NEWS CUSTOMER 23 Nov 2012

OPERATORS WELCOME NEW KOMATSU DUMP TRUCK TO BRISBANE QUARRY

 

Hanson’s Ferny Grove quarry, on the northern side of Brisbane, late last year took delivery of a Komatsu HD605-6 dump truck which has been very well received by the quarry’s operators.

Hanson-Ferny-Grove-b-(1).jpgAccording to quarry manager John Taylor, "it's a very comfortable machine to drive, and it's performed very well since we took delivery of it.

"We have no complaints at all, we've had no issues with it since we took delivery, apart from a couple of minor things you get with every new machine," he said.

Ferny Grove has an annual output of around 650,000 tonnes, supplying aggregates to Hanson's own concrete plants, along with roadbase and other crushed rock construction products to customers throughout Brisbane's northern suburbs and the surrounding region.

The quarry extracts and processes hornfels rock, using a Komatsu PC600-7 excavator as the primary face tool to load the HD605-6, which then hauls up out of the pit to the crusher on an approximately 1.5 km round trip.

The truck is also fitted with a payload measuring system.

"We try to get anywhere between 55 and 60 tonnes every load, depending on the material and how bulky it is," said John.

A third Komatsu machine at the quarry is a WA500-3, which the quarry has had since 2006.

"The loader has been exceptional, it's a really good all-round loader and has had limited downtime the whole time it's been here," he said.

"Our PC600 is also a very good machine; it's getting up around the 15,000 hours now and it's coming up for a mid-life rebuild shortly."

John described the service and support from Komatsu as "improving all the time.

"In the early stages, we were having a few issues, but we discussed these and Komatsu have addressed them and we are always improving the relationship between Hanson and Komatsu.

"We now have fortnightly meetings to discuss the machines which are all under maintenance contracts.

"Since implementing the fortnightly meetings, we have found that maintenance has improved considerably and any issues that we may be having with our machines is quickly addressed," he said.


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