NOTHING'S DRILLING FINER IN THE STATE OF CAROLINA!

Piedmont Drilling & Blasting is a family business owned by Chad and Stu Percy. They have more than 20 drill rigs - and are unanimous in their verdict that the star performer is a new boy in the fleet, the ROC F7 CR.

With two-thirds of its business in construction and the rest in quarrying, Piedmont Drilling & Blasting operates in three American states - North and South Carolina and Virginia.

The company started operations nine years ago with four pneumatic crawler rigs. Since then, a population and business shift has created a booming market in the South-Eastern USA, and new infrastructure projects and housing construction provide steady growth in both the contracting and crushed stone markets.

Today, Piedmont has a modern rig fleet of more than 20 units, mainly hydraulic top-hammer machines, and has been an Atlas Copco customer since 1995.

The company took delivery of its first ROC F7 crawler rig last year and now operates five units in its quarry fleet - including an F7 CR Coprod machine, which is being highly-praised for its outstanding performance in specialized applications.

The terrain in which Piedmont operates is mostly hard granite and drilling conditions are extremely difficult.

Severe hole deviation in quarry drilling is commonplace, and Chad Percy says: "In these cases, we offer the F7 CR machine with Coprod - it's the only rig with which we can guarantee straight holes.

"We like the F7 CR a lot. It also gives very consistent running costs, and this enables us to go to a customer and offer both straight holes and high production."

Rig operators at the company say the F7 rigs are easy to handle and achieve impressive productivity performances.

Peter Walsh, of Atlas Copco Mining and Construction North America, says: "We've progressed from selling one machine three years ago to being a major supplier to Piedmont and we have an excellent relationship with the company.

"We are in constant touch, make frequent visits to the site and have quarterly meetings to monitor performance. We also provide the company with operator and service training whenever and wherever it's required."