The first
“The new ZW330-5 is equipped with a 12.9litre six-cylinder water-cooled turbo engine that enables a powerful digging performance, impressive travel speeds and a reduction in fuel consumption of more than 10%,” says Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe)/HCME.
“Easier to manoeuvre than previous models, it has a new clutch cut-off system to control the timing of the clutch for smooth operation when loading, regardless of the terrain.”
Comfort and safety have been enhanced by several features, including a more spacious cab, air conditioning and sound insulation, and greater visibility due to the pillar-less windshield and large sun visor. The new ZW330-5 is also easy to maintain, with easily accessible greasing points, oil levels and fuel filters, for example.
Family-owned Morris & Perry provides aggregates, asphalt concrete and ready mixed concrete products to customers across south-west England, and the new ZW330-5 will be used to load trucks in the stockyard, keep access roads clear and push up blasted materials at its Gurney Slade Quarry in County Somerset.
Equipped with a 4.6m³ bucket, it will load more than 1,000tonnes of materials/day, working from 6am to 4.30pm, five days a week. Approximately 80% of the materials are delivered to customers working on road and other general construction sites within a 100km radius of the site.
Quarry manager Dave Roberts explains the importance of the new addition to the company’s Hitachi fleet.
“We load everything with the wheeled loader and it’s vital to our operation. It speeds up the process considerably and this size of machine works well for us: we’ve had wheeled loaders like this on the site for about 20 years.”
Morris & Perry has used Hitachi construction equipment since 1984 and it currently has a ZX870LCH-3 with a loading shovel working on site. This was delivered in 2007 and has 12,000 hours.
“Ever since we took delivery of our first Hitachi excavator, it was unbelievable to have such a high level of reliability with 99% availability most of the time,” says Roberts. “
The new ZW330-5 at the quarry will be supplied with an extended warranty package known as Hitachi Extended Life Programme (HELP). “
Morris & Perry dates back to 1880, and its current annual production figure is 500,000 tonnes, and the company is hoping to expand the site in the future and extend its lifetime for up to another 25 years.
