Family firm chooses Volvo
Misson Sand and Gravel, an independent family run extractive business on the outskirts of Doncaster, South Yorkshire has opted for another Volvo loading shovel and for the first time, chosen to add a 25 tonne Volvo EC250 crawler excavator as it increases its overall annual production.
Since the outset in 2001 when the family firm changed direction from a full time haulage business to include sand and gravel extraction at the Misson facility the company has always operated Volvo loading shovels out of choice. “We’ve always operated Volvo loading shovels due mainly to their reliability and productivity,” comments Christine Rowley who along with husband Martin and sons Carl and Craig now run three sites – the original Misson facility, Austerfield and most recently, a new facility at nearby Finningley. “But this is the first time we looked at owning a Volvo excavator and were quite encouraged when we took Volvo’s EC220 on demonstration. The machine’s economical fuel consumption was a significant improvement on what we were currently operating and we were impressed with the smooth control and the overall balance and appearance of the machine,” she continues. With production increasing however, the company decided to opt for the slightly larger 25 tonne EC250E together with a Volvo L120H wheeled loader and settled on the pair of machines thanks to a competitive package on offer.
Powered by an 8 litre Volvo Stage IV engine developing 216 nett hp the 25 tonne excavator has plenty of reach and dig depth. Equipped with a 6m boom and 2.97m dipper arm the machine boasts a generous dig depth of just over 7m and a forward reach of 10.1m with excellent across carriage stability giving a lift capacity of 3.5 tonnes at maximum reach.
The Volvo Care Cab offers a large roomy interior with plenty of leg room and foot space. The excellent all round visibility is enhanced by pressurized and filtered cab air supplied by a 14 vent, climate control system. An adjustable easy to read LCD colour monitor provides real time information of the machine functions, important diagnostic information and a wide variety of work tool settings. The monitor also doubles as a monitor for the rear view camera.
The new L120H loading shovel has been put in charge of loading and blending stock piled material into the processing plant. It benefits from Volvo designed and manufactured driveline components designed to offer considerable fuel savings each shift with an 8 litre 258hp Volvo Stage IV engine. One of the key features is that a maximum torque of 1250Nm is achieved at just 1300rpm resulting in low fuel consumption and maximum efficiency is therefore achieved at a relatively low rpm.
Both machines are fitted with CareTrack as standard, which is Volvo’s telematics system that enables remote monitoring of a wide range of machine functions (e.g. location, fuel consumption, service reminders etc.) thus optimizing customer operations, together with Volvo’s Blue customer service agreements ensuring they are serviced at the correct intervals using genuine Volvo parts by Volvo trained engineers.