RENTAL COMPANY UNVEILS 190-TONNE MONSTER

from Quarry February 2022

WEIGHING SYSTEMS AIM TO ELIMINATE ‘BAD BATCHES’

RENTAL COMPANY

UNVEILS 190-TONNE MONSTER

Delta Rent has upped the ante for rental equipment in the quarrying and construction game with the latest and greatest from Hitachi.

Th EX1900-6 excavator became the newest addition to Delta’s fleet this year, upon request from a major Melbourne operator.

The 190-tonne giant far outweighs Delta’s now second-heaviest machine by 70 tonnes and fills a new need for the rental company, as it attracts customers with its flexibility and retains them with its service.

Delta Rent national sales manager Damien Gramola told Quarry the delivery of the EX1900-6 epitomised the company’s devotion to fulfilling its customers’ needs.

“This specific order was a bit out of the norm owing to its size, but that’s what we do and that’s how we operate at Delta Rent,” Gramola said.

“When a customer comes to us and says, ‘this is what we need and we don’t want to buy it,’ because hiring is such a fantastic option for them, we’ll always cater to that.”

The first recipient of the new excavator is a major player in Victoria’s sand quarry market and will use the machine to remove topsoil as part of an expansion to its operations.

In preparation for a big 2022 – as Victorian extractive industries look to continue a 10year production high – the client was keen to receive the machine as soon as possible.

Conveniently, Hitachi had one scheduled to arrive in Australia by December, and thus a significant relationship between Delta and the key client was maintained.

Gramola said Delta’s commitment to reliable equipment is what keeps its customers coming back for more.

“The one thing they love about us is we supply them with equipment with low running hours – the majority of our fleet has all run under 4000 hours,” he said.

“The reason being is we continually swap them out when they get too old. Once a machine gets to 5000 or 6000 hours, it gets removed and we get a brand new one to replace it.”

Such service isn’t restricted to business hours either, according to Gramola. He said an example of Delta’s devotion came when one customer asked for a new alternator belt at 3pm on a Saturday.

“They asked if someone could come out on the Sunday to be ready for the Monday,” Gramola said.

“Before 5pm on the Saturday afternoon, someone was out there fixing it, repairing and replacing the issue.

“Being in the hire game, you’ve got to be prepared to act on things out of hours sometimes because a customer might need to be up and running the next day.”

In the case of the Melbournian sand quarry, the customer has committed to at least two years with the EX1900-6, with the option to keep it and extend the rental period for as long as required by their application.

Gramola said the main reason the customer chose Delta Rent and its rental model was because it’s scalable as operations evolve.

“Once they’re finished with it, we’ll take it out of there and into our demo fleet it will go,” he said.

“With renting, it doesn’t come out of a customer’s capital expenditure. A lot of procurement managers can’t make these kinds of big decisions outright.

“So, they come to businesses like us and spend the same amount on a rental option and mark it under operational expenditure without having to take it up their company for CEO or CFO sign-off.”

And of course, if any higher-ups did want to run their eyes over the Delta Rent deals and ensure things are spick and span, they’d find a well-serviced, cost-effective machine, owing to Hitachi’s maintenance prowess.

Gramola described the technology that comes standard in Hitachi equipment, called global e-service, as allowing equipment owners to dial into machines from around the world to understand each unit.

“This includes how much it’s loading, its fuel consumption, and its emissions down to its cubic tonnes per shift,” Gramola said.

“All these things are important to understand from machine to machine to understand which operators are working the machines too hard or not hard enough.”

This can help with servicing intervals as the machine counts down the running hours until its next scheduled service and notifies Delta Rent.

Gramola said there’s no one who knows Hitachi equipment like Hitachi employees, so when a service is required – scheduled or otherwise – Delta Rent trusts Hitachi to do its thing for its clients.

“Because we have that relationship with the OEM, they’ll come out on a Saturday or even a Sunday so that it doesn’t impact the quarry,” Gramola concluded.

“The ones that are currently on site have 100 per cent utilisation because they’re just not stood down for anything. A fuel truck will roll around to keep them running and it’s just go, go, go.” •

The EX1900-6 is now easily the heaviest machine available from Delta Rent.

SCCCR blends its virgin quarried materials with recycled construction waste.

EXCAVATOR HAS SOUTH

COAST QUARRY RARING TO GO

To make sure nothing goes to waste, a quarrying business in New South Wales is making a name for itself in the crushing and recycling space – with the aid of a new excavator.

South Coast Concrete Crushing & Recycling (SCCCR) has operated in Nowra, 150 kilometres south of Sydney, for more than 20 years.

Headquartered in a hard rock quarry producing 500,000 tonnes per year, SCCCR serves the south coast with a mix of raw and recycled construction materials to turn old into new.

The business takes from demolition sites, other quarries, and construction projects across the Wollongong and Nowra regions to reduce the volume of virgin quarried materials required for new construction projects.

Not only will SCCCR crush and recycle concrete but all recyclable masonry products including brick, concrete, tiles and asphalt.

And to manage these tonnes of materials – repurposed or raw – SCCCR relies on Kobelco machinery. SCCCR has reaped the success of its Kobelco SK350 and SK500 excavators, racking up tens of thousands of hours on multiple units over the years.

Now they will enjoy the successors to these machines, in the form of several new Kobelco XD Series excavators—more specifically, two new SK380XDLC-10s and an SK500XDLC-10.

To deliver this, SCCCR relies on South Coast Trucks & Machinery (STM), a local Kobelco dealer that’s served the quarry well since its inception.

STM machinery salesman, Steve Jones, explained why the Kobelco excavators were perfect for SCCCR’s application.

“The new SK380XDLC-10 and SK500XDLC-10 models are a clear generation ahead, with even further upgrades designed to match high output hard rock quarry applications,” Jones told Quarry.

“The SK380 is almost 38 tonnes and suited to some of the hardest conditions a quarry could throw at it.”

The SK380XD comes with a 7.68-litre Hino turbo-charged, liquid-cooled, diesel engine to generate more than 209kW of power.

At the same time, this machine still maintains its fuel consumption under 20 litres per hour, even in heavy conditions.

SCCCR owner Budd Green said he was looking forward to giving the new excavator a real go at his Nowra operation.

“I’m really excited about using the SK380XD as it’s a bit more heavy-duty and beefed up for a quarry environment,” Green said. “They’re similar to the SK350s but they’ve got few more protections and strength areas built in that will hopefully give us a more robust machine.

“We’re a natural extraction quarry but also do recycling work, so our machines are required in quite heavy-duty applications in dealing with our blast cap rock. They then have to feed and maintain the feed up to our crushers as well.”

SCCCR is owned by Budd’s main operation, JBG Contractors, which has worked in the same region for 40 years on civil works such as carparks and roads, subdivisions and large bulk excavations.

Jones said that a sturdy relationship between STM and Green’s companies has allowed everyone involved to get the best from their businesses and from Kobelco.

“Having operated Kobelco and opposition excavators in the 30- to 60-tonne class for the past 10 years, JBG Group and

SCCCR owner Budd Green stays loyal to Kobelco for support and productivity.

SCCCR Quarries have obtained a thorough understanding and appreciation for the outstanding performance of the Kobelco machines compared to opposition products,” Jones said.

While employing 35 people and operating at maximum capacity for some years, SCCCR requires the most economic operations possible, like similar businesses across Australia.

Accordingly, the result of STM and Kobelco’s service and reliability is displayed in the running hours on some of Green’s machinery.

“The back-up and support in the form of servicing and maintenance can’t be faulted. We’ve still got some machines that are nearing 15,000 hours,” Green said.

“Kobelco have always supplied good pieces of gear and plant for us, so I was happy to go back to STM and Kobelco if it meant more of the same.

“I’ve never had any issue with them and their productivity, so I’ve got no reason to look anywhere else.”

With the new SK380XDs and SK500XD delivered and ready for a full year ahead, Green said business was booming and he was keen to give the machines a chance to play an important role for SCCCR.

“I was pretty excited for them to arrive, I was ringing the team up for a few weeks asking when they would be delivered as we’ve got plenty of projects booked in for 2022,” he concluded.

“We gave the guys a good break over Christmas and now we’re all ready to go for the New Year.” •

For more information about South Coast Concrete Crushing & Recycling, visit scccrquarries.com.au

To learn more about Kobelco Construction Machinery Australia products, visit kobelco.com.au