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Log handler ably handles east coast weather

Groupe Savoie tried out a number of log loading machines for the millyard at their sawmill in Quentin, New Brunswick, and decided on a Sennebogen 830 M-T, a log handler that is able to handle the cold—and wet weather—that hits the region.

Strongco’s Territory Manager Allan Lindsay
(centre) congratulates Vincent Caron on delivery of the Sennebogen 830 M-T to the Quentin, N.B. mill, joined by Caron’s Groupe Savoie team: service manager Tobby Leclair (far left) and, to the right, yard manager Tommy Lefebvre and operator Mario Levesque.

When it came time to add to the mobile equipment in one of their millyards, Groupe Savoie made a solid choice.

“We made a good choice,” reports Vincent Caron, production vice-president for Groupe Savoie in Quentin, a forestry town in northern New Brunswick. “I needed a new machine that could handle the cold,” he explains.

Established in 1978, Groupe Savoie is a successful family-owned producer of hardwood lumber and value-added products, situated high in the northeastern limits of the Appalachian Mountains. Winters here can be bitter cold, and the region is famous for the severe storms that pass through from the Atlantic.

The Groupe Savoie mill was already equipped with a log-loading material handler and with some older knuckle-boom loaders. But the firm has grown through a commitment to utilizing modern technologies to maximize productivity. So Caron and company president Alain Bossé were searching for a machine to upgrade the reliability of their log-loading capability.

In March 2015, Caron took delivery of a new Sennebogen 830 M-T, a purpose-built 90,000 lb. log handler featuring an undercarriage specially engineered for trailer pulling.

Caron and Bossé tried out several log loading machines before choosing the Sennebogen. “We visited a sawmill operating a Sennebogen 825 model, and our technician was quite satisfied with it and we were very impressed with Sennebogen’s response time to issues,” said Caron. “We saw good service support at this site, and got very good feedback from some other Sennebogen customers in Nova Scotia.”

In the end, Caron says, he and Bossé were pleased with the machine’s fuel economy, traction, service accessibility, speed and strength. Its productivity in moving wood from the yard to the mill sealed the decision.

“In effect, the efficiency of its loading cycles increased our capacity at the mill,” Caron says.

The 830 M-T is equipped with a 1.25 cord grapple. The Groupe Savoie yard in Quentin sometimes utilizes the machine to unload trucks, but its primary role is to load and pull a 36 ft. three-axle trailer. It picks stock from inventory and fills the trailer with up to 40 tons, then completes the cycle by offloading to a stockpile bunk at the mill.

At Groupe Savoie’s Quentin, New Brunswick mill, the Sennebogen 830 M-T quickly fills a 36 ft. trailer with 40 tons of hardwood then pulls the load to the mill, powered by a purpose-built undercarriage driven with transmissions on each axle.

With the machine’s delivery in the winter months, operators told Caron that they were impressed with its reliable starts on the coldest days. The new unit also met management’s goal of reducing downtime. Operators say they appreciate the stability of the 830, even with its hydraulic cab fully elevated. But the 830 really showed its mettle when the cold weather abated, and the spring thaw began.

“The yard is compacted earth,” Caron explains. “And it’s not a flat yard—we have some grades to climb to and from the mill. When the frost comes out in spring, the yard can turn into 12” to 18” of mud. Last year was very wet, and we had spots with up to two feet of mud. But the 830 M-T just carried on. It’s a good tractor!”

To date, Groupe Savoie is confident that they found the reliability they needed for the mill’s operation. The mill’s own technicians service the 830 M-T but, according to Caron, “our team gets good support for technical service. The Sennebogen dealer, Strongco, came here to train our guys.”

Through its three sawmills in the region, Groupe Savoie is producing 90 million board feet of hardwood annually. With the addition of the 830 M-T, the company looks forward to continued growth and success through its investment in reliability and productivity.

This story was supplied to Logging and Sawmilling Journal by Sennebogen LLC www.sennebogen-na.com