Four new Volvo loading shovels for Hills Quarry Products Ltd

Hills Quarry Products Ltd of Swindon, Wiltshire, has added four new Volvo L150H loading shovels to its plant fleet as it embarks on new sand and gravel extraction projects in the Thames Valley.

“We’ve been operating Volvo equipment for a good many years and, in particular, the L150 model since it was introduced back in 1991,” says Divisional Director, Andrew Liddle. “The L150H is the optimum-sized loading shovel for most of our sand and gravel operations and has proved to be a good performing all-rounder as an extraction tool as well as loading out high-sided bulkers,” he continues. “Our Volvo machines give good service life too and we certainly expect them to achieve 15,000 hours as a minimum for the main powertrain components.”

Two of the new 25-tonne arrivals have been deployed at the company’s Upwood and Mortimer quarries with the remaining pair about to be deployed on a new extraction project in the Cotswold Water Park where one million tonnes of material needs to be processed within a two-year period.

The machines are powered by Volvo 13-litre engines developing 300 hp coupled to Volvo designed powertrain components. This combination, along with other fuel saving devices such as the Volvo Eco-pedal encouraging the operator to run the machine at its optimum rpm in the engine’s torque curve and optishift with torque converter lock-up found in the larger L150H, make these highly efficient and productive loading shovels in their size range.

All four loading shovels have been supplied with an enhanced Blue Volvo service agreement, ensuring that they will be regularly maintained at the correct service intervals by Volvo trained service engineers using genuine Volvo parts.