Theory and practice drifting apart
When operators of construction vehicles meet, they talk plainly about their equipment, its performance, its handling characteristics and ergonomics. With new machines coming onto the market, conversation will certainly not run dry. In particular, the M-series of the Cat wheel loader required further discussion. Nils Meyer, plant manager of the Kies- und Betonwerk GmbH (KBR), and his driver, Norbert Sanftleben, wanted to learn more about the experience the disposal company Otto Dörner from Wismar had made with the Cat 966M and came to see the construction machine in action.
The question preceding the investment decision of the raw material supplier from Roggenstorf was: is the loader with a capacity of 24 t and a bucket with a size of 4.5 m² enough to cope with the upcoming loading and transport tasks in the dry mining of sand and gravel? Actually, the larger model with a capacity of 26 tons should have met these requirements. However, in the world of extraction and construction machines it is like in real life: theory and practice are drifting apart. “In other words: wheel loaders of the M-series do not only meet stage IV of the EU emission standards, but also offer lower fuel consumption and increased productivity, because compared to the previous models of the K-series, powershift transmission, wheelbase and vibration damping had been optimized once again. And this results in higher performance, as delivered by the 966M”, illustrates Danilo Zentner, senior sales representative of the Zeppelin branch in Rostock. One week after the last NordBau trade fair, company director Kati Meyer and plant manager Nils Meyer ordered the construction machine. Performance and productivity can be put down to another factor: the automatic filling of the bucket. “Initially, we have been slightly skeptical about this. However, when we drive the wheel loader against the wall, the Cat dwarfs all other machines”, says the KBR plant manager.
The high performance is also reflected by the direct throttle response of the machine, which in turn results in favorable maneuverability. And, this is what the wheel loader driver will no longer want to do without. The same applies to the two joysticks - one for the steering system, the other for the gearbox control – which were further convincing factors of the wheel loader. They provide a substantial relief - the handling of the construction machine has become significantly more ergonomic. An integrated weighing system from Pfreundt is an additional feature added to the wheel loader. KBR is developing a new extraction site, which means the distance to the weighing system would be too long. Therefore, the wheel loader shall also take over the weighing of the processed construction and road construction materials for the concrete industry while loading own trucks and those of the customers.
As a medium-sized family company, KBR runs sand and gravel pits in dry and wet mining in the second generation in Northwestern Mecklenburg, between Wismar and Lübeck, near the Baltic coast. In addition to the extraction of the raw material in various fractions, the company also produces ready-mix concrete. In Roggenstorf, the Zwischenbetriebliche Bauorganisation (ZBO) “Vorwärts” has mined gravel already since the 1970s. In 1991, the ZBO sold the gravel quarry and gave the go-ahead for the present GmbH. With old equipment and seven employees, they took the plunge into the icy water. However, it couldn’t be left at that. In order to meet the quality requirements of processing, the company had to make enormous investments, as for example, in a weighbridge, in screening technology, ready-mixed concrete mixing plants and in a new Cat wheel loader. Moreover, recultivation efforts also cost a lot of money. An example is the quarry pond with seven hectares, which was wet-extracted by dredgers and has now been turned into a biotope. In 2006, these efforts were awarded with the Mecklenburg Western Pomerania Recultivation Prize.
