Sunshine Coast Quarries, based near Kenilworth 50km west of Noosa, Queensland, has converted all buckets on the site to the Komatsu KVX ground engaging tool system after an outstandingly successful trial on its Komatsu PC600LC-7 60 tonne face excavator.
Today the company uses Komatsu KVX G.E.T. exclusively on all its loader and excavator buckets including excavators used for face loading, stripping and feeding mobile crushers, and loaders used for sales operations. It's also using KVX wear bar for protection on all its fixed plant.
Since it began operating in 1999, when Sunshine Coast Quarries produced 200,000 tonnes of aggregates, it has grown to be a large-scale operation that will produce two million tonnes of product for 2008, and employs 25 staff.
Managed by Tom Boss, who has run and helped grow the business since 1999, the company today is a leading supplier of materials to the construction, concrete, and road construction industries, as well as other major projects throughout the Sunshine Coast.
Komatsu Australia is a major supplier of mobile heavy equipment to Sunshine Coast Quarries, with the current fleet at the Moy Pocket Quarry including a PC850-6, a PC600LC-7, two PC450-7s and a PC300-7 excavator, two HD465-7s and an HD325-6 dump truck, two WA500-6s, four WA480-5Hs and a WA480-6 loader.
Tom first became aware of Komatsu KXV G.E.T. in 2004, as the company was looking at one of its first major pieces of Komatsu plant.
"We were in negotiations with Komatsu about purchasing a PC600LC-7 and Darren Fraser, Komatsu's local CSSR, introduced us to the KVX product," he said.
"Our then-current face excavator was frequently breaking adaptors and losing teeth, we were constantly hard-facing and we were faced with endless costs in maintaining a cast system in a hard abrasive application.
"We gave KVX a go on the PC600LC-7 as a trial to see for ourselves the benefits that were being claimed.
"After running the system in the hardest application in the quarry on the face I soon became convinced the Komatsu KVX G.E.T. system was the way forward in our hard abrasive conditions," he said.
"It wasn't long before we could see all the other advantages of KVX: positive retention, no welding maintenance, slim profile systems and a lot longer life than cast systems.
"Basically we overcame all of the previous problems that we were encountering with the old system on our previous face excavator," said Tom.
Since that first trial, Sunshine Coast Quarries converted all of its buckets on the site to KVX and is now also purchasing KVX wear bar to use as protection throughout their fixed plant.
Komatsu Australia supports the quarry operation from its Sunshine Coast branch on the Bruce Highway at Forest Glen, covering all aspects of parts, service and customer support.
Komatsu KVX G.E.T. systems are available from Komatsu Australia's national network, backed by the company's national Customer Support team.