As a leading supplier of conveying solutions in Australia, and over a decade of experience – Rocktec Equipment understands the value what stockpile conveyors brings to your production. Here are a few reasons and benefits of owning a stockpile conveyor over a wheel loader.
Large Capital Expenditure
Cash flow can sometimes be a ongoing problem for most business owners – either big or small. It can be tough to come up with a large amounts of cash to buy a new piece of equipment that is required to run your business. On average, wheel loaders are pricey pieces of equipment – along with high retail prices of around the $400~$500K mark. This substantial outlay is one that can be finance over a period of time, rather that spending all of the money in the bank that helps with the day to day running costs of your business. Stockpile conveyors are a substantial saving compared to stockpiling with wheel loaders, freeing vital funds to help your business expand.
Maintenance and Running Costs
Utilising stockpile conveyors to stockpile material, minimises operator’s maintenance costs and production times for working sites compared to using wheel loaders for the same purpose. Wheel loaders require much more scheduled services to maintain their running efficiency and have a greater number of wear parts. Studies have shown that wheel loader maintenance can cost 85% more than conveyors annually.
Along with this, fuel consumption can also be reduced compared to using wheel loaders. New machines today consume on average approx. 5 liters of fuel per hour.
High Price Labour
Stockpile conveyors can diminish high price labour in more than one way. By eliminating or reducing the dependency of wheel loaders on site, stockpile conveyors can reduce the number of wheel loaders required on a working site. Secondly, conveyors have the ability to operate at a maximum efficiency every hour of operation with minimum supervision, reducing labour costs even further.
Increased Production and Reduced Cost Per Tonne
Conveyors have the ability to operate at a maximum efficiency every hour of operation; therefore the stockpile conveyor can continuously maneuver aggregates within the site throughout any preferred time period or day.
With short discharge conveyors found on screeners or crushers, sites that traditional employed wheel loaders to move material, tend to constantly move material from the screen or crusher, which can only handle a small stockpile, to another larger stockpile – and then onto loading the truck/s. Effectively operators handle finish products at least twice. With the introduction of stockpilers, operators can leave crushers and screens running, moving the product just once with the wheel loader straight to the delivery trucks. Ultimately, the introduction of stockpilers in many cases results in the elimination of the double handling of material and therefore cutting operators cost per tonne.
The big advantage however for employing a stacking conveyor to create stockpiles is the production improvement. With crushers and screeners no longer starved, wheel loader operators can focus on continuously loading crushers and screeners to feed the stockpile rather than creating the stockpile. In many circumstances this can eliminate expensive overtime needed to meet productivity demands and maintenance resulting from increased running hours.
Better Quality Material
Another benefit of owning a Stockpile Conveyor is the high quality uniformed aggregate. This is vital in the production of many materials such as concrete and asphalt.
Heavy equipment such as wheel loaders can damage aggregate such as expanding clay, shale or slate through compacting and crushing.
Health and Safety
Health and safety is the most crucial aspect when it comes down to owning a stockpile conveyor. The benefit of using a stockpile conveyor eliminates the use of loaders when stockpiling materials, therefore reducing moving traffic on the site. Studies have shown that over 40% of waste and recycling site accidents occur due to maneuvering or operating vehicles.
Along with the environmental benefits, stockpile conveyors can contribute significantly towards the improvement of health and safety issues such as reduced noise, dust and emissions levels.
