Capital Equipment News

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS

MARCH 2016

o fleet managers the big Kawasaki

ZV90 wheel loader working for Ga-

Nala Plant Hire is just a number, one

of a fleet of 19 similar loaders on hire to

power stations and mines in the Mpuma-

langa region.

But to Christo Venter, GaNala Plant Hire

founder, the machine means so much more

as the machine that started his business

and whose powerful frame has carried so

much of the workload of his growing op-

eration. Even despite clocking more than

72 000 hours of back-breaking production

work, No 8 is still working as hard as ever

fulfilling round-the-clock production duties

at Black Wattle Colliery and to Christo’s de-

light is showing no signs of slowing down.

He says that No 8 has been a stalwart that

has worked on numerous different sites

loading everything from chrome, to rock,

coal and anything else required. Thanks to

its work rate, reliability, fuel consumption

and high levels of support received from

equipment supplier, ELB Equipment, it has

spurred him on to standardise his entire

loader fleet on Kawasaki’s.

Christo continues, “As loading specialists we

supply services mostly for mines and Eskom

power plants. Due to the mission-critical

nature of these operations we cannot afford

downtime and as a result require the most

reliable machines for the job that can deliv-

er the highest possible levels of availability

around the clock.

“In my years of experience Kawasaki load-

ers have proven to be the best machines

for production loading and our fleet of 19

machines including No 8 have seldom let

us down.

“Apart from work rate and reliability I have

also found that the machines use up to 10

litres of diesel less per hour than compa-

rable machines from other premium brand

manufacturers. What’s more we receive

complete support from ELB Equipment

with the Middelburg and JHB branch staff

always available to us when we need them

or, if we need head office expertise, it is

just a call away.”

Perhaps the company’s proudest moment

came in a time of crisis last year, with

the collapse of the main coal silo at Ma-

juba Power Station. GaNala Plant Hire

was called upon to supply nine loaders

equipped with 6m³ buckets to load the

massive coal feeders that supply the sta-

tions’ six giant turbines.

Where high volume conveyors had supplied

the station, the loading work would have

to be carried out by the loaders until such

time as an alternative arrangement could

be made. The loss of just one machine for

just two hours would have been sufficient

to shut the power plant down so required

utmost commitment from the part of the

loading crew.

“We worked hard and to the credit of all of

us we managed to keep the lights on. Once

again No 8 was at the forefront of our efforts

and leading from the front as has been the

case for all these years. But, at least, No 8’s

time with us is not done!

“We have just completed its third life re-

build and judging by the soundness of the

frame and main components am expecting

to get at least another 20 000 hours of pro-

duction work out of this old guy. I estimat-

ed that it has already loaded more than 20

million tons of materials in its time and by

the time it gets retired I imagine this figure

will be closer to 30 million. Our younger

machines are also clocking up the hours

with many of them already clocking over

30 000 hours and remaining reliable – just

like No 8,” says Christo.

He concludes that as the third generation

of a ‘plant equipment family’ the Kawasaki

machines represent the best of engineering

to be tough, reliable, economical and easy

to maintain. “As a qualified mechanic it is

simple to see why the machines are so suc-

cessful. In partnership with the team from

ELB Equipment we plan to keep growing the

business and procuring the right Kawasaki

machines to take our operation forward.”

KAWASAKI NO 8 PROVES ITS METTLE FOR

GaNala Plant Hire

EARTHMOVING