Customer Success Stories : Mining for Savings - Penn Jersey Machinery
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Penn Jersey Machinery

MINING FOR SAVINGS

How four rock quarries and a fleet of versatile equipment keep road maintenance costs low in northeast Iowa.

Workin' The Rock Quarry

You might think that maintaining graveled roads in farm country is no big challenge - but it is. For example, Fayette County, Iowa, maintains 920 miles of two-lane graveled roads, and they take a beating from farm equipment, semi-trailer rigs, and passenger vehicles. Tons of gravel are pushed into the road base or are lost as dust behind traffic every year.

As a result, all 920 miles must be fully resurfaced with limestone aggregates at four-year intervals. Fortunately, Fayette County officials have access to limestone at four local rock quarries. And unlike most Iowa counties, Fayette operates its own 250-ton-per-hour rock crusher that rotates annually among the four quarries. "Having our own crusher saves us at least $540,000 a year," says county engineer J.D. King. "That's huge for us, because our secondary road maintenance budget runs about $5.3 million to $5.5 million per year. We can obtain and crush limestone aggregates for less than $2 per ton, including all labor and equipment. If we had to buy that rock commercially, it would cost us $5 per ton. We crush about 180,000 tons of rock every year, so that $3 per ton of savings adds up quickly."

Keep 'em Moving

In the summer, the crusher runs four 10-hour shifts per week. Downtime is a dirty word, because most of the aggregates are hauled directly from the crusher to an ongoing resurfacing project. It's important to keep the trucks moving. That's why Fayette County relies on a Volvo L220E wheel loader, fitted with a 6.5-cubic-yard bucket, to charge the crusher. The county bought the loader a year and a half ago as a used machine with 1,660 hours on it - and has since added on more than 2,100 hours. "We really like the fuel economy on this loader," says Tim Weston, quarry foreman and primary operator. "It only uses about 55 gallons of fuel per day, and that's eight or ten fewer gallons than a smaller loader that we had before. The loader has nice breakout power for digging into the rock pile," says Weston.

"It's comfortable, and the air conditioning works great, which is nice in the summer. And the machine has a 350-horsepower engine, which gives it good power coming up the ramp out of the quarry." King says the county has traditionally received good service from their Volvo dealer, which was recently purchased by Scott Van Keppel LLC. "We have had good service from the previous dealer, and we expect the same high quality of service from Scott Van Keppel."

Working In-House

At a time when many public works agencies are outsourcing more jobs than ever, King and Fayette County officials take pride in doing things themselves. The county maintains a $6.5 million fleet of equipment, including two Volvo EW170 wheeled excavators, the big Volvo loader, and a Volvo EC290B crawler excavator. The fleet also includes 12 tandem-axle trucks, four bulldozers, and 12 motor graders. "We do a lot of our own grading projects," says King. "We've cut down hills and extended the foreslopes along roads, stripped overburden for the quarries, helped build quarry access roads, and performed the grading for culvert extension projects."

Versatile Excavators

County crews rely on their versatile Volvo wheeled excavators for any number of tasks, including cutting trees with a shear, cleaning out ditches, picking up brush, laying drainage pipe, loading rip-rap, and even loading quarry rock, to a limited extent.

The county bought its first Volvo wheeled excavator five years ago, says maintenance foreman Larry Wedo. "We tried the Volvo EW170 on a demonstration, and the hydraulics on it were so quick that it wasn't even funny," says Wedo. "So we ordered a new one, and turned around and bought the demo model later on. I wouldn't buy anything else." Rarely does the county find it necessary to load a Volvo EW170 onto a low-boy trailer for transport. The excavators have a top speed of 19 miles per hour, and easily can travel the county roads at 12 to 15 miles per hour. "We road those two excavators 10 to 15 miles routinely," says Dennis Soppe, who operates one of them. "Their fuel consumption is considerably less than other models," says Wedo, "And the operator comfort is great."

Soil erosion can fill up the county's ditches with topsoil and make proper drainage impossible. So periodically some ditches need to be cleaned or even excavated down a foot or two, to permit drainage through culverts. We visited Soppe while he was excavating a ditch with a Volvo EW170 excavator fitted with a 61-inch-wide bucket. "This machine's got a lot of power," Soppe said. "If you need to pick up a 60-inch pipe, it will do the job. We haven't had any problems with it." Soppe said he likes the load sensing hydraulics on the Volvo EW170. "You can multi-task with the bucket - lift and curl it at the same time - and the hydraulics senses where you most need the power," Soppe said. "I've been surprised at how stable it is."

Cross-Road Culverts

At one Fayette County culvert repair project, a 36-inch-diameter concrete culvert had separated at a joint or two, allowing the earth to settle into the pipe and creating a sunken spot in the concrete pavement. Using one of the Volvo wheeled excavators, operator Dave Wolff dug down to the pipe and lifted it out in sections.

Crews next distributed 6 to 8 inches of gravel pipe bedding into the bottom of the trench at the proper grade. Wolff then relaid the pipe with the excavator while crews applied tar to the joints and fit the sections tightly together. "This Volvo does an excellent job of placing the pipe," said Wolff. "It can hold the pipe really steady. And the hydraulics are smooth; it doesn't jerk around. It's the right tool for the job."

Challenging Job

County engineer King says his biggest challenge is to accomplish the kind of road maintenance that's needed with the money available. "The excellent Volvo equipment is very important to Fayette County," says King. "Our dollars are tight, like everyone else's, and we've got to make the best choices possible. Here in Fayette County, some of our choices are high-quality Volvo equipment."

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