Axtell improve efficiency with Komatsu loader
Company using WA380-8 wheel loader for efficient loading of volumetric truck mixers
With over 30 years of experience and a BSI accredited status, Axtell have become the leading providers of volumetric concrete, pumping and delivery services in the Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex areas.
Within these regions Axtell operate from five sites in Godalming, Southampton, Witley, Chilworth and Rudgwick, and are equipped with a fleet of specialist concrete vehicles including more than 30 volumetric truck mixers – all built by their in-house engineering specialists in workshops at the Godalming site.
Axtell’s 90-strong vehicle fleet also includes 15 tipper trucks, seven grab trucks and three concrete pumps. Completing the fleet are the wheel loaders that are used to load the volumetric truck mixers with 4–20mm stone and sharp sand.
At the beginning of last year, Axtell hired a Komatsu WA380-8 wheel loader for their Southampton site and were so impressed with the machine’s stability and quality that they purchased their own machine in April 2018.
With the assistance of Carl Woollaston, Marubeni-Komatsu’s product manager for wheel loaders, Axtell were able to determine the correct machine specification to suit their primary application on site. This specification included a 3.1 cubic metre Hardox construction high-tip bucket to achieve the required dump height for fast and easy truck loading.
The WA380-8 is also equipped with an RDS technology on-board weighing system that ensures the volumetric mixers pass compliance requirements by weighing no more than 38.4 tonnes when they leave site. This system makes the entire loading process more efficient and saves time by removing the likelihood of overloading or under-loading the trucks.
‘As our truck drivers also load their own trucks, we require machines with perfect stability that offer easy operation and that’s exactly what Komatsu wheel loaders provide,’ said Axtell director Andrew Axtell. ‘Both the specialist bucket and on-board weighing system ensure the process of loading the volumetric trucks is highly efficient and easy.’
