Pit & Quarry, November 2011

EQUIPMENT FOCUS LOADING Bjoin Limestones Volvo L350F wheel loader has taken the place of two older loaders Uptime is critical to a crushing operation If the crusher is feeding an asphalt plant the crusher needs to run constantly to keep the asphalt plant up and running And the crusher depends on the loader thats charging it If the loader goes down the operation comes to a halt Downtime of a day or more is catastrophic Kristopher Bjoin says On that score the new loader excels Id say we get 97 to 98 percent availability with the Volvo Shaun Bjoin says Very seldom do we lose a day If its down its only for a couple of hours You wont find any loader that gives you 100 percent uptime This was the first new loader the company had ever purchased Shaun Bjoin says We have about 6000 hours on it and we have put two new tires on it so far Its comfortable its quiet and it has good power and good breakout force Jon Bjoin who manages crusher moves and serves as a jack of all trades for the business has run the new L350F for 80 to 100 hours The visibility is great and the joystick steering works wonderfully he says The joystick is very comfortable to use and saves on muscular effort compared to a steering wheel Its far less fatiguing for an operator to use the joystick to steer Jon says And it has an air ride seat thats very comfortable The seat is even heated for use in cold weather We run the loader every month except January and February On this day the L350F loader was Very seldom do we lose a day If its down its only for a couple of hours You wont find any loader that gives you 100 percent uptime Shaun Bjoin fitted with a 101 cu yd spade nose bucket and fed sand and stone mixed with clay to the Lippmann Dual King crushing plant at a site in Waukesha County Wis The crushed stone and dirt were going to an aggregate washing and separation facility at a nearby location We need to keep a steady flow of material moving to that wash plant says Shaun Bjoin who adds uptime is critical Eric Duskey who has run the machine for a year and a half says it has plenty of power good speed and is great on fuel Plus its very comfortable to operate I can spend 12 hours in that Volvo get out of the machine at the end of the day and not be fatigued And in that air conditioned cab I dont have to eat dust all day Duskey says that with the 101 cu yd bucket he has no trouble keeping up with the crusher We have done 8000 tons a day with this Dual King plant All in the family Bjoin Limestone is very much a family owned and operated business Mike Bjoin and his brother Paul are second generation Howards sons and are very involved in the business Mike is vice president in charge of crushing operations and his son Shaun is its superintendent Paul manages and maintains Bjoins trucks and coordinates the ag lime spreading business Kathleen or Kathy is Pauls wife and serves as president and CEO of the company As the utility infielder of the company her son Jon moves crushers installs sewers for the excavating business serves as its foreman and operates equipment on occasion His brother Kristopher is the superintendent of the excavating business and does estimating and project management When the company purchased land in 1978 to start the business workers stripped off the topsoil and did some test drilling to find a deposit of limestone The quarry began life with one dump truck one John Deere loader and a Hammermill lime grinder Bjoin originally focused on grinding agricultural lime for use on local farms The company later grew and diversified into custom crushing trucking excavation and septic system installation PQ 16 PIT QUARRY November 2011 www pitandquarry com