You can have the right excavator, a good operator, plenty of trucks, and a capable crew—and still have a bad excavation operation. The problem is not always how fast you can dig. Sometimes the problem is everything happening around the excavator. Too few trucks and the excavator waits. Too many trucks and the trucks wait. Either way, you’re paying for something that isn’t producing. That is where excavation planning needs to go beyond asking: How many trucks should we send? T