Equipment and Resources
Ceres maintains one of the largest inventories in the United States of owned disaster recovery equipment. Our current inventory includes over 500 pieces of equipment, including tub and horizontal grinders, excavators of various sizes, loaders, bull-dozers, custom-built knuckle-boom loaders, and numerous other pieces of support equipment.
In addition to our own inventory of equipment, Ceres has long-established working relationships with subcontract firms throughout the United States and its territories. These relationships provide us with the ability to rapidly expand and contract our equipment and personnel needs, based on the specific requirements of each given project. We have rapid access to thousands of pieces of additional equipment, including debris handling and reduction equipment, hauling vehicles, bucket trucks, cranes, and other specialized and heavy equipment.
Mobile Offices and Mobile Command Centers
Ceres personnel custom builds mobile office units which are then shipped throughout the United States and overseas, providing field office space for our various projects. Mobile Command Centers are also custom designed and outfitted specifically for disaster recovery response missions and are complete self-supporting units. These mobile stations are designed with generators and backup fueling systems to provide heat, cooling, and power, communication systems (digital and satellite), computer systems, video systems with uplink capabilities, emergency safety supplies, water, emergency food rations, and other support equipment necessary for the initial phase of a response mission. Ceres currently has completed construction of 3 mobile units with 2 more in production.
Custom Ticket Towers for Debris Missions
Ceres has designed, with patent-pending, and constructed a custom mobile station that will serve to provide both office space and ticket management space for debris staging, reduction and disposal sites. The first of its kind in this industry, Ceres hopes to replace the current temporary wooden structures, requiring approximately 16 man-hours to construct with on-going maintenance issues, with this mobile steel structure that can be set up on nearly any site in less than 3 hours. The steel structure provides a safe and comfortable working space for Ceres personnel and our clientele, and is fully self supporting as are our other mobile office units. Heat, light, cooling, drinking water, desk space, satellite communications, computer systems, first aid and basic safety supplies, video systems with uplink capabilities are just some of the standard features provided within the unit. The first unit designed by Ceres was displayed at the 2007 Florida Governor's National Hurricane Conference and received rave reviews from other conference attendees and potential customers.
Technology
We rely on new technologies to improve the quality and efficiency of our jobs and we are continuously evaluating this rapidly changing aspect of our business. From custom database programs for project estimating and management, to preventative maintenance and equipment inventory systems, GPS-integrated mapping systems, and custom ticket database management programs for disaster recovery missions, Ceres strives to integrate the latest technological advances to improve our service, quality, accuracy, and efficiency.
One recent system integrates a global-positioning guidance system into equipment used for construction of critical aspects of specific projects. These capabilities, coupled with CAD systems, reduce human error and improve productivity when making earthen cuts, developing sloped systems, and performing similar tasks that are reliant on survey points and design drawings.
The Automated Debris Management System is another new technological change that is currently being integrated to replace the "old" method of paper tickets for tracking debris generated on disaster recovery missions. The automated system uses smart cards and computerized field technologies to electronically track load generation information.
Our satellite communication systems and video technologies with uplink capabilities are standard on our mobile field units. These technological advances provide our personnel and customers with emergency communication means and secured access to visual inspection of site activities at any time.