42 | HIRE
AND
RENTAL
NEWS
| FEBRUARY 2014
EARTHMOVING & EXCAVATION
Western Australian quarry contractor
Marc Veccia’s two new Hyundai R380LC-9
crawler excavators have made the job
of rock breaking more comfortable and
allowed him to break larger, difficult rocks.
Marc has operated his own quarry
contracting business, Sofdan trading as
Southern Traxcavator Services and MAS
Contractors, since 1996. He employs four
staff and has the contract to support
the rock breaking, stripping and general
earthworks programs at seven quarries in
Perth metropolitan and regional districts.
Nineteen months ago Marc bought a
Hyundai R380LC-9 crawler excavator and
now owns two of them.
“I had excavators in the 35 tonne class
from another company and they were
struggling a bit. I knew the R380LC-9s were
coming on the market so I waited for them
to get here,” Marc said.
“They’re a really good machine for what
we’re doing. They box above their weight
and we can now do the smaller jobs as well
as the bigger jobs.
“We can now take on some oversized
rock up to 50 or 60 tonne. We’ve had rock
in one quarry we haven’t been able to
touch in five years and that’s been a big
bugbear to quarry operations.
“We put the new breaker on the
380LC-9, and it doesn’t even know it’s
on. We went through that pile of rock in
about 10 hours. It has allowed us to break
bigger rocks and do it faster.
“We have to get through about 1200
tonne a day of rocks. That’s what the
quarries expect,” he said.
“In some places we can do up to 1500
tonne a day and in other places we might
do 800 tonne a day, depending on the size
they want.”
The two R380LC-9s allow Marc’s
operators to work at a quick pace, with the
knowledge they are robust and reliable.
“Speed is a big thing. The Hyundai
Excavator has good breakout for loading
trucks. When we are loading during
stripping operations, we can put a couple
of articulated trucks underneath,” he says.
“If the quarry’s main digging drill breaks
down we’ve had to put the R380-9 on it to
keep production up and it goes well. Some
quarries have 65-70 tonne diggers, and if
they break down our R380-9 goes in and
does the job.”
Marc said the R380LC-9s have enhanced
his business, with increased operator
comfort and less fatigue the main benefits.
“Stability is one of my biggest concerns
with any machine. The strength of the
Punching above weight in quarrying
Victorian civil construction company,
Califam Constructions has owned a lot
of Kobelco machinery over the years
and said its latest purchase, a SK500LC-9
excavator, is a great addition to its fleet.
“Kobelco machinery has been a
mainstay of our company’s fleet for many
years,” Califam Constructions Managing
Director Anthony Caligiuri said.
“In general they’re a very strong
machine and are great on fuel
consumption. Plus they can handle the
bigger rock breakers really well compared
to other machines in the same class.”
Califam Constructions was formed 40
years ago by Michael Caligiuri and is
today operated by his five sons, Anthony,
Joe, John-Paul, Andrew and Luke.
The company specialises in earthmoving
and civil construction related to building
mains pipelines and has undertaken many
significant projects for major developers
and water authorities in and around the
greater Melbourne area.
“We pride ourselves on our
state-of-the-art plant and
technologies and our ability to
deliver projects on time and
to budget. Having the best
machines is part of maintaining
that productivity,” Anthony said.
“We’ve had a number of
SK480LC-8s before, and we still
do. They perform well against
competitive models but we
knew the new SK500LC-9 would
perform better than the previous
model so decided to give the
50-tonne SK500LC-9 a try.”
The SK500LC-9 features a Hino
The reduced fuel consumption was a major factor in the
decision to choose the SK500LC-9 excavator
Pipeline specialist chooses new
Kobelco excavator
Hyundai is very good and it’s a good size
overall. Where they are very good is in
the track frame, because Hyundai has
put the weight into that area, which is
very important. The whole machine is
well balanced. When you’re hanging a
3.5 tonne breaker off it you want the
stability,” he said.
Hyundai’s proprietary remote
management system, Hi-mate, provides
access to service and diagnostic
information, promoting preventative
maintenance to reduce downtime.
For more contact: 07 5540 6923 or visit:
HR
P11C-VC six-cylinder common rail engine
that delivers 10% more productivity and
better fuel efficiency than the previous
model.
“The reduced fuel consumption was a
major factor in our decision but it also
runs at a good speed. Its track speed is
good too,” Anthony said.
Safety is also a big consideration for
Califam as they use the excavator for deep
trenching in hard rock with a rock breaker
attachment. The operating weight of the
SK500LC-9 is almost 50,000kg which is
significantly heavier than earlier models
and the cab also has rollover protection
and is certified up to 56,000kg to cater for
large attachments.
“We’ve also had very good feedback
from the operator. It has a reversing
camera, which also adds to safety.”
Califam Constructions purchased the
Kobelco SK500LC-9 from Melbourne
Tractors. For more call 1300 KOBELCO or
visit:
HR
The Hyundai R380LC-9 crawler excavators
make the tough job of rock breaking more
comfortable
