Routine Maintenance, Scheduled Servicing helps Li Yu Shan Mining Succeed

Resting on the coast of Eastern China is the ancient province of Zhejiang. Situated 37 miles (60 kilometers) from the provincial capital, Hangzhou, and 120 miles (200 km) from Shanghai, the subtropical region of Zhejiang sits a comfortable distance from the bustling cities on its borders.

Hidden deep within the dense bamboo forests of Moganshan is Li Yu Shan Mining Co Ltd. The quarrying company is renowned in the region for producing small and medium-sized aggregate of 20 to 25 mm and 50 to 60 mm. A third of its output is used as base material for the thousands of kilometers of high-speed railway tracks that crisscross China. A relatively cheap commodity, the product sells for 48 to 50 RMB per tonne, which was about $7.4 or €6.5 at press time.

Li Yu Shan Mining has built a solid reputation in China as a quarrying specialist, producing 1.5 million tonnes of material in 2015. The company was enjoying steady growth until the Chinese hit the brakes, causing it, and many construction companies, to contract.

Quarry operations manager Yuan Jian Zhong relies on the local equipment dealer to help manage the maintenance of heavy equipment.

Because of the relative slowdown and consequent lower use rates of equipment, contractors in China are starting to keep machines for longer. The key to customer success when doing this is to take special care of their machines.

Thanks to sensible routine maintenance and scheduled servicing, Li Yu Shan Mining has prevailed, and is again growing its staff of 60 and its machine line-up. Since 2010, the company has purchased seven EC210B and two EC240B models from its local Volvo dealer. More recently, the company put down a three million RMB (€400,000/$450,000) deposit for the first three of a batch of 15 big excavators for work on an upcoming mining project. Those are new machines that Quarry Operations Manager Yuan Jian Zhong will strive to keep in top condition, with help.

Ensuring the machines remain in optimum working condition is the job of Zhejiang Liyang Machinery, based in Deqing, Zhejiang. Managing the maintenance of more than 1,000 machines in Zhejiang alone, the dealership uses Volvo’s remote telematics, CareTrack, to alert customers of impending maintenance deadlines.

“The technology enables Volvo CE dealers to help customers extract an extra 200,000 RMB (€26,600/$30,000) out of the lifetime of a machine, even in the harsh conditions of a quarry,” said Cliff Zou, regional service manager at Volvo CE China.

Smart solutions, plus high performance machines, ensure companies like Li Yu Shan Mining reap the riches of the deep with more projects on the horizon.