Recently Kingsfeld Ltd, an excavation and haulage contractor located in Queensland, Australia, added the new LOADRITE X-Weigh 2350™ onboard excavator weighing system to two of its excavators, a Caterpillar 350 and a Komatsu 710. Kingsfeld has been a LOADRITE customer for more than 12 years and currently has over 30 wheel loaders equipped with LOADRITE weighing systems. Kingsfeld had been contracted to remove 1.8 million tons of material from a site at the Logan Smart Tip facility in Brisbane, Queensland. The operation involved excavators digging the material from the ground, stockpiling the material, and then using a wheel loader to load the trucks to legal capacity. The material was then transported to another project in Brisbane where it is used as fill for reclaimed land near the Brisbane International Airport. At the peak of the project, machines moved 18,000 tons of material per day, or a total of 562 truck loads. The double handling of material both increased fuel costs for the contract and prevented the wheel loader from being employed at another job site. With the installation of the LOADRITE X-Weigh 2350 systems, stockpiling was no longer necessary. The excavators accurately weigh the material as they load the trucks, and so the wheel loader is no longer required. More trucks are loaded per day as well and cycle times reduced because the system eliminates the need for tip-offs and reloading.

“The product has allowed us to maximize the productivity and profitability of our trucks, as well as that of our contractor’s” says Steve Rhind, Kingsfeld’s General Manager.

The operation saved the costs of the wheel loader and an operator at a savings of $150.00(AUD) per hour. With nine hour operating days, and the wheel loader scheduled for twenty-two days per month, the monthly saving is estimated at $29,700.00(AUD). “The cost of a LOADRITE weighing system is nothing compared to the operating costs of an extra wheel loader,” says Steve. The system pays for itself in no time. And with today’s high operating, labor and rental costs, this had a significant impact on the profitability of the contract. And as an added benefit, with no need to stockpile material the operation gained about a third more working space, thereby reducing safety concerns associated with working in close quarters. The new LOADRITE X-Weigh 2350™ onboard weighing system is the latest of the LOADRITE products to improve loading productivity on sites around the globe. “The systems are easy to use, it’s all there, load them [the trucks] once, and that’s it. They’re never under loaded or overloaded,” says Steve. And supported by LOADRITE’s comprehensive distribution network, “LOADRITE has given us everything we have asked for,”
he added.