When Howard Sheppard Inc. took delivery recently of 10 Hitachi Zaxis 450s from METRAC, it wasn’t because the company had traditionally purchased Hitachi machines. Nor was the decision primarily based on the parts and service offered by the dealer. Rather, the Sandersville, GA-based company purchased the excavators “because they were orange,” said company president Cliff Sheppard.

Justifying an equipment purchase based on color is not necessarily common practice but in this case understandable – especially when witnessing Howard Sheppard Inc.’s fleet of 240 orange trucks hauling kaolin, a mineral also known as china clay, through middle Georgia. As the largest hauler of kaolin in the U.S., the company also has 423 trailers, 22 excavators and a variety of other equipment used to maintain mine roads.

Of course, the orange color of the excavators was not reason enough for Howard Sheppard Inc. to purchase them. In order to move the amount of kaolin required, the company needed quality equipment.

“We are constantly moving machines, and the Hitachis we bought are a good size to quickly move from one pit to another as the quality of kaolin changes,” said Cliff.

A natural resource, kaolin is a white, alumina-silicate that is often used in making paper applications that range from pulp extenders to high-opacity fillers and high-gloss coatings. Yet, the uses of kaolin extend into mildew-resistant paints, printing inks, cosmetics, nylon, wire insulation, rubber tires, medicines, herbicides, ceramics and truck body components.

According to the Georgia Mining Association’s Web site (www.georgiamining.org), deposits of the mineral in Georgia are the result of deeply weathered crystalline rock erosion in the Piedmont Plateau that occurred 50 to 100 million years ago, when the waters of the Atlantic Ocean covered much of Georgia’s Coastal Plain.

Georgia exports kaolin throughout the world, and the mineral is the highest volume product shipped from the Port of Savannah. Companies drill continuously until locating just the right form of high-quality kaolin. Once found, land rights are obtained, and the layers of earth above the kaolin are removed. Heavy machinery removes as much as 100 ft. (30.5 m) or more of earth, or “overburden,” to reach the deposits far beneath the surface. Once the overburden is removed, the contracted trucking company moves in to load and deliver the kaolin.

Howard Sheppard Inc. started out more than 58 years ago hauling cotton, seed and sand, which crews would shovel by hand into trucks. In the 1970s, when kaolin companies found it to be more cost effective to have the trucking contractors load and haul the mineral, Howard Sheppard Inc. began developing a fleet of equipment to handle the job.

Today, the company’s equipment doesn’t sit idle at the mineral sites. “We use [our excavators] daily and they need to perform. METRAC’s field service handles all our John Deere and Hitachi service, and their reputation with us is highly rated,” said Cliff. “We buy a lot of equipment. Having a dealer that still maintains the personal touch means a lot to us. METRAC has done a very good job of this.

“We’ve dealt with METRAC for quite a while because of their service performance and the relationship we’ve established. If a problem arises, our sales representative, Dwight Lee, takes care of us. I like to have the home phone number of any person I deal with – I have Dwight’s,” he said.

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