OxRocks is a new quarry based in Oxford, Canterbury in New Zealand’s South Island that specialises in aggregate products. Recently, the company invested in a hydraulic loader scale solution, the RDS Loadmaster Alpha 100 supplied by Aptella.

The Alpha 100 system is a trade approved loader scale solution that enables users to transact of their weight records. By connecting to the machine’s hydraulic system, Loadmaster Alpha 100 delivers high accuracy weight information that responds to the machine’s temperature, speed and the terrain to always ensure precise results.

When it came to choosing a loader scale system, OxRocks opted for Loadmaster because of the service and support he received from Aptella. “I tried to get a quote from another supplier but aside from one email from them, I haven’t heard a peep,” Manager Warren Sagar said.

“Aptella’ team couldn’t have been more different, their Sales Manager came to visit me in person to discuss my needs, he followed up with me and the system was installed and working within two weeks. I was very impressed,” he added.

As with any new technology, OxRocks needed some support and training initially to get going with the system. “Their installer and technical expert put the system on despite bad weather and spent the best part of a day with me to give me product training on how to program in the products and download data to a USB and so on.

“Aptella also sat down with my partner who does our accounts and explained how to use the reports, so she’s very happy and comfortable with our new setup,” he added.

The follow up support Mr Sagar has received has made all the difference. “About four days after it had been installed I got a follow-up call to check how everything was going and Lochie their technical guy dropped in when he was in the area to see if I needed a hand with anything. I can’t fault that kind of support and it means a lot when you’re a small business to have that kind of relationship with your suppliers,” he added.

When it comes to the benefits of the technology, Mr Sagar said the Loadmaster Alpha 100 is reducing Chain of Responsibility risk significantly. “Before we had the Loadmaster system we were calculating each bucket by eye, which carries a high degree of risk because we could be liable if a truck was found to be overloaded,” he said.

“For a small business, that risk would have a significant impact on our bottom line if something went wrong, so now we’ve eliminated it with accurate records proving that we are loading trucks correctly and evenly,” he added.

In addition to risk management, the new hydraulic machine scale is saving the company a significant amount of material and therefore money. “After having it installed, I calculated that before we had this system we were overloading every bucket by around 20%,” Mr Sagar said.

“When you add that up over a month, we’re saving a significant amount now that we’re loading and charging for the correct amount. And every truck load counts!” he added.

Having had the system for a month, Mr Sagar said it is paying for itself in the context of the saved materials. “Although on the books it will take longer to get a full return, it’s clearly paying dividends by eliminating our overloading problem,” he said.

The third major benefit for OxRocks is the ability to provide accurate reporting. “We have consent from Environment Canterbury to extract material from the nearby river, which we pay them for via a royalty,” Mr Sagar said.

Accurate weight records supplied by the Loadmaster system make settling OxRocks’ account with the council fair and transparent. “My paper-based record keeping system wouldn’t cut it, but with Loadmaster the process works really well as we simply download the data to a USB and print if off for them,” he said.

“The system has been a real winner for us and I would recommend Aptella to any other company wanting to get great back-up support.”