When repairing a road or bridge, I am told the temporary path around the constructions site to the other side is called a shoe fly. So far no heavy equipment operator or construction company I’ve asked knows why they call it a shoe fly.

Try looking it up with the spelling "shoo fly." Apparently hobos used the term to refer to a detour track built around a temporary obstacle, and to avoid passing though a hobo-hostile town.

There are also a great many references to the quilt pattern called shoo-fly; the pattern was an indication of safety during the days of the Underground Railroad.

We use to be the world leader in machine tools and Construction Equipment. We must once again become the world leader in these areas.

Productivity. This comes about through better technology and more productive manufacturing methods. Everybody things cheap overseas labor saves money but it doesn’t. If you look up productivity ratios (an economics statistic that determines the value of good produced per worker) the U.S. use to be one of the highest over many decades. Slave labor is cheap but if workers aren’t motivated and don’t have the right tools to be productive it’s not going to win out in the market.

The West has gotten a bit lazy over time and cheaped out in investing in new technology and better processes. The rest of the world is starting to catch up. I grew up in a factory town and they hated to update the factories with newer technologies, they just kept the 50’s technology working well past it’s expirey date. It became too expensive to operate so each plant just shut down one by one until the town had no manufacturing base left. Research, development, and a constant cycle of upgrades will keep a nations manufacturing base on top.

I am looking for the used Heavy ConsConstruction Equipments, such as cranes, caterpillars, trucks, Liebherr brand, Japanese brands, etc. in BC, Canada. Where can I find those places? thanks!

Ritchie Brothers Auctions. They have auctions throughout the states and even over-seas. Look them up on the internet to find a location near you.