Volvo P6970C paver for Asphalt Surfacing Ltd

Co-directors say recent asphalt paver purchase is ‘the best thing we’ve done so far’

ACCORDING to Iain Saunders and Rob Darlington, co-directors, of Asphalt Surfacing Ltd, the recent purchase of their first Volvo P6870C paver is ‘the best thing we’ve done so far’. The pair, who have more than 65 years of joint experience in the asphalt industry, decided to join forces to establish their new surfacing venture just 17 months ago.

‘Rob has years of experience working for several large contractors from the ground up, from working in paving gangs to managing fleets of equipment and teams of men, whilst my background is on the quarrying side – selling asphalt, aggregates and quantity surveying,’ explained Mr Saunders.

‘Bringing together our extensive experience has got Asphalt Surfacing off to a fantastic start and we’re continuing to build our portfolio of regular customers operating from two offices – one in Dursley, Gloucestershire, the other in Llantrisant, South Wales.

‘We employ a team of 12 men full time and until now we’ve hired in wheeled pavers to cover our contracts. With Rob’s own experience of operating ABG and Volvo pavers and the preference of our crews, our collective choice has always been for Volvos. However, with the volume of work we are now undertaking from both regular and new clients, it made commercial sense to purchase our very first paver and it just had to be a Volvo P6870C.’

The P6870C is powered by a 175hp Volvo D6 Stage IIIB-compliant engine. At its heart is the EPM II feature – an electronic paver-management system which incorporates a ‘Settings Management’ feature that allows the operator to store up to 12 parameter settings for major functions, such as screed temperature, tamping and vibrating, conveyor, auger and paving speeds.

The machine has other unique features such as ‘Smart Power’, which offers optimum power for the job, together with 6x6 ‘Smart Drive’ technology for unparalleled continuous independent traction control over all six wheels. Even on the most difficult bases, tractive forces are automatically adjusted according to the weight of material in the machine’s 12-tonne capacity hopper.

Screed performance is another distinct feature on Volvo pavers. The P6870C has a variable screed width of between 2.5m and 5.0m in standard configuration but can be fitted with optional extensions to provide widths up to 9.0m. The machine has a theoretical output of up to 700 tonnes/h at varying screed widths and depths.

In addition, the P6870C demonstrates a high degree of manoeuvrability, thanks to its ‘Active Steering’ feature with an inside turning radius of just 2.5m. ‘I’m really impressed with the machine’s ability to turn on a sixpence,’ said Rob Darlington. ‘It’s really proving to be an optimum paving machine for us working in confined areas, yet still has a significant production output for road surfacing contracts. It can be doing anything from just 24 tonnes up to 400 tonnes in a day’s shift.’

He added: ‘Another critical factor is the level of support when we need it, and certainly our experience to date with SMT’s mobile engineer, Simon Ford, has been exemplary. When we’ve had the odd issue, Simon is there right away getting it sorted. Again, this is critical for us and another reason why we’ve chosen the Volvo paver.’

In addition to the paver, Asphalt Surfacing have purchased a Volvo DD25B tandem roller and both machines have been painted in the company’s white livery.