With the recent addition of SDLG excavators to its portfolio, Babcock now offers a comprehensive ‘value’ offering to its customers. The new range of excavators joins an already established line of SDLG wheel loaders and the recently added range of BULL backhoe loaders, allowing Babcock to offer a full ‘value’ line of loading tools to the construction and quarrying industries.
Traditionally known for its Volvo premium offering, Babcock has over the years steadily grown its ‘value’ offering to meet the needs of fleet owners who emphasise price competitiveness, coupled with quality, sufficient functionality, reliability and sound backup support. One of the major trends in the global construction equipment market is for customers wanting machinery that costs less and which has the capability of undertaking less rugged jobs where premium machines are not essential.
Babcock’s ‘value’ journey began as far back as early 2012 when the company was appointed the authorised distributor for SDLG wheel loaders, motor graders and vibratory rollers in Southern Africa. Over the years, Babcock has achieved huge success with the SDLG wheel loader range, with several customers running large fleets. To provide context, a quarrying customer, Firmabuild Aggregates, is currently running over 20 SDLG wheel loaders at its Gauteng operations, underlining the growing popularity of these machines in the quarrying and the mining value chain at large.
Enter excavators
Following just over a decade of success with the wheel loaders and motor graders, Babcock has now expanded its ‘value’ offering with the addition of SDLG excavators. Although SDLG launched its first ever line of excavators back in 2010, the range was initially only available for markets such as China, the Middle East and Brazil. Having already proven its mettle for nearly 15 years in these markets, the SDLG range of excavators is now available in South Africa through Babcock, SDLG’s existing distribution partner in southern Africa.
“We are excited to add the range of SDLG excavators to our line of products,” says David Vaughan, MD – Equipment at Babcock. “In our view, this is a good quality, cost-effective, value product with a ‘premium’ touch to it. Given that Volvo Construction Equipment, our major principal, owns 70% of SDLG, one can easily recognise the premium Volvo design heritage in this line of excavators. Customers who have already taken delivery of these units locally have expressed great satisfaction with the range in terms of build quality, efficiency, performance and productivity.”
Babcock is initially bringing four models to the local market. These include the 6-tonne (t) E660FL, the 13-t E6135H, the 21-t E6215H and the 34-t class E6335H. The 21-t and 34-t models are ideally suited for the quarrying sector. Mark Senyard, Product Manager – BULL Equipment and SDLG at Babcock, says the 21-t class machine has proven to be the most popular machine in the range to date.
“We took delivery of our first batch of 30 units across all four models in February this year. The 21-t machine has so far proved to be the most popular, all of the first ten units brought into the country having been sold,” says Senyard.
The 34-t has also gained quick traction, with several units already operational at customer sites. “We are really excited about the E6335H, not only because of its favourable price point against some of the competition in the 34-t size class, but also due to its performance. To provide context, one of the customers operating this machine has deployed it in a very tough application for its size, but the feedback is that the machine is punching well above its size and performing beyond expectations,” says Senyard, adding that the SDLG team from China has been heavily involved during the rollout of the first machines in the country, working closely with Babcock to ensure smooth operations for customers.
The 21-t E6215H model comes with an electronically controlled unit pump which adopts a high-pressure fuel supply system to deliver high injection pressure, sufficient combustion and good power. The engine electric control unit (EECU) controls the fuel supply throughout the process and matches the relationship between the load and the output of the main pump, ensuring both sound performance and fuel consumption. This contributes to a 10% reduction in fuel consumption compared with the previous generation.
“The E6215H excavator adopts the most advanced electronically controlled positive full flow control system. This system allows for a perfect fit between the engine and the hydraulic system, as well as giving higher efficiency and performance. The electronically controlled main valve, which replaces the traditional hydraulically controlled main valve, generates fast response speed and, compared with the previous generation, results in a 10% increase in operating efficiency,” explains Senyard.
With a 34 800 kg operating weight, the E6335F is equipped with a standard 1,9 m³ bucket. The 215-kw Deutz engine provides high power and high productivity. The E6335F is ideally suited for quarrying, small-scale mining, large infrastructure projects and earthworks.
Plugging the hole
With the July 2023 addition of BULL backhoe loaders and skid steers to its stable, Babcock has plugged a crucial gap in its product line-up. The range provides Babcock customers in the mining and quarrying value chain with a proven utility tool for housekeeping and other small-scale support functions.
“The addition of BULL machines has not only given us a proven tool to compete in the important backhoe loader market, but, more importantly, complements our existing offering to become a true one-stop shop for our customers’ equipment needs,” says Senyard. “We are now better equipped to offer a comprehensive solution across applications, including construction, plant hire, agriculture and waste management, among others.”
While backhoes and skid steers are the ultimate tools of choice for construction and plant hire markets, Senyard says the BULL range has also found application in quarrying and mining environments. “While these are not production machines, they are an important utility tool for crucial jobs on mine and quarry sites, such as housekeeping, small-scale trenching, cleaning around processing plants and under space-constrained areas such as conveyors,” explains Senyard.
Babcock offers three BULL backhoe loader models – the HD76, the HD96 and the larger HD100 – in five different variants. The HD76 is available in a General Purpose (GP) configuration only. The HD96 and HD100 are offered in two different versions – GP and Multi-Purpose (MP). In an MP configuration, the machine comes with a clamshell bucket, fold-over forks and an extended dipper.
Since the announcement of the dealership last year, Babcock has already put a sizeable number of BULL backhoe loaders to work across applications. Amatshe Mining is one of the customers that has taken delivery of two HD96 units for one of its Gauteng operations. Here, the company extracts gold and processes aggregates from legacy gold dumps. The initial HD96, the first ever backhoe loader in Amatshe Mining’s fleet, was acquired in January this year, with the second machine delivered in July.
One of the machines has been deployed in a taxing reef picking exercise, where it is selectively mining previously left behind reef at old gold operations. The machine is then deployed to load the material it mines onto tipper trucks. The other machine is used for general duties such as lifting buckets and moving things around the engineering workshop. It is also used for any other utility work such as small-scale trenching on site.
“We have established a dedicated sales team to look after our SDLG and BULL ranges. However, the brands still benefit from the same Babcock aftermarket support that our customers have become accustomed to, across all our branches,” concludes Senyard.
