Page 56 - HUB-4 Magazine Issue 83

Quarrying News
“The HL955A came with the specification we wanted, it is well-built and comes with a proven and efficient driveline.” Rob commented “Dealing with Molson and Luke in particular is very easy, there’s no messing about.”
The HL955A is powered by a Stage V Cummins 6.7 litre engine delivering 210hp and 990Nm of torque and is mated to a 4- speed powershift transmission. With an operating weight around the 16-tonne point and carrying a straight-edged bucket with a 2.8m3 capacity, the wheeled loader has really impressed full-time operator Paul Julian. Paul has been a machine operator for ‘more years than he cares to remember’ spent mainly on excavators but has settled down to enjoying life behind the steering wheel of the Hyundai. “It’s a great bit of kit, very comfortable and manoeuvrable which is what we need on this yard as the space is limited.” Paul commented. “It’s a powerful little loader and handles both the screened oversize for crushing and the finished product equally as well.” With the yard being so compact, Paul is very pleased with the lightweight steering and 40° steering angle allowing him to nip around the yard with ease. “I’m kept busy all day, every day but get out of the cab at the end of the day not feeling exhausted.” He comments.
Sitting on just 3 acres, the site has been designed to make the most of the space, or lack of. A one-way system allows vehicle to drive past the small material bays where Paul is able to put the manoeuvrability of the Hyundai to the fore picking the relevant material from each bay and quickly loading each truck. Fitted with a hydraulic quick coupler allows Paul to swap buckets between material with the sticky clay dropping off the
presses at the end of the wash plant using one bucket and a clean bucket for outgoing aggregates. “Both myself and the lads on the plant won’t tolerate any cross contamination between materials.” Rob pointed out. “We charge a premium for the recycled material as it is as clean as virgin material would be and that is part of our guarantee to our customers. If it doesn’t meet their specification, we will refund them, and these instances have been very few and far between.”
“Having a reliable and productive wheeled loader is key to us maintaining our delivery schedules.” Rob commented. “We don’t have massive stockpiles of any material on site due to our site constraints but having a machine and operator that can keep each bay clean as they are loading and managing the flow of materials allows us to keep up with schedules.”
During the machine’s first months of operation, it has fared well and has dealt with the continuing increase in output as the wash plant beds in. “When we took on this project, the site was producing 6000 tonnes a quarter. We’re close on doing this on a weekly basis and this is down to the combination of having reliable kit and brilliant team of operatives.” Rob commented. “We have a great team from the training school, office staff and all of our teams on site. Everyone is behind what we do in terms of productivity, quality, and development and this also goes out to our suppliers and sub-contractors too. We want to work together, to develop what we do and with that we want to run the best kit. We think we do that with the machines that Molson supply.”
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www.hub-4.com Nov/Dec- Issue 83