A trio of rugged and reliable Hyundai machines ensures a Southland export success story you might never have heard of continues to keep pace with international demand
A left turn down a nondescript unsealed road just short of Tiwai Point at the southernmost end of the South Island will lead you to the gate of a quiet but impressive export success story.
Located on the edge of Awarua Bay (next stop: Stewart Island), at first glance Southern Stone & Timber’s quarry looks pretty much like any other quarry in Southland. Or anywhere for that matter.
But John and Kim Drain’s operation here counts among its regular customers companies in as far-flung locations as the United States, Portugal, Australia and Japan. It consigns over 300 containers of its products to ports all over the world every year, and it can barely keep up with demand.
The product? Decorative aggregate, which is highly sought after for use in flooring, landscaping and aquariums. But the naturally round and smooth pebble aggregate is mostly favoured in the design and construction of swimming pools.
“Swimming pools probably represent 95 percent of our market,” says manager and co-owner, John. “Our biggest product is what’s known as Awarua White, and there’s plenty of it here.”
Other products go by names like Southern Gold, Sable Black and Jade. But Awarua White is by far the most popular and plentiful aggregate in the vicinity of the 105-acre quarry – I realise after talking with John that I drove in on a road effectively made of the stuff to get here.
“We send containers to every port in Australia except Darwin. We send them to New Orleans, Boston, Long Beach California. We have clients throughout Asia and the Pacific. There are 10 staff here, which is better than when we started with just two, but to be honest we still feel short staffed,” he says.
When John, along with wife and business partner Kim, first set up shop here, the place was just grass. That was back in 2007. But with the help of good friends and business partners both here and in the United States, Southern Stone & Timber has developed substantially since.
Today the quarry incorporates warehousing, a washing plant capable of washing 100 tonnes of aggregate per hour at peak capacity, a rotary kiln drying facility, screening plants and a bagging system that’s able to bag four 20kg bags of aggregate per minute.
“Twenty kilo bags are the sweet spot,” says John. “That’s the easiest handling size once the aggregate gets to its destination.”
But here at the source – like in any quarry – John, Kim and their team need big gear to shift material in bulk and without any bother. This is where the company’s Hyundai machine fleet is pivotal.
“We’ve been using Hyundai machinery for years now, and we’ve relied on the support of [Hyundai distributor] Porter Equipment for even longer – basically since we started the operation. We like their people, and we like their machines: we wouldn’t be relying on either otherwise.”
Currently the quarry is running two Hyundai HL770-9 wheel loaders and a Hyundai HX220 excavator. When it came time to bolster the wheel loader count in the quarry, it was a no-brainer for John and Kim to pair their existing Hyundai HL770-9 with another exactly the same. The new Hyundai HX220 – which arrived on-site within the last few months – replaces an older excavator which also wore the Hyundai nameplate.
“The Hyundai machines have never given us any serious trouble. They’re good workhorses for what we need them to do. And if something comes up, we know Porters will sort it,” says John.
While Southern Stone & Timber has a maintenance engineer on staff in the form of Aidan Healy, the company still relies on Porter Equipment’s field technicians for all scheduled servicing. John says the trio of Hyundai machines run like clockwork, although it’s a tougher life for the attachments.
“It’s actually pretty hard work out there for the machines,” he says. “The aggregate is like working with concrete – we go through a fair few bucket teeth. And of course we’re also dealing with a coastal environment here, so that brings other challenges.”
Hyundai’s current generation of wheel loaders and excavators have been engineered from the ground up to be as robust as possible for the wide variety of applications owners use them for.
The Hyundai HL Series wheel loaders feature a load sensing hydraulic system with variable displacement piston pump in order to better protect the machine with heavy aggregate in the bucket. They also boast a long-life cooling system which is designed for additional durability, is resistant to thermal shock, and has an auto reverse feature to keep debris from accumulating in the coolers. The wheel loaders also feature a redesigned steering cylinder lug and bucket link, which is cast steel for additional strength and reliability.
When the new Hyundai HX series excavators arrived on the market, they brought with them a wide range of updates aimed at better protecting the machine and making them a comfier and safer work environment for the operator.
John and Kim’s 22-tonne Hyundai HX220 features, for example, a more durable cooling module with an enlarged vent hole on the inlet cover, and high-grade, high-pressure hoses with improved heat and pressure resistance.
The Hyundai HX series also improves on the lubricity of connecting parts between the machine and attachments. Gaps with attachments are minimised by wear-resistant long-life pins, bushes, and polymer shims, while the end of the arm features a wear-resistant cover plate designed to reduce abrasion on the connector to the bucket. A further positive here is that vibration is significantly reduced also, meaning the excavator is more stable – better for the machine and better for the operator in terms of helping reduce fatigue through smoother running.
“The camera system in the new digger is excellent too,” says John, referring to the Advanced Around View Monitoring system, which gives the machine operator a clear field of vision right around the machine – including a top-down view of the excavator in its immediate surroundings – thanks to cameras located around the upper bodywork.
“We have customers all over the globe who rely on us to produce the decorative aggregate they need. They’re not concerned with how we extract it at our end of the world: just that it’s the top-quality product they’re expecting when it arrives. For us though, in order to keep our operation running smoothly and keep pace with demand, we need reliable quarry machines. We’ve got that covered off with Hyundai equipment.”
Images by Cameron Officer