Skip to main content

Hitachi fulfils Middle Eastern promise

Lime & Stone Production Company is said to have significantly improved production levels with its first excavator – a Hitachi EX1200-6 – at its flagship Modim Quarry, near Tel Aviv, Israel. The large excavator was delivered in January 2012 to what is the biggest quarry in the Middle East, where the annual capacity is estimated at six million tonnes. Describing themselves as the largest producer of aggregates in Israel, Lime & Stone is part of Readymix Industries (Israel) Ltd, said to be the nation’s leading
September 19, 2012 Read time: 3 mins
Lime & Stone Production Company is said to have significantly improved production levels with its first excavator – a 233 Hitachi EX1200-6 – at its flagship Modim Quarry, near Tel Aviv, Israel.

The large excavator was delivered in January 2012 to what is the biggest quarry in the Middle East, where the annual capacity is estimated at six million tonnes.

Describing themselves as the largest producer of aggregates in Israel, Lime & Stone is part of Readymix Industries (Israel) Ltd, said to be the nation’s leading producer and supplier of raw materials for the construction industry. It was established in 1935 and operates across 11 sites, which produce high-quality aggregates, concrete blocks, lime and asphalt.

The EX1200-6 – the first of its kind in Israel – was supplied by CMD, the country’s authorised Hitachi dealer, which has been working with the quarry for more than 20 years. CMD’s service manager, Nisso Eini, has worked alongside Lime & Stone for seven years and played an integral role with the installation and operation of the machine.

“CMD has been engaged in everything from the initial consultation to assembling the EX1200-6,” said Eini. “Most importantly, I have also helped to train the operators, as Lime  & Stone had never previously worked with excavators.

“We presented some routine maintenance and servicing courses after the machine had been delivered. Since then, my regular visits to the site have been spent answering routine questions from the customer and managing the after-sales programme.”

The EX1200-6 takes between eight and ten passes to load the fleet of 100tonne dump trucks with its 6.7m³ bucket. This equates to eight truckloads per hour, depending on the density of the materials and the efficiency of the operator. Lime & Stone’s quarry manager, Shmulik Nachumi, said: “The Hitachi EX1200-6 is responsible for the extraction of the raw materials required for the production of limestone products. It is very safe and stable for excavating these materials from the quarry face or floor.

“An important factor in the choice of machine was CMD’s reputation of being reliable and supplying a good level of after-sales service and support. Overall, this has been a successful project in terms of changing the method in which we load the materials.”

Nachumi added that the Modim Quarry site had been adjusted to suit the excavator which had, in his opinion, already demonstrated its excellence in accessibility and loading time.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Quarry producer
    February 20, 2012
    A powerful Hitachi excavator is being used to maximise efficiency and simplify the extraction process at a Polish limestone quarry. The operation is owned by Cementownia Warta and since it purchased its EX1200-6, annual production in the Dzialoszyn limestone quarry has risen to 2.5 million tonnes.
  • Hitachi’s excavator digs deep in the Swiss Jura
    May 1, 2015
    A new Hitachi ZX870LCR-5 owned by Swiss company Lachat is making a significant impact on the production process at the Asuel La Malcôte quarry in the canton of Jura. The large Zaxis-5 excavator is excavating a mixture of marlstone and limestone materials in a much cleaner way than before, as well as helping to sanitise the relatively unstable site. Lachat, founded in 1948 and taken over by the Steiner Group in June 2013, has 42 employees working in quarrying, recycling and the production of aggregates
  • NUH Cement sticks with Hitachi
    July 30, 2012
    The cement factory with the highest output in Europe can be found some 130km east of Istanbul, Turkey, and belongs to NUH Cement. In 2007 the company's quarry in Hereke produced 4.3 million tonnes of limestone, and after on-site processing with additives such as gypsum, iron oxide and coal, this resulted in a yield of 5 million tonnes of Portland cement. Founded in 1966, the company's mission statement is to "serve Turkey's development programme with its production of cement, and huge investments in facilit
  • Hitachi EX1900-6 increases productivity at Swinden, UK quarry
    January 26, 2017
    Materials supplier Tarmac has invested in a Hitachi EX1900-6 ultra-large excavator for its Swinden Quarry in North Yorkshire, England. The EX1900-6 is used to load up to 1,200 tonnes of carboniferous limestone per hour directly into a 200tonne mobile crusher. A field conveyor takes the material to a secondary crusher at an average rate of 1,000tonnes/hour. The Hitachi model was supplied with a longer boom and arm, and a smaller 8m³ bucket, customary on a machine of this size. “This is because it needs