A fleet of SDLG wheeled loaders is supporting HeidelbergCement Georgia and HeidelbergBeton Georgia to keep pace with its 24/7 production schedule at its concrete production sites across Georgia.
The company’s SDLG fleet is a mix of LG936L, LG953 and LG968 machines and they are used for a variety of tasks, including cement loading and aggregates handling from the onsite quarries.
Zaza Sadunishvili, technical director at HeidelbergCement Caucasus, says one of the ongoing challenges for the company is dealing with the continually growing work levels.
“Our company has been operating in Georgia since 2007 and since that time our work volumes have continued to grow. Reliability is crucial for HeidelbergCement as we have a loyal customer base who expect the best from us. And we’re always looking to develop our relationships with customers over the long-term, so because of that we look to build partnerships with suppliers we know we can trust to help us meet our growing capacity levels.”
SDLG-branded machines are manufactured in Linyi, China, by Shandong Lingong Machinery (known as Lingong).
The company’s dealer for Georgia is Elite Motors, and the parts and service support provided by the company is essential to maximising machine up-time in the gruelling conditions of the concrete plants.
In particular the wear parts, such as wheels, buckets and teeth, need regular inspections to ensure timely replacements, given the arduous conditions they work in, handling abrasive materials on a daily basis.
Guga Kilbadze, sales and marketing manager at Elite Motors, says his company runs a disciplined maintenance schedule for the SDLG units working for HeidelbergCement and HeidelbergBeton.
“We carry out maintenance checks every 250 hours and pay particular attention to components such as the driveline to ensure they don’t become overly worn.
“Our technicians also provide support for the parts and consumables that need to be replaced, such as hydraulic oil, fuel, air filters, engine oil, pins and so on. And of course, to ensure the machines work at their optimum capacity we only ever supply our customers with OEM-approved parts from SDLG.”
Although HeidelbergCement’s entrance to the Georgian market is relatively recent, the company says it is already the leading producer of cement and concrete in the country. Production volume across the company’s two cement plants averages around 1.7 million tonnes of cement and clinker/year.
At its seven concrete locations (with nine production plants), volume averages around 880m³/hour and a three-shift system is in place to maximise output, with the SDLG wheeled loaders running almost continually.
The smallest of the loaders in the HeidelbergBeton fleet are the three LG936L machines, which have a lift capacity of 3tonnes. These lighter loaders are highly manoeuvrable and powered by a 92kW WeichaiDeutz engine. Their 2m³ bucket can be raised to a dumping height of 3.3m and the maximum breakout force is 96kN.
The next largest wheeled loaders in the fleet are the five LG953s, which have a maximum lift capacity of 5tonnes. With a longer wheelbase than the 3tonne units and greater lifting ability, the LG953 units are powered by a 162kW WeichaiDeutz engine. The 3m³ bucket can be raised to a dumping height of 3.4m and the maximum breakout force is 160kN.
Largest of the SDLG machines in the Heidelberg fleet are the two LG968 units. They are usually used for aggregate loading. They have a 6tonne lift capacity and are among the largest available from SDLG. Maximum breakout force is 210kN and the machine’s 3.5m³ – 4m³ bucket can be raised up to 3.9m. Power comes from a 191kW WeichaiDeutz engine.
Davit Jughashvili, director of building materials HeidelbergCement Caucasus, says that support and simplicity are the keys to the ongoing relationship between Heidelberg and SDLG.
“Overall our company is satisfied with the SDLG wheeled loaders, as they are simple to operate and easy to maintain,” he says.
“But most important of all is the fact that spare parts are available locally through Elite Motors.”
Elite Motors runs a large service centre at Daba Tsitsamuri and also employs a team of mobile technicians capable of reaching customers across the country.
