Two new Volvo A30G’s for Yarrows Aggregates
Two new Volvo A30G articulated haulers have been supplied to Yarrows Aggregates Ltd of Beverley, East Yorkshire that are already proving their worth in terms of stock management and overall cost effectiveness according to Managing Director John Bird.
Yarrows Aggregates are no strangers to owning and operating Volvo construction equipment products, having acquired their first loading shovel back in 2002. “We’ve run Volvo shovels and excavators ever since in various sizes and have been very satisfied with the reliability and quality of the machines,” says John Bird. “The most important factor for us is the ability to support the product in the field and I have to say that in our experience if there’s been a problem or an issue, Volvo have never walked away from it and this speaks volumes in our opinion,” he continues.
Operating articulated haulers at the Little Catwick site is not new to Yarrows either. “When we originally started our quarry operations at Little Catwick, we acquired a couple of second hand Volvo articulated haulers to get things up and running,” explains John. “More recently we've been obliged to hire in haulers on a regular basis to move and re-handle the extensive types of material we have on site. This has been especially so since we commissioned our recycling plant just two years ago and consequently we came to a rapid conclusion that investing in our own machines would become far more cost effective in the long run.
In the end the overall package on the table and machine specification and high residual values coupled to our good experience all round operating Volvo equipment became the deciding factors for choosing the A30Gs,” he continues.
The A30G hauler from Volvo meets the requirements of Stage IV final emissions legislation being powered by an electronically controlled, six-cylinder 264kW turbo charged Volvo V-ACT diesel engine. This features high torque at low engine speeds, resulting in good fuel efficiency, high performance, rapid engine response and less wear, i.e. long service life. Purpose built by Volvo, the engine is designed to exactly match the Volvo drive train, ensuring the best use of power and torque, even in tough working conditions. Delivering exceptional fuel efficiency, it is matched to a torque converter with built in lock-up function and fitted with a fully automatic fast adaptive transmission.
These two A30Gs supplied to Yarrows Aggregates feature some significant up-grades that have been applied to the Volvo articulated hauler product for 2017. For example, the A30’s payload has been increased to 29 tonnes, as has its heaped volume by 05.m³ to 18.0m³ and the body material has been upgraded from HB400 to HB450 for improved wear characteristics. Other features include ‘Hill Assist’ as standard whereby the hauler can be held on a slope until sufficient torque to move the machine is detected. The haulers now include Volvo dynamic drive for smarter gear shifting which takes the environment and payload conditions into consideration and finally, an on board weighing system which can log all transported loads for complete payload management that can be accessed remotely via Volvo’s CareTrack telematics system.
“Volvo’s on board weighing solution was another major reason for choosing the new A30G’s,” says John. “It means we can accurately move, record and stock pile both our recycled aggregate as well as our virgin material on site. It’s a fantastic management tool for us.”