Another Volvo machine for Kinegar Quarries

New L220H loading shovel continues aggregate supplier’s long-standing association with Volvo brand

FAMILY-run Kinegar Quarries Ltd have shown their loyalty to the Volvo brand by adding a new Volvo L220H wheel loader to their plant equipment fleet. The latest 32-tonne machine has been put in charge of the stocking out area of the operator’s Glenfin hard rock quarry, replacing an L180 loading shovel that has been moved on to secondary duties.  

‘We have tended to favour Volvo products from the outset when we bought our first Volvo L120 at the end of the eighties,’ commented Steven Findlay, co-director of Kinegar. ‘Over the years we have purchased various Volvo machines and they have a good track record for longevity and reliability. Needing a slightly larger loading shovel to cope with an increase in production we settled on the L220H for loading lorries and keeping the stock piles in good order.’

Equipped with a 5.6 cubic metre-capacity rehandling bucket, Michelin XLDD2A rock tyres and a boom suspension system, the L220H loader dispatches trucks in just two passes as opposed to three carried out by the previous machine. ‘We’ve certainly noticed the time savings operating the larger shovel and over a daily twelve hour shift the savings become quite significant,’ Mr Findlay added.       

The L220H wheel loader features a 13-litre Stage IV Final-complaint engine that develops 373hp in a relatively low rev/min range. The machine also benefits from Volvo’s designed and manufactured powertrain components, including the company’s Optishift system with torque converter lock-up and reverse-by-braking features – all designed to offer considerable fuel savings.

The newly purchased L220H model follows on from a Volvo EC380D excavator, which was bought by Kinegar Quarries last year for ripping high-quality greywacke sandstone from an arrangement of benches at Glenfin Quarry.