Liebherr dozers arrive in Colombia

The relationship between Liebherr Colombia SAS and Cementos Argos – the largest cement producer in Colombia – started well before the delivery of the 50 t class dozer. More than four years before, as a matter of fact.

At the time, Cementos Argos was looking to replace some of the older excavators in its fleet at the Santa Ana limestone mine in northern Colombia. It soon became clear that two R 9100s would be the right machines for the job. Cementos Argos received its first R 9100 in 2021 with a second unit delivered the following year.

It was the speed, productivity and versatility of these 100 t excavators that piqued Cementos Argos’ interest in Liebherr dozers in general and the PR 766 dozer in particular. And the exceptional customer support provided by Liebherr Colombia further encouraged an expansion of the partnership between the two companies.

According to Santa Ana personnel, the performance and reliability of Liebherr’s machines, as well as the support from Liebherr Colombia, has been unique and differentiates Liebherr from other OEMs that they’ve worked with in the past.

Experiencing the wide world of Liebherr

While Cementos Argos was excited about the Liebherr equipment in its fleet, and the fantastic support from Liebherr Colombia, the business wasn’t overly familiar with the wider world of Liebherr at that time. So, to showcase the Liebherr Group in all its glory, Liebherr Colombia invited members of Cementos Argos’ executive and operations teams to attend Bauma 2022 in Munich (Germany) and then to go on and visit some of Liebherr’s production facilities in Europe.

‘It was really important to us that Cementos Argos had the opportunity to better understand the Liebherr Group, its culture and the potential impact of our two companies working together,’ says Alvaro Jimenez, mining operations and commercial manager, Liebherr Colombia. ‘Bauma and the subsequent factory visits gave us the perfect chance to demonstrate all of this.’

While at Bauma, the Cementos Argos representatives were able to get up close and personal with the products, services and different innovations of the majority of Liebherr’s product segments. What they saw thoroughly impressed them – as did the kindness and work ethic of each Liebherr employee they interacted with during the exhibition.

After experiencing the breadth of Liebherr’s product offerings in Munich, Liebherr Colombia took the Cementos Argos representatives on a tour of a number of Liebherr’s production facilities in France and Austria that are connected to the company’s mining product segment. In all locations, Liebherr Colombia was able to showcase Liebherr’s mining portfolio as well as the processes, production plants, machines and Liebherr employees that make Liebherr’s machines the powerhouses that they are.

‘Even though we’d known Liebherr for years, we were incredibly impressed with what we saw of the company on our trip. Each facility had a fantastic environment that we truly felt during our visits,’ said Martin Monsalve, director of mining management and raw materials, Cementos Argos.

Taking a chance

In 2023, a little while after the Cementos Argos and Liebherr Colombia delegates returned from their European experience, the companies got to talking about Cementos Argos’ machinery requirements. During these discussions it became apparent that Cementos Argos was looking to modernise its dozer fleet at its La Calera mine in the Valle del Cauca department of south-western Colombia.

However, with no other Liebherr dozers in Colombia at that point, it wasn’t possible for Cementos Argos to know for sure whether a Liebherr dozing solution would be the right fit for La Calera. So together with Liebherr Colombia they came to an agreement: Cementos Argos would trial the PR 766 dozer for six months at La Calera. At the conclusion of that period, Cementos Argos would then add the 50 t class dozer to its fleet permanently – so long as the machine achieved the KPIs agreed upon by the two companies.

And achieve them, it did! The PR 766 met – and exceeded – the KPIs set at the beginning of the trial period. Not only did the PR 766 provide exceptional fuel efficiency compared to other 50 t dozers on site, but it also achieved 91.7 % availability in the six-month period. And on top of all of this, the new dozer also gave operators a safe, reliable and comfortable ride on shift thanks to its hydrostatic system and automatic gearshift.

Operations and maintenance staff at La Calera were amazed with the performance and results of the PR 766 and continuously praised the support they received from Liebherr Colombia as something very different than anything they had experienced with any other OEM.

‘On top of the fantastic performance of the dozer and the customer service from Liebherr Colombia, the amount of fuel we’re saving with the PR 766 is currently fuelling a mining drill on site,’ says Anyelo Alvarez, La Calera maintenance superintendent, Cementos Argos.

Exceptional all-around support

To ensure that both the Cementos Argos team and the PR 766 were set up for success at La Calera, Liebherr Colombia provided detailed training to the customer’s technicians and operators prior to the arrival of the PR 766. But the support didn’t stop Liebherr Colombia embedded two experienced technicians at La Calera to perform routine maintenance on the PR 766 once it arrived on site. These technicians executed daily checks on the dozer’s structure, lubrication and hoses while also ensuring correct operational processes were being followed.

Once the PR 766 became a permanent fixture at the mine, the Liebherr Colombia technicians remained at La Calera for another six months to give them the chance to implement a long- term technical assistance plan to support this machine in the years to come. The plan includes phone support, periodic visits and maintaining spare parts at Liebherr Colombia’s warehouse in Barranquilla.

‘We are so excited to see the PR 766 continue to exceed our customer’s expectations on site,’ says Jimenez. ‘This now gives us the opportunity to showcase the strength of Liebherr dozers in the Colombian mining sector. We are committed to being a reliable and trustworthy partner for our customers and to provide the best experience when they work with us and now, with the success of this project, we can support even more customers.’

Story originally published in Groundbreaking magazine 2 | 2025

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