A new bucket from ONTRAC Group has taken the stress out of upgrading an excavator for a Newcastle quarry.
Quarry Products Newcastle has supplied roadbase and aggregate to the local construction market for nearly five decades.
The business recently acquired a new excavator, which would be the primary tool for the quarry’s load and haul operations.
Having upgraded to a 90-tonne model, Quarry Products Newcastle quarry manager Matt Frost needed to choose the bucket to work alongside it.
After speaking with the excavator’s agent and learning what kinds of buckets were available, he found himself drawn to the ONTRAC Extreme Premium XP Bucket.
“I’d heard the bucket had good results on another quarry,” Frost told Quarry. “Timeframe was also a big factor, and the ONTRAC bucket was built for that machine, so it was efficient to acquire.”
“It was reasonably priced and had a decent wear package included – it looked like a well-built bucket.”
ONTRAC Group is an Australian manufacturer that specialises in building high-quality, bespoke excavator buckets that can handle the tough quarrying sector. The company does not aim to provide everything for everybody – instead, it builds buckets and excavator attachments that maximise productivity and increase profitability.
This focus on robust design with high-quality materials was important for Frost, who was looking to minimise downtime at the site.
“Reliability is the big factor we look for in equipment,” he said. “Anything that can reduce downtime and ease maintenance means we can get more dollars per tonne.”
“If one link in the chain breaks, the whole system stops.
“The flow-on effect of unplanned downtime is massive.
If a machine goes down, you can’t service your customers, which then makes them unhappy.”
The new bucket has been performing well for around 1500 hours. All of the wear packages are functioning well, and no replacements or repairs have been necessary.
Frost said the bucket looks easy to service, with teeth that can be easily changed out.
“ONTRAC have been good with aftersales support,” he said. “I’ve had a number of phone calls from their team about wear parts, but we’ve not needed to go down that route yet.”
“They’ve provided us with a manual on the bucket that includes all of the parts that are required and follow up with us every couple of months to see if there are any dramas.”
ONTRAC Group is a member of the ‘Hardox in My Body’ quality program, which provides direct and prioritised access to steel manufacturer SSAB.
The program is open to manufacturers that can provide their products and production methods that meet the highest quality standards.
Being part of this program allowed ONTRAC Group to begin building its range of XMOR high productivity buckets.
Frost said he had been impressed by the premium quarry bucket and was interested in seeing the XMOR Bucket in use.
“Their XMOR range of buckets looks pretty interesting. I like to try new things, and if it’s capable of working even better, then it’s definitely something we would want to try,” he said.
“We would definitely go back to ONTRAC in future. They’re easy to work with and it’s been smooth sailing throughout the purchasing process.”•
For more information, visit ontracgroup.com.au
