LJ Developments use JCB Finance to tackle fuel price rises and invest in machine control from Leica Geosystems

Financing fuel savings & technology with LJ Developments MD, Leon Adams

With the changeover from Red to White diesel now in effect, Peter Haddock recently spoke to Leon about how he has used finance from JCB Finance to reduce his fuel bill dramatically.  Interestingly, the finance package was not just about investing in the latest Stage V JCB 245XR and JCB 245XR and 86C-2 excavators as it also included 3D machine control from Leica Geosystems. 

It's all about getting the most value out of each drop of fuel, and there are numerous ways Leon is now doing this. 

Three steps to fuel savings:

Step 1 - New machines are far more fuel-efficient, more reliable, and have increased maintenance cycles, so they are far more available.

Step 2 - Dig it once, move it well, using technology - 3D models of the site mean that operators know exactly what they are doing, so there is no waiting around idling. Areas are also modelled to show where stockpiles should be, reducing material movements. As-built data is also sent to Leon and the customer to monitor progress. 

Step 3 - Monitoring machine performance and health - The new fleet comes with LiveLink from JCB, which Leon is using to monitor fuel burn, idle time and machine health to ensure machine uptime and availability.

Information is shared with his team, and training is given on new machines to support the use of fuel saving modes and capabilities. 

And of course, with a finance bundle, he is in total control of costs as Leon explains: "JCB are so easy to use for finance, they sorted out the fitting of the Leica equipment so after the four year finance package is over I will own the machines and the Leica system. I intend to keep these machines for five years, so I will get a year's of free running."

To find out more about JCB Finance visit www.jcb-finance.co.uk To find out more about Leica Geosystems surveying and 3D machine control solutions, visit www.leica-geosystems.co.uk