Kendall Group opts for long life with Liebherr mixer bodies

In a recent change to the operation of its transport fleet, south-east coast based Kendall Group, which has been established for over 70 years, opted for Liebherr mixer bodies having been extremely impressed with the build quality and attention to detail.

Situated on the south east coast, the Kendall Group has been in existence for over 70 years and is now run by the third generation of the family. Supplying a wide range of construction materials, including bagged and loose aggregates, the company also runs 23 ready mixed concrete vehicles from five batching plants, delivering over 750 m3 on a daily basis.

Traditionally, the company’s concrete division ran a very mixed fleet of trucks and mixer bodies and kept these for long periods of time. However, after a recent management change brought Paul Bailey to the company as Transport Manager, the company revised the way it operated its transport fleet. “We needed to standardise and modernise across our fleet,” Mr Bailey explained and added, “I asked our directors what they would prefer and the answer came back as Liebherr.” Although the company had a varied fleet of mixer bodies, it was a 2000 model of the Liebherr HTM 704, which is still working to this day, that had particularly impressed Kendall Group.

Whilst many operators may specify a chassis cab first and then look for a mixer body to suit, it was the other way around for the Kendall Group. “We knew we wanted the six and eight cubic metre mixer bodies and looked for a suitable chassis cab on which to mount them, eventually settling on the Renault 6 x 4 and the Renault 8 x 4 chassis,” said Mr Bailey.

The company has recently taken delivery of the last two new units which take its fleet of Liebherr truck mixers to a total of eight, split between six and eight cubic metre capacities across its sites. “We are extremely impressed with the build quality and attention to detail of the Liebherr mixer bodies,” said Mr Bailey. “They are extremely reliable and, thanks to the high quality steel used in their construction, we have not needed to re-skin even the oldest HTM 704 in the fleet.” Kendall Group has opted for the ’long life’ version of the HTM 704 from Liebherr.

This is made from LH 37 special steel with thicker spiral blades to ensure a longer service life. Mr Bailey and his team are also very complimentary about the air-fed water system, which automatically drains back to the holding tank to prevent the system from freezing and causing pipe and tap damage. “It may only be a small feature but it has saved the company a significant sum of money in damages and lost uptime,” he said.

The longevity of the Liebherr mixer drums can be attributed to the technology that goes into the manufacturing of each drum. Incorporating a soft stop and soft start feature reduces forces to the drive train and chassis and thereby minimises the risk of costly repairs. Fuel consumption of the carrier vehicle is also reduced thanks to the CAN-Bus electronic system ensuring the engine is only working as hard as the mixer drum requires.

Mr Bailey concluded, “We have received excellent service and backup from Liebherr. They have listened to our requirements and have delivered every time. They are simply the best mixer drums available.”