by Graham Black | Thu 03 Oct 2019
Long reach Volvo excavator for Skene
Skene Group Construction Services Ltd has added a fifty tonne Volvo EC480E long reach excavator to its quarry fleet. The new EC480E has been equipped with a 7-metre boom and a 4.8-metre dipper arm, which is the longest possible combination of digging equipment for this model of excavator. This was specified to give maximum flexibility and improve utilization within the quarry. Thus rigged, the machine has a forward reach of 13.3 metres, a digging depth of 9.2 metres and a practical dump height of 7.2 metres. This means the EC480E can easily dress down the remains of the blasted face from a safe distance. Mounted on 700mm track pads the machine has a maximum lifting capacity across carriage of 5.1 tonnes and with its 2.1m³ heavy-duty rock bucket it can feed the mobile jaw crusher.
Joining a Volvo L220H that was delivered in the spring, the new Volvo EC480E is already making a contribution to replacing an older, thirty-six tonne EC360 excavator. As with the shovels purchased earlier this year, the EC480E has been supplied with a Volvo Gold agreement that is a full repair and maintenance package, whereby SMT GB takes charge of everything when it comes to scheduled maintenance, breakdowns and repairs. “Outsourcing the complete maintenance and repair regime to SMT GB makes perfect sense in our opinion,” says Group Managing Director, Darren Forrester. “Having them looking after the equipment with their own trained engineers, using genuine parts with the proper disposal of all used oils and materials, gives us both peace of mind and a tight control on each machine’s life time cost.”
The key features of the Volvo Gold service agreement give Skene maximum visibility and control of the total cost of ownership, and enables them to analyse fleet performance and find potential fuel savings, as well as areas where operator performance can be improved through the use of Insight reports.
Skene Group Construction Services Ltd has enjoyed steady growth since it was founded in 1968 by Donald Skene. It became a limited company in the late 1970s with the launch of its civil engineering, road building operations and demolition activities. It then diversified into minerals in the 1980s, quarrying sand, gravel and hard rock deposits. The 1990s saw further expansion, this time into pre-cast and ready-mixed concrete products. Chairman Neil Skene joined the business in 1984, and now oversees all its divisions providing sand and gravel quarrying; hard rock quarrying; concrete products and construction services along with Group Managing Director Darren Forrester.
SMT GB markets Volvo Construction Equipment products, which include; wheeled loaders, articulated haulers, hydraulic excavators, Volvo utility equipment and Volvo road equipment products in Great Britain. There are eight strategically placed Customer Support Centres, a dedicated National Used Equipment Centre and a network of utility equipment dealers, to ensure high quality customer support is maintained throughout the country.