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Company profile carrière des grands caous – Liebherr L 556 User Manual

Page 30

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30 // Quarrying

The Liebherr R 964 C SME, which was procured in June 2008,
had clocked up 11,200 operating hours, so it was time to have
it replaced. Inquiries were made to four manufacturers. “With
one of the dealers it was difficult to even get an answer,”
Dominique Seux says. Another dealer was located an hour away
from the quarry. “In an operation like ours, everything revolves
around the excavator that works directly at the face. If that is
out of action for just one hour, the consequences are far-
reaching.” So there remained a third manufacturer and Liebherr,
which both have dealers close to the quarry. “The decision was
made on the final straight,” Dominique Seux confesses. “We
used to have an excavator from another manufacturer, but we
had lots of problems with that. It wasn’t built for use in a quarry,”
the manager adds.

“By contrast, we only have positive experience with the Liebherr
R 964 C SME,” explains Alexandre Pfeiffer, technical manager
of the quarry. He sees one advantage in the steel construction
of the excavator. “The Liebherr crawler excavator is more flexible
than the excavators made by the competition, and also the
heaviest,” he adds. Jeoffrey Sausse, commercial director of
Pic, Liebherr’s contractual dealer, explains, “This excavator has

been specially developed for use in quarries. It features the
undercarriage of the next larger model in a X-shaped construction
to realize a better distribution of forces and prevent material
from accumulating.”

Several times a year, an inspector from Liebherr customer
services conducts an on-site visit together with his colleague
from Pic. The technical manager of the quarry appreciates such
visits. On one of these visits, a crack was discovered in the
boom. “ Liebherr replaced the defective equipment; that’s what
I call proactive service,” he explains. “Whenever Pic performs
arepair, then everything really is in proper working order.”

It was partly the experience with the excavator and partly the
experience with the Liebherr contractual dealer that led to the
procurement of the R 964 C SME. The decision to purchase was
made by the director of the Grands Caous quarry, in agreement
with the local technical manager, the regional director of the
quarries and the regional manager of Eiffage Travaux Publics for
building materials. The new R 964 C SME has an operating
weight of 86 tons and is powered by a V8 engine generating
320 kW. It has now taken over the work of previous Liebherr
excavator and has been loading the four dumper trucks at the
quarry since May 2013.

“We have positive experience with the
R 964 C SME. It was specially developed
for use in quarries, has a robust construction
and is extremely versatile.”

Alexandre Pfeiffer, technical manager of the quarry

In the Grands Caous quarry, a Liebherr L 586 is
used to load the end products.

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Company profile
Carrière des Grands Caous

Excavation of building materials
30 employees
1959
Saint-Raphaël (83)
Dominique Seux
www.eiffagetravauxpublics.com

R 964 C SME, R 944, L 586

Quarrying in profile: Carrière des Grands Caous

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