Capital Equipment News September 2016

JOB REPORT

SITE HIGHLIGHTS

Strong focus on preventative maintenance

Backup service a key consideration when buying equipment

Intense focus on operator training

of its first CLG856, Afrigrit didn’t waste time to invest in its second CLG856 unit in April 2015. The two loaders are loading process- ing plants at one of Afrigrit’s contracts at Ferro Metals. They are said to be working beyond expectations. When Capital Equip- ment News visited the site, the first unit had clocked over 6 000 hours in a space of less than five months. The second CLG856 unit had already amassed about 4 400 hours in a space of just under three months. CLG856H loads in In July this year, Afrigrit further expanded its fleet with the purchase of a new CLG856H, an upgrade of the CLG856 model. “The ruggedness and reliability of the LiuGong loaders in our challenging, dusty conditions, coupled with service and parts support from Burgers, were key factors in our expansion of the fleet,” says Pick. “We have had a very good experience with the loaders. We haven’t experienced any form of downtime with our recent purchases compared to our first ZL50. This is largely as a result of the hands-on approach from Burgers.”

carrying out several material handling du- ties on site. The recent purchase of the new wheel loader brings to five the number of LiuGong machines Afrigrit has owned and operated in the past few years. A ZL50 wheel loader bought some four years ago from the previous dealer was the first ever LiuGong machine to be owned by Afrigrit. The company’s experience with its first LiuGong machine was one to forget,

according to Pick. The predecessor dealer’s lacklustre backup support and dreary parts provision were issues Afrigrit had to put up with. Strong in-house maintenance ca- pability saved the day. It eventually ran the loader until it had over 18 000 hours on the clock, before it was traded in for a LiuGong CLG856 in February 2015. Pleased with Burgers Equipment & Spares’ sound backup support and the performance