Modern Quarrying Q4 2018

Sand Shifters covers upwards of 4-million km a year in its operations.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

A fleet of 11 Scania G460CA6X4MSZ truck tractors has offered new levels of fuel efficiency to Sand Shifters’ aggregate retail and haulage business.

During testing, Sand Shifters found that the Scania truck was 8-9% more fuel efficient than the nearest competitor.

Sand Shifters covers upwards of 4-million km a year in its aggregate haulage operations.

The company moves between 180 000 and 200 000 tonnes of material per month.

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parameters. Reliability means that customer orders are always deliv- ered on time, while uptime ensures that the fleet is always on the move, delivering scheduled orders as planned. Efficiency means that the fleet is running cost-effectively. To date, Greenwood is mostly satisfied by the “new level of fuel efficiency” the Scania fleet has injected into the business. Why Scania? Being leaders in the aggregate supply and haulage industry, Greenwood says it’s Sand Shifters’ belief that it should always partner with the best suppliers. Additionally, the company believes that, to remain competitive in challenging operating conditions, it should employ the best technol- ogies in its business. “Our trucks

and trailers are our biggest capex spend, so it’s critical for us to get our purchasing strategies right. Scania ticked all the right boxes for us,” says Greenwood. “We looked at the trends in the industry. We looked at companies that run large, established transport businesses and there are certain brands that they trust in their stables. Once we looked at the trends, we decided to put up the Scania trucks up against its closest competitors and we conducted some rigorous trials,” adds Greenwood. During the stringent three-week testing, Sand Shifters discovered that the fuel consumption of the Scania truck was considerably better than that of the nearest competitor. “We found that the Scania truck was 8-9% fuel efficient than the nearest

and building materials. Over the years, we have established ourselves as leaders in the aggregate retail and haulage business,” explains Greenwood. Over the past 23 years, Sand Shifters has built up strong relationships with all the big players in the quarrying sector. Because of the volumes that the company moves, it gets the benefit of good product pricing. “The real beauty of our business is that we are not area based. Our main operations happen across the whole of Gauteng. We collect material from over 40 different quarries, which allows us to be competitive across the whole province,” explains Greenwood. For a business of this nature, reliability, uptime and efficiency of the fleet are crucial operational

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QUARTER 4 - 2018 MODERN QUARRYING