Find out what dictates your service schedule
Running any business that has heavy machinery at the core of its offering takes careful planning to run effectively, particularly when it comes to servicing.
You have to get the balancing act of a steady revenue stream and keeping the equipment working economically and safely, absolutely spot-on.
Kobelco’s Technical Manager, Mick Skinner talks about how vital the tracking data that can be obtained from your Kobelco excavator is, when planning your services.
“Operators come to me all the time doing what they think is the right in servicing their machine every 500 hours. But if you put two machines that have both done 500 hours side-by-side, one having spent six percent of its time tracking, and the other spending 18 percent of its time tracking, there is going to be a big difference,” said Mick.
Mick goes on to explain that even though the hours the machine has worked is a good guide, the tracking data should be playing a bigger role in service schedules.
“The general rule of thumb for an excavators tracking percentage compared to total operating hours is roughly six to eight percent, so standard service schedules for track drives are based on this figure.
A machine spending 18 percent of its time tracking would have walked almost three times what is classed as normal. So when its 500 hour service is due the track drives have done the equivalent of 1,500 hours and this can mean burnt and degraded oil that would have lost its critical lubrication qualities.”
Mick explains that it’s a straight forward process to source that important information.
“All an operator needs to do is talk to their local authorised Kobelco dealer or Kobelco mechanic and they can access that data for the owner. If your machine has covered more distance than usual you need to get your machine serviced more regularly,” Mick said.
“It may not seem like a big deal but no two excavators do the same workload week in, week out. The wear and tear on the machine depends on the job and depends on the environment and the ground surface.
Whatever you use your Kobelco excavator for, make sure you take into account every part of the machine when determining when it needs servicing to get the most out of your excavator.”
