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One-off Liebherr hits the heights

Wallsend-based K2 Polymers specialises in recycling composite materials by separating them into their individual components for re-use. It began life handling window profiles, hose pipes and even wellington boots and is now the UK’s biggest recycler of the pipework used to send oil and gas from offshore drilling rigs. The company already operated a standard Liebherr R936 but needed a machine with greater lift height to stack the pipes. Managing director Gavin Kirby explained, “We ordered an LH24 material handler from Liebherr Rental when we took in a recent delivery and it excelled at stacking and loading materials.

“What we wanted was a halfway house. Not a compromise, but a machine capable of giving us not only the finesse and power at ground level but the height and reach to stack material and load trucks. We spoke to Liebherr about what they could supply and that ended with us ordering the R945 we have today.”

Specification was drawn up by Liebherr’s Area Sales Manager John Tierney and, like many products built at the Colmar factory in France, it is a true ‘one-off’. With an operating weight of nearly 43 tonnes, the R945 is equipped with a straight mono boom more usually found on demolition excavators and a 3.25m dipper carrying a Liebherr mechanical SWA66 quick coupler and selector grab. “We have a shear to fit the machine and opted for a mechanical hitch to allow us to swap the tools over quickly should we need to,” continued Gavin. The hydraulic elevating cab allows the operator full visibility into the bulkers being regularly loaded with scrap and the entire machine sits on an S-HD undercarriage riding on 750mm-wide pads.

For Gavin, it was an obvious choice to finish off the machine in an appropriately striking paint colour – Liebherr’s own B5 Green. “We are a green company, the machine has the latest green engine so why not proclaim our green credentials with the ultimate in advertising statements,” he said. “There was very little cost impact by having it in this colour and I can see us having any future purchases decorated similarly as it looks the part.”

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