Islands and machinery: four solutions to “impossible” situations which show how you can overcome even the most challenging obstructions to achieve productivity
Whether small or large, the MB Crusher range solved the issues of accessing and moving machinery into isolated or inaccessible areas such as islands.
In recent years MB Crusher has let the experience of the customers themselves help make users aware of the potential of their machines. How? By watching the machines in action in amateur videos, created by the users themselves including the customers’ own reviews and pictures.
“Even more interesting - explains Diego Azzolin, Director of MB Crusher production - is that we can learn some useful things from this. Often the most valuable ideas emerge when you discover the potential of a machine, maybe within a totally different context from your own, but one that has similar requirements. Exchanging information allows you to make better decisions and this step towards enables you to increase the efficiency as well as the productivity of the site. It is sometimes the case that our customers, by using our machinery in a way that I would define as ‘inspired’, suggest wider applications for our machinery.
The “impossible” situations which we were able to learn from on the island of Rab in Croatia.
Here, the main challenge was the prohibitive cost of the quarry material, required for the creation of roadbeds for the access roads to the construction site, in this case relating to land excavation for building a number of houses. We found the solution during the excavation work: the rubble itself turned out to be of value when we used the compact crusher buckets of the MB Crusher range, mounted on one of the backhoe loaders (JCB 4CX) of their fleet. This was an instant success: the construction site, without any outside help and making substantial savings, crushed the material directly on site, using a single earth-moving machine, thereby eliminating transportation and disposal costs. The crusher bucket used was the MB-L200: compact in size, it is one of the most reasonably priced and easily manoeuvrable of the MB Crusher range. The crusher is completely compatible with mini-loaders of up to 6 tonnes and with backhoe loaders and loaders of between 7 and 10 tonnes.
Our second example takes us to the Mayotte Islands, Comoros archipelago, in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
Here the obvious challenge was gaining access, not only to the islands but to the basalt rock quarries, from which the rubble is used to create road embankments. In this context, large machinery is of no use, as its weight and size is a drawback.
The best solution turned out to be using a very powerful and easily manoeuvrable crusher: The MB Crusher BF135.8. Despite being one of the largest models in the range, it has a compact design. From a technical point of view it is easy to operate and transport, without the need for special vehicles.
With an output of 88 cubic metres per hour, and a capacity of around 1.60 cubic metres its performance was an instant success, as demonstrated in the video produced by the site managers.
Our quest for innovative solutions leads us to Cayeux-sur-Mer, a unique industrial centre in France. The silica pebbles along this stretch of the coast of the English Channel happen to be the purest in the world (99% pure silica).
The requirement was to avoid the cost of transporting the materials from the beach, which would otherwise have to be separated, classified, loaded and dispatched. A particularly dynamic and innovative company found the solution by using a single machine: the MB Crusher screening bucket picks up the pebbles, separates them removing the sand, and selects the material according to size. All this takes place on the beach itself.
All the screening buckets in the MB Crusher range have been designed to process the raw materials in quarries and construction sites as they are equipped with baskets comprising interchangeable panels with different-sized holes depending on the requirements. In the example of Cayeux-sur-Mer, the MB-LS220, clearly visible in the video and mounted on a Caterpillar 962M wheel loader, was perfect: it is large and powerful and by pre-screening it succeeded in reducing the crushing time by up to 60%.
Cayeux sur Mer - Screening Bucket MB-LS220
Cayeux sur Mer - Screening Bucket MB-LS220
Now let's go to Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, two mountainous islands in the Atlantic Ocean, to the South of Terranova in Canada.
In order to build a number of main roads it was necessary to remove a large area of rocks to cut through the mountain. Here the challenge was the limited amount of space to work in as well as the cost of transporting and processing the materials. Having seen the capabilities of the MB Crushers screening buckets in action, the company decided to process the granite rock from the extraction heap in situ, in order to separate it from the damp soil and use it directly for roadbeds.
The bucket used successfully was the MB Crusher MB-S18 screening bucket: specially designed to be used for separating substantial quantities, especially on large sites dealing with high volumes, it guarantees a high level of performance. Equipped with a 50 grid and mounted, as seen in the video, on a Caterpillar 330 excavator, it has led to substantial reductions in both time and cost, producing an enormous volume of screened material that is ready to be used.
“Being a company that sells its own products all over the world means that MB Crusher - concludes Diego Azzolin - has an excellent overview of the challenges and solutions, productivity and costs, obstacles and innovations of the overall work involved in roadworks, earth-moving operations, quarries and mines, construction work, reclamation work, recycling, environmental restorations.
We have a global reputation for innovative products such as our crushers and screening buckets, which, as they are so easy to manoeuvre and use, can be used in any location, turning costs into profits and obstacles into opportunities.
Whether big or small, MB Crusher machines have proved to be the best and most cost-effective choice including in the most challenging locations, such as islands.
We are also very pleased that we have been able to work in such close partnership with our customers to help them select the most suitable machinery, also through our willingness to share our experiences and ideas with the whole industry. On all the roads of the world.”
