Southern Wood Energy take delivery of UK first Finning Komptech Chippo 8010C
National wood fuel supplier, Southern Wood Energy Ltd has become the first business in the UK to invest in a mobile Komptech Chippo 8010C wood-chipper from Finning (UK) Ltd.
The Caterpillar C18-powered Chippo 8010C, is a high performance mobile drum chipper. The unit is mounted on a 5 axle HGV truck and equipped with a large open chipping drum, with heavy-duty blades that are ideal for the production of wood chips for many applications.
For wood fuel specialist, Southern Wood Energy Ltd, the Chippo 8010C offered the business an opportunity to have a completely mobile, heavy-duty chipping solution that could process up to 320 metres cubed of chippings per hour, backed by a national service support contract from Finning.
When Southern Wood Energy Ltd had problems with their previous machine from another supplier who were unable to fully support them, they approached Finning as they had seen the Komptech Chipper originally working three years ago and believed this would be the solution for them.
Commenting on the deal, Dan Upton from Southern Wood Energy Ltd said, “As a business we produce wood fuel for domestic and commercial customers providing wood products for applications including biomass boilers, landscaping, animal bedding and biofilters. In our industry it is all about speed, scalability and processing cost per tonne.
When we were looking to replace the machine to increase productivity, we had two main requirements, mobile capability and high horsepower. What is noticeable with the Komptech Chippo 8010C is that the 780hp that’s devoted to the chipper, rather than the carrier is much greater than what we have seen before. This means we can up productivity and deal with a whole range of processing, because we are not restricted by power.”
The high build quality of the Chippo 8010C allows for the machine to be more versatile than it’s predecessor, with the blow and conveyer discharger allowing the unit to save power and improve the quality of the wood chippings. Another outstanding feature is the diverse blade, counter knife and screen options. They not only assist with the quality of the wood chippings, but also give different chip sizes if needed which is perfectly suited for Southern Wood Energy Ltd’s application.
Commenting on the deal, Paul Carley, Komptech Business Manager at Finning, said, “Performance and flexibility is everything in this industry and Southern Wood Energy Ltd are in a very competitive marketplace. By looking at innovative solutions like the Chippo 8010C, they are now one step ahead of the competition. From their perspective, they also know that we have a nationwide branch network with the largest mobile engineering team in the UK, so no matter where the unit is, we can get to it quickly to maximise uptime.”