Maximising productivity for quarries
Quarrying expertise
By combining Volvo CE’s quality with its own local quarrying expertise, Babcock is able to offer quarries greater reliability to maximise throughput, backed up by a full suite of services that speak directly to the quarrying sector’s needs.
The current aggregates business climate is characterised by price volatility, high labour costs, shrinking margins and increasing operational costs. This is exacerbated by a steady decline in the growth of aggregates demand due to the lack of meaningful construction projects. For quarries to survive and mine profitably, they need to capitalise on the opportunity to improve their productivity and focus on one factor they can control: operational efficiency.
Increasing productivity is one of the key drivers to counter diminishing profit margins as it effectively reduces operating costs. However, the emphasis should not only be on increasing output with the same input, but increasing the output while decreasing the input, and ultimately adding optimum value to current resources. Research shows that an increase in production will ultimately decrease the operation’s unit cost, especially fixed costs.
With positive signs of recovery showing in the construction sector in 2020, David Vaughan, MD of Babcock’s equipment business, tells Modern Quarrying that, armed with its Volvo range of machinery built for optimal loading and hauling, and the comprehensive range of services, all the way from financing to parts support and service agreements, Babcock is well-placed to be a partner of choice for the quarrying industry.
Read full article in Modern Quarrying