New Doosan Stage IV Wheel Loaders at Breedon Quarries
Breedon Group plc, the largest independent construction materials group in the UK, has purchased new Doosan DL550-5 and DL450-5 Stage IV wheel loaders for two of the company’s operations in Scotland at Edzell Quarry near Brechin and Tom’s Forest Quarry in Kintore, respectively. The new Doosan wheel loaders were supplied by Inverurie-based Balgownie Ltd, the local Authorised Doosan and Bobcat dealer.
Breedon Group operates nearly 60 quarries, 27 asphalt plants, just under 200 ready-mixed concrete and mortar plants and three concrete block plants throughout England, Wales and Scotland, employing more than 2300 people. At Edzell Quarry, Breedon produces aggregate and ready-mix concrete products, whilst the same products are available from Tom’s Forest Quarry, with the addition of asphalt products.
Breedon Group has strong asset backing, with over 750 million tonnes of mineral reserves and resources. Breedon’s strategy is to continue growing through consolidation of the UK heavyside building materials sector. In August 2016, the company completed its largest acquisition to date: the £336 million purchase of Hope Construction Materials, a leading independent producer of cement, cementitious products, aggregates and ready-mixed concrete.
Following the acquisition of Hope, Breedon Group operates as three autonomous divisions. Breedon Southern and Breedon Northern are both fully-integrated aggregates businesses with extensive networks of quarries, ready-mixed concrete and asphalt plants and well-established surfacing and contracting operations. Hope Cement is the UK's only independent producer of cement and cementitious products, with the largest cement plant in the UK, two cement importation terminals and national reach through an extensive rail network and strategically located local depots.
Meeting High Demand
Bob Hare, Regional Production Manager Breedon Northern, said: “Both of these quarries are very busy operations, placing big demands on the equipment we purchase for material handling applications. Both of the new Doosan wheel loaders are used to load and stockpile the large quantities of materials produced by the quarries’ crushing & screening equipment. They are also kept busy filling the material bins used to supply the ready-mixed concrete systems at the quarries.”
The DL550-5 and DL450-5 are powered by the Scania DC13 6-cylinder engine producing 283 kW (380 HP) and 257 kW (354 HP) of power, respectively, at 1800 rpm. Providing generous torque at low rpm, up to a 10% reduction in fuel consumption and excellent response, the Scania DC13 engine meets Stage IV emission regulations without the need of a diesel particulate filter (DPF), through the use of cooled exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and selective catalyst reduction (SCR) after-treatment technologies.
In both models, the engine Auto Idle system when activated saves further on fuel costs by lowering the idle level from 950 to 750 rpm – when the operator does not give any input to the steering wheel, arm and bucket for more than 10 seconds (ideal for applications where there is a lot of waiting time such as truck loading). In all DL-5 loaders, the Engine Auto Shut Off shuts down the machine after it has been idling for a specified amount of time (3-60 minutes, configurable by the operator via the control panel). This feature saves on fuel and reduces operating costs.
As well as the Scania DC13 Stage IV engine, the DL550-5 and DL450-5 feature a new external styling that is common to all of the new DL-5 Stage IV wheel loader range, a new high comfort cab, smooth and responsive hydraulics, a ZF powertrain, axle cooling and auxiliary hydraulic connections.
New High Comfort Cab
The new cab demonstrates how Doosan has placed operator comfort at the very centre of its design priorities. Offering generous headroom and an ultra-comfortable, fully adjustable, heated Grammer air suspension seat, the DL-5 cab features a new steering column design giving more clearance for the operator’s legs and knees. The steering wheel can also be tilted and moved telescopically to match the operator’s preferred position.