing vs. repairing existing equipment the city, the opportunity to test theand the 11th hour discovery of RC emerging technology became a reality. ToMowers and associated labor hours encourage efficiency improvements, theits autonomous equipment could save citys innovation fund helps departmentshelped secure funds to purchase three try new tech-forward products andA-60 Autonomous Mowing RobotsTM. services without having to use their own main drivers for mowing operationsregular operating budgets. were time and labor management, andThe airport ended up hosting she was aware that he and his staff hadequipment from the mowing robot begun researching autonomous mowingcompany for two separate months during equipment. Her advice to Durbin, andfall 2021 and spring 2022. It gave us an anyone collecting data, is, Just captureidea of the limitations of these mowers, what you already do. It doesnt have toDurbin explains. We were going throughLEADER OFbe complicated. Think of all the metricsa learning process with them.of the problem and then compile theMeanwhile, the clock was ticking toAIRFIELDinformation. If you overcomplicate it, youreplace the airports existing mowers;CLEANINGwont do it.Durbin understood that it would takeand there was a notable disconnectSOLUTIONSbetween what vendors were offering and more than estimates calculated withwhat Durbin and his staff consideredImproving Performance,Prioritizing Safety, Driving Costpencil and paper to present a successfulnon-negotiable factors.Efficiency, and PromotingSustainability at airportsargument for a budget increase toWe felt the industry just wasnt thereworldwide.purchase new mowers. He needed solidOur Products:quite yet to allow us to outright own andRunway Rubber Removerdata to determine the labor cost peroperate [autonomous mowers], DurbinPaint Removersacre of traditional mowers to comparerecalls, adding that only electric versionsMold and Mildew Removerswith similar statistics of autonomouswere offered at that time.Concrete & Building Cleanersalternatives.Rust Removers & Aircraft CleanersAlthough the initial autonomousFree Trial Samples on all ProductsWhen GPS tracking was miniaturizedmowing equipment company was unable around 2023, Durbin finally had a way toto meet SGRs needs, it gave Durbin collect better data. It became a gameC4al0l -U4s50-8375 Visit Our Websiteand his staff a better idea of what they5 www.aerogreen.usAirportImprovement.comMarch | April 2025'