One of the ‘unsung hero’ members of the Tarmac Dunbar Cement Plant team has just had a seven-week overhaul.
The ‘PC2000’ backhaul excavator plays a major part in supplying the cement manufacturing process with one of its key materials – limestone. The giant 200-tonne machine – the largest excavator in Scotland – handles the rock that has been blasted from Tarmac’s quarry and moves it to dumper trucks which deliver it for crushing for the process.
At seven years old, the PC2000 needed a major refit, enabling it to give Tarmac at least another five years of service.
Tarmac Dunbar Quarry manager Mark Grieve explains more: “This was a major project for Tarmac Dunbar with the excavator playing an absolutely key role in our process. The overhaul was carried out onsite by a team from Marubeni Komatsu, the manufacturer. The job included rebuild of all the major components including the overhaul of the 11-tonne bucket, pins and bushes. The whole job has been captured in an impressive timelapse film, condensing the seven weeks into 4.5 minutes.”
The excavator’s statistics are impressive. It weighs 200 tonnes, is seven metres tall and seven metres wide and the 11 cubic metre bucket can pick up 20 tonnes of rock at any one time. That is the weight of more than three elephants!
Kevin Henderson, lead field service technician from Marubeni Komatsu adds: “As well as many operational parts of the excavator being upgraded, we also worked on the driver’s comfort and safety. Work in this area included replacement of the air-suspended operator’s seat. There is also a lunch box that is linked into the climate control system that keeps the driver’s lunch warm or cold.”
With the excavator being very difficult to transport, the overhaul project took place in a location near the quarry. It took 1582-man hours to complete and the excavator was then returned back to work in the quarry.
“We were delighted to work with Marubeni Komatsu who made sure that the project went smoothly,” added Mark Grieve. “It was impressive to watch the team work on machinery on such a big scale and we are pleased to have the upgraded PC2000 back hard at work.”
Picture captions:
Main picture – The car body is removed on the excavator – as part of the rebuild process