Capital Equipment News July 2019

With that in mind, training remains a big part of our focus,” says Hall. Reiterating the importance of training, Hall makes special mention of Forestry Plant & Equipment’s female training programme, which has greatly diversified the company’s operator workforce with some great results. “Some six years ago we started with our female operator training programme and I am glad to announce that 30% of our operators are now female, including one supervisor. Our intention is to get to 50% in the next two years,” says Hall. He adds that the female training programme has ushered in new operational gains, with female operators generally achieving better fuel consumption than their male counterparts, while the machine breakdown rate has also reduced significantly. Key features Tendayi Kudumba, GM: Earthmoving Equipment at Liebherr-Africa, says Liebherr’s experience, understanding of customer needs and the technical implementation of these findings have resulted in the new LH 60 M Timber Litronic. For decades, Liebherr has been

ahead of the industry with its knowledge of production and system solutions. Key components such as the diesel engine, electronic components, slew ring, swivel drive and hydraulic cylinders are developed and produced by Liebherr itself. “The great depth of in-house manufacturing guarantees maximum quality and ensures that components are optimally configured to each other,” says Kudumba. He highlights some of the key features that speak directly to operational economy – the Liebherr-Synchron-Comfort system (LSC) and the Liebherr-Power Efficiency (LPE). The cleverly engineered machine control system, the LSC, assures optimum adaptation of the hydraulics to the respective deployment scenario. “Here, the new 2-circuit LSC with LUDV-technology (flow distribution independent of load pressure) provides optimum distribution of the pump delivery rate with superimposed movements, translating into less fuel consumption compared with the previous model. Speed and strength are also there when they are needed,” says Kudumba. Meanwhile, the LPE optimises interaction of the drive components to maximise efficiency.

With reliability in mind, Tait explains that the new machine comes with clever control electronics which permanently monitor the vital functions of the machine to guarantee a high level of machine availability. With comfort in mind, the machine comes with a standard slewing gear brake comfort control, which allows selection between different modes – manual, semi-automatic and automatic. “In manual mode, the standard slewing gear brake can be opened and closed with a button on the joystick. In semiautomatic mode the slewing gear brake can be closed manually but can also be opened automatically when the uppercarriage is moved via the joystick control,” says Tait. automatically when the predefined time, set by the operator, has passed and the uppercarriage has stopped moving. It can be opened automatically as soon as the uppercarriage is moved via the joystick control. By opening and closing the slewing gear brake automatically the operator can work faster and more safely with less effort,” concludes Tait. b “The automatic mode allows the slewing gear brake to be closed

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