Lachat has turned to Hitachi as part of its work to improve production at the Asuel La Malcôte quarry in Switzerland. Pat Smith reports
At Asuel La Malcôte quarry in the Swiss canton of Jura, a new Lachat-owned large Zaxis-5 excavator is excavating a mixture of marlstone and limestone materials in a much cleaner way than before, and helping to sanitise this relatively unstable site.
Founded in 1948 and taken over by the Steiner Group (Frédéric Steiner Holding) in June 2013, Swiss firm Lachat’s 42 employees work in quarrying, recycling and the production of aggregates, bitumen and concrete. It only supplies materials to the Swiss market and its customers range from larger groups, such as Colas and Marti Construction, to local building companies.
The ZX870LCR-5 excavator was delivered to Lachat by the Swiss
Hitachi engineers in Japan have developed the R series with reinforced components and added protection to further strengthen the undercarriage and front attachment specifically for the quarrying sector.
Hitachi says this exclusive specification has been designed for the rigours of handling hard and abrasive materials, and offers enhanced durability and a long life expectancy.
The steep terrain and configuration at Asuel La Malcôte demand a highly durable machine, such as the ZX870LCR-5.
It loads two articulated dump trucks with its 4.5m³ rock bucket at a rate of up to 300tonnes/hour, depending on the level of demand. The current excavation work is focused on clearing an 8m layer of better quality limestone-based materials away from the face of the rock to reveal 10m of spoil (marlstone).
Lachat’s immediate priorities are to sanitise the site and modernise the quarrying process, and the plan is that it will eventually resemble a regular quarry after removing these layers with benches, with ecologically sound practices in place to encourage the natural habitat.
“Our new production method utilises the ZX870LCR-5 to extract, separate and sort the materials,” says Yvan Ryser, Lachat’s general manager.
“The strength and productivity of the machine have been impressive to tackle our biggest challenge, which is how to select the usable materials from the mix of stone. We used to blast the rock, but that meant that the stone was difficult to sort and this issue is more important to us than the actual amount of materials moved.”
Christophe Seghin has been an operator for 15 years and he was hired specifically to work with Lachat’s largest excavator.
“This is a good machine. The biggest benefit for me is its strength and power, which enables me to work more productively, and yet it is also stable and precise for the selection of materials,” he says.
“There’s lots of room in the cab and it is comfortable, especially with the adjustable seat as I’m 193cm tall. I use the rear-view camera continuously, which is very useful for a machine of this size. The fuel consumption is excellent and the auto shut-down feature is a good feature in this respect. I find all of the work modes useful, because I can use the machine to the best of its capabilities. Routine maintenance checks are also easy for all of the necessary consumable parts and other components.”
