Capital Equipment News September 2016

With the newly-acquired CLG856H are Marius Pick, owner of Afrigrit (left) and Wally Ackerman, sales manager at Burgers Equipment & Spares.

One of Afrigrit’s Bell B25D articulated haulers has clocked over 40 000 operating hours.

A LiuGong forklift carries out various material handling duties at Afrigrit’s Witbank workshop.

ity was another key attraction for Afrigrit. Thanks to a redesigned and reinforced axle housing and main transmission, the machine’s carrying capacity has been en- hanced by as much as 40% compared with the predecessor model. The changes have also increased the average lifecycle of the machine by 250%, according to Wally Ackerman, sales manager at Burgers Equip- ment & Spares. Strict service routines To get the best machine availability and increase the lifecycles of its equipment, Afrigrit sticks to a strict fleet maintenance regime which Pick says has been, over the years, a winning blueprint for a company that runs a strong 50-unit fleet. For all its yellow metal equipment, a 250-hour service interval, followed by a major 1 000-hour overhaul, is the norm. Due to the 24/7 nature of the operation, the 250-hour intervals, in most circum- stances, translate into weekly service pe- riods. At a time when money is this tight,

Apart from the LiuGong units, Afrigrit also has several other loader brands in its stable. Pick tells Capital Equipment News that the performance of the LiuGong machines is prompting the fleet owner to consider replac- ing some of the existing wheel loaders from some premium suppliers. “We will probably replace some of the existing brands in our stable with LiuGong loaders. Some of these units are becoming too expensive, both to buy and maintain them,” says Pick. Apart from the ruggedness and sound service provision, fuel efficiency is said to be one of the biggest benefits of the LiuGong loaders. The two CLG856 units consume between 12,3 ℓ and 13,5 ℓ per hour, according to Pick. Powered by a Cummins CLG856H engine said to be a low- consumption motor that doesn’t sacrifice power with its 162 kW at 2 200 rpm capacity, the CLG856H also comes with the tried and tested ZF 4WG200 automatic shift transmission with kick-down for energy saving and efficient operation. The CLG856H’s improved carrying capac-

Pick believes the relentless focus on pre- ventative maintenance continues to save the company large sums of capital through reduced fleet replacement programmes. “For every piece of equipment we own, strict maintenance schedules are always adhered to. This helps extend the lifecycles of our equipment. We run our gear until it becomes too costly to own,” says Pick. Speaking of lengthy equipment lifecycles, a case in point is one of the company’s Bell B25D articulated hauler units. The company runs a total of four Bell B25D articulated dump trucks, but the jewel in the crown is one of its haulers which has clocked in ex- cess of 40 000 hours, and counting. Operator training Another key intervention is the appointment of an onsite agency conducting operator training for all Afrigrit equipment operators. Pick reasons that properly trained operators on the job site can benefit the company’s bottom line in a number of ways, including overall efficiency and job site safety.

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