Having learned from a customer that several YC360LC-8 excavators, nicknamed mining king, was doing well in a reclamation project in Yuhuan, Zhejiang Province, I immediately headed to the site.

A YC360LC-8 hydraulic excavator on the site of a reclamation project

Customer trusts Yuchai excavators

Approaching the project site, I saw several Yuchai excavators working intensely.

The six YC360LC-8 excavators have played a great role in the project. They have provided strong guarantee in terms of project quality and progress. Nearly 80 percent of the project has been completed, said Manager Liu in charge of the project.

Of the six YC360 excavators, four are from Zhang Jinfa, an old customer of Yuchai Heavy Industry Company Limited, and three of the four are new machines that were brought by Zhang to the seaside for a test upon delivery in August 2012. During the visit, I did not saw Zhang but several operators working busily on the excavators. The bulky robots were dabbling by the sea with their arms, producing loud bangs. The scene was spectacular.

According to Zhang, he has 10 large-tonnage excavators, including two YC230 excavators, four YC360 excavators and four foreign-branded excavators. Compared with excavators of other brands and same tonnage, Yuchai excavators enjoy prominent superiorities in excavating force, efficiency and stability, upon recommendation by my friend in late 2010, I purchased two YC230LC-8 excavators for the first time and have long undertaken earthworks and mining works; as projects increased gradually, I purchased three more in August 2012, and these excavators are almost operating all day long, Zhang said smilingly on the phone.

Operators praise Yuchai mining king

Some drive BMW or Benz on the way to work and we operate excavators everyday. But we feel good and proud to steer such huge machines skillfully, said an operator who was to changing shifts.

YC360LC-8, famed as mining king, is popular with large equipment customers especially in typical harsh working conditions such as coal mining in Xinjiang and ore mining in Yunnan.

With a large bucket, large tonnage, strong power, fast rotation, a small tail turning radius and precise movements, YC360 is nimble, flexible and comfortable to operate. Combined with the low-gravity-center chassis, ultra-wide crawler and additional weight, strong shock can be absorbed even when booms move swiftly in excavation operations, the machine is stable and has boosted work speed and efficiency most fundamentally. Besides, large excavators are easy to steer, as YC360s cab is spacious and cozy, we do not need a break after working several hours, a young operator who just changed shifts said earnestly, gesturing at the machine.

Engineers comment shows outstanding performance

At Yuchai Heavy Industry (Tianjin) Co., Ltd., I inquired of Lyu Wei, vice president of the General Research Institute of Yuchai Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. and service director & senior engineer of Yuchai Heavy Industry (Tianjin) Co., Ltd., about the performance of YC360LC-8. According to Lyu, besides high efficiency, large excavating force, strong structure and drive comfort, YC360 is easy to maintain. It has a fuel pre-filter that separates oil from water, a remote-configured oil filter, a pilot filter and an easy-to-maintain air filter; uses a parallel radiator, a hydraulic oil cooler and an air conditioning condenser to facilitate maintenance.

YC360 had long been tested in harsh sites including mines and quarries, and had been upgraded for a dozen times before being launched on the market, thus ensuring product quality, he added.

Located in the middle of the golden coastline of the southeast coastal area in Zhejiang, Yuhuan consists of Yuhuan Island, Chumen Peninsular and 135 outlying islands, is one of the countrys 14 island counties as well as a densely-populated county scarce of resources like land, water and electricity. According to Yuhuans private economic development reports in recent years, many external investors have slowed down investment in Yuhuan or shifted their investment to other areas for its lack of land. The main purpose of the reclamation project is to construct an industrial development zone and large infrastructure to alleviate the contradiction between land strain and lack of the land for investment, accomplish the balance of land requisition and compensation and further urban construction and development.

(Hou Yuzhu)