PDF - Hitachi Construction

A HITACHI CONSTRUCTION & MINING PRODUCTS PUBLICATION
THIRD ISSUE 2014
AN UNFORGETTABLE
HITACHI FLY-IN EVENT
page 4
ALSO INSIDE
Keeping Your Hydraulic Fluid Clean
page 9
Addicted to Hitachi
page 10
Rock-solid Performance
page 14
CONFIDENCE
ON THE INSIDE
DOWNTIME
Hitachi stands behind the efficiency, reliability
and durability of its products. In May, customers
and
an
n dealers experienced this quality at an
unforgettable Hitachi fly-in event hosted at Deereunforgettab
Hitachi
Hi
itachii Construction
Co
Machinery Corporation
iin
n Kernersville,
Kern
N.C.
At the four-day event, attendees got a
behind-the-scenes look at excavator
behin
production, toured the plant’s $97
prod
million
mi
illiion expansion, and also had time to
golf an
and take in a NASCAR® All-Star Race.
Learn mor
more about the exciting fly-in and plant
expansion
expansi
ion on page four.
In this issue of BREAKOUT, you will also see how
Texas State Utilities Inc., serviced by ROMCO
Equipment Co., is experiencing big benefits from
some of Hitachi’s smallest excavators – the ZX27U-3
and ZX35U-5. Additionally, you will learn how
the EX2600-6 is providing rock-solid performance
for BNI Coal® Ltd.
Hitachi is known for its legacy of superior
hydraulic technology. See the tips on page nine
for keeping your hydraulic fluid clean so your
machines continue to operate smoothly.
We appreciate your loyalty to Hitachi and hope
to see you at future fly-in events.
Dan Fitzpatrick
Director, Sales, Hitachi Division
The frst thing you want in an excavator is confdence.
The last thing? Problems. At Hitachi, we focus on
excavators, so we know how to build them to give
you what you need. More reliability. More productivity.
More confdence. THAT’S ALL.
Have an article idea or address change for BREAKOUT?
Contact Kristin Stires at [email protected]
or 855.646.3347.
japan
日本からのメッセージ
[ message from japan ]
“…we have a social duty
to actively reduce
environmental impact…”
“The HCM Group believes that as a construction machinery manufacturer, we
have a social duty to actively reduce environmental impact over the product life
cycle. We are undertaking measures to increase environmental performance
through the entire product life cycle – from materials, transport, sales, operation,
through to disposal, in addition to energy saving and zero-emission initiatives at
production facilities.”
Yuichi Tsujimoto
President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Hitachi Construction Machinery (HCM)
LEARN ABOUT THE HCM GROUP’S ENVIRONMENTAL VISION AT
hitachi-c-m.com/global/environment/vision/
cab
from the
ALEX CAMACHO
Operating a ZX35U-5
Texas State Utilities Inc.
Fort Worth, Texas
Serviced by ROMCO Equipment Co.
“It’s good for working in alleyways
and confined spaces. It also has
good stability. It’s a small machine,
but it has a lot of power.”
Third Issue 2014 BREAKOUT
|3
In May, customers and dealers attended an unforgettable Hitachi fly-in event
complete with brand new construction excavators, golfing and NASCAR®.
Who wouldn’t have a good time?
4
|
HitachiConstruction.com
he four-day event kicked-off with an evening reception held at the Grandover Resort in
Greensboro, N.C. The next day attendees saw excavators transforming from “steel to real”
at Deere-Hitachi Construction Machinery Corporation in Kernersville, N.C. While touring
the plant’s $97 million expansion, attendees met dedicated Deere-Hitachi employees and
product engineers who provided in-depth explanations of the plant’s processes.
Dirt few at the plant’s demonstration area where attendees operated machines and experienced
excavator effciency, reliability and durability. Two excavator simulators were also on site, and
attendees vied for domination in the simulator challenge, with Mark Osler of Indiana Earth Inc.
taking top honors.
Third Issue 2014 BREAKOUT
|5
he following day, some dealers and customers hit the
greens at the Grandover Resort’s premier golf course.
Meanwhile, others toured the NASCAR® Hall of
Fame and watched the rubber burn at the NASCAR®
Sprint All-Star Race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Everyone had the opportunity to wander through the pits and
see the cars up close. They were then treated to two concerts
on the infeld track with country music artist Jake Owen and
Grammy®-winning band Train. After the concerts, the guests
received the VIP treatment at Richard Petty’s condo, located on
Turn One with its stunning views of the entire racetrack. Petty
and his son, Kyle, even made a surprise visit to sign autographs
and pose for pictures.
While this Hitachi fy-in will be hard to top, we’re looking
forward to seeing what’s in store for the next event! ■
BOOSTING
PRODUCTION AND
EFFICIENCY IN
KERNERSVILLE
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HitachiConstruction.com
The feedback was unanimous – Hitachi
fly-in attendees were extremely impressed
with the Deere-Hitachi Construction
Machinery plant. The plant’s $97 million
expansion includes purchasing property
with an existing warehouse and adding
new manufacturing buildings. Once completed, the expansion will allow for a 60
percent increase in production capacity,
and operational space will total 120 774
square meters (1.3 million square feet).
Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. Ltd.
and John Deere formed Deere-Hitachi
Construction Machinery Corporation, a
50/50 joint venture company, in 1988.
The company manufactures John Deere
and Hitachi midsize excavators. The eight
current Hitachi models include ZX130-5,
ZX160LC-5, ZX180LC-5, ZX210LC-5,
ZX250LC-5, ZX290LC-5, ZX350LC-5
and ZX380LC-5. Each excavator is made
to order and available for customization.
As part of the expansion, additional
manufacturing space is being added to
the main campus, which houses plate
processing, fabrication, machining and
paint. Dwight Laginess, operations
manager of fabrication, explained how
the facility maintains its “steel to real”
process, in which the plant
p
produces a complete
p
machine in eight days.
m
Dw
Dwight
Laginess,
Operations Manager
O
of Fabrication
“We are committed to ‘kaizen,’ which
means ‘change for the better,’” Laginess
said. “We focus on lean manufacturing
and are always working on continuous
improvement.”
State-of-the-art technology was a key
part of the expansion plan, and DeereHitachi now has more than 20 new
robotic machines. Ensuring precision and
optimum quality, two of these robots paint
the booms and arms in the facility’s new
paint center. After paint, the excavator
fronts, track frames and main frames are
moved to the plant’s new east campus for
assembly and testing.
David Hunt, operations manager of
assembly, paint and logistics, attributed
the plant’s success not only to its
“WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW IS THE DREAM –
IT’S THE VISION FROM 25 YEARS AGO.”
Bryan Swerbinsky,
Deere-Hitachi Vice President and CFO
DEERE-HITACHI PLANT EXPANSION
• $97 million investment
• 120 774 m2 (1.3 million ft.2 )
total operational space
• 60% increased production capacity
Third Issue 2014 BREAKOUT
|7
FLY-IN FEEDBACK
“WE APPRECIATE HITACHI CUSTOMERS AND DEALERS TAKING
TIME TO ATTEND THE FLY-IN EVENT. WE WERE PLEASED WITH THE
TURNOUT AND ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXT ONE!”
Craig Lamarque,
Division Manager, Hitachi Construction and Mining
“WITH THE PLANT TOUR AND THE ABILITY TO OPERATE THE
EXCAVATORS ON SITE, CUSTOMERS AND DEALERS WERE ABLE TO
REALLY UNDERSTAND THE FOCUS HITACHI HAS ON PRODUCING
EFFICIENT, RELIABLE AND DURABLE MACHINES.”
Mark Wall,
Product Marketing Manager of Excavators, Hitachi
“THE TOUR WAS IN-DEPTH, AND THE PLANT WAS ORGANIZED
AND CLEAN. THE EXTENT THEY GO TO FOR QUALITY CONTROL
IS IMPRESSIVE.”
Steve Passmore
General Sales Manager, ROMCO Equipment Co.
“I HAD A GREAT EXPERIENCE. I DIDN’T REALIZE HOW LABORINTENSIVE THE EXCAVATOR BUILDS ARE – FROM ASSEMBLY BY
HAND TO THE ROBOTIC MACHINES. IT’S IMPRESSIVE.”
Jordan Zahlene,
Vice President, Zahlene Enterprises
streamlined processes but also to DeereHitachi management and employees.
“An organization is only as good as its
people,” Hunt said. “Our company’s core
values of safety, integrity, quality and
kaizen are the foundation for all we do,
and these core values must be adopted
from the top down.”
“THE DEERE-HITACHI PARTNERSHIP
IS THE STRONGEST IT’S EVER BEEN.”
Kazuhiko (Kazu) Hirayama,
Deere-Hitachi Executive Vice President
8
|
While it is scheduled for completion at the
end of 2014, the expansion has already
helped improve capacity and efficiency.
And the company looks ahead to a
promising future.
“The Deere-Hitachi partnership is the
strongest it’s ever been,” said Kazuhiko
(Kazu) Hirayama, executive vice president,
who has 31 years of experience with Hitachi.
“We are proud of all Deere-Hitachi has
accomplished,” added Bryan Swerbinsky,
vice president and chief financial officer.
“It’s exciting to come in every day and
make an impact. We love the products,
and there’s a lot of pride in working here.
What’s happening now is the dream–it’s
the vision from 25 years ago. For many of
us who have been here since the beginning,
this expansion is the legacy project.” ■
techknowledge
Keeping Your
Hydraulic Fluid Clean
Hitachi’s hydraulic system provides the reliability you need for maximum productivity.
After all, we’ve got a technological legacy of hydraulic excellence. Since building the
first hydraulic excavator nearly 50 years ago, Hitachi continues to deliver the smoothoperating machines you love, equipped with advanced technology.
Keeping your hydraulic fluid clean is essential to keeping your Hitachi machines at
optimum performance. Here are some tips:
1
2
3
4
5
FILTER HYDRAULIC FLUID EVEN IF IT’S NEW. New fuid isn’t necessarily clean fuid. In most cases,
the hydraulic system of your machine cleans the fuid to a higher level once in use. But this
could be risky if the cleanliness of the initial fuid is unknown. As a general rule, the best
practice is to flter caddy the fuid while topping off your machine.
INVEST IN A FILTER CADDY. A flter caddy can remove excess contamination after a repair
and reduce contamination levels on machines that are having trouble maintaining the right
balance on contaminants in their hydraulic systems. A flter caddy can extend the life
of fuid by keeping it clean and boosts the life of components. For practical purposes, the
flter caddy should have the ability to read particle counts, humidity, and in some cases,
viscosity of the fuid.
CONDUCT OIL ANALYSIS. Oil analysis can detect changes in the physical properties of the fuid
that diminish its protective properties. Fluid analysis can detect the wear metals inside the
machine that are being lost little by little from its components. Remember, an oil change alone
is not a guaranty machines will survive longer – it does not replace the need for oil analysis.
AVOID MIXING DIFFERENT TYPES OF HYDRAULIC FLUIDS. By mixing types and brands of fuids,
you create a new product with differing ratios of additives and even base oils. Machines are
very sensitive to these changes and can have negative reactions.
AVOID INTRUSIVE REPAIRS IN THE OPEN. If the repair is necessary, always flter caddy the
machine afterward. Take a fuid sample after a repair to make sure the machine complies
with particle-count specifcations. Additionally, don’t leave hoses uncapped and cover
disassembled components properly.
Contact your local Hitachi dealer for more tips and information. ■
Third Issue 2014 BREAKOUT
|9
Texas State Utilities Inc.
has a BIG addiction to
Hitachi mini excavators
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HitachiConstruction.com
AND
.
Justin Keller, CFO of TSU
Third Issue 2014 BREAKOUT
| 11
W
alter Cheatle, operations manager of Texas State
Utilities Inc. (TSU), admits he and business partner Justin
Keller, CFO of TSU, have an addiction. It started back in
2007 when they frst tried out a Hitachi compact excavator.
“When I started working for the company, I think we had three
Hitachi mini excavators,” Cheatle said. “Now we have about 15.
We seem to get more addicted to the product every year.”
Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, TSU is a utility contracting
company specializing in the installation of underground electric,
gas and telecommunication infrastructure for residential and
commercial projects in and around the Dallas/Fort Worth
metroplex. TSU is an approved contractor for numerous
companies including Oncor Electric Delivery, CoServ Electric,
Hilco Electric Cooperative, CoServ Gas, Atmos Energy, Texas
Gas Services, Verizon and AT&T.
Keller began running the business in 2003, and he convinced his
former college buddy, Walter Cheatle, to join him in 2010. They
became co-owners of the company in 2011.
MINI EXCAVATORS, BIG BENEFITS
TSU used other brands and machine models before discovering
the benefts of Hitachi’s compact excavators.
“We started out using rubber tire trenchers,” Keller said. “But
we found our guys were more effcient and more productive with
Hitachi mini excavators. “
TSU leases ZX27U-3 and ZX35U-5 Compact Excavators
from ROMCO Equipment Co., and the minis have proven
cost-effective.
“By switching to the minis, we’ve saved cost on maintenance
since we no longer have to replace rubber tires,” Keller said.
When it comes to new service installations, TSU has it down to
a science. TSU crews dig a trench that is typically about 40-feet
long to a house, lay the pipe, run the conduit and wire, backfll
and move to the next job site. They also repair existing service
lines. The compact excavators are the perfect workhorses for the
company’s streamlined processes and high productivity.
AND
.
Walter Cheatle,
Operations Manager of TSU
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HitachiConstruction.com
“In our Northern territory, we do between 45-50 services a day,
about 250 per week,” Cheatle said. “In our Southern territory, we
dig longer trenches through tough rock, so it might be three
to four a day. The Hitachi minis always get the job done.”
Machine mobility and versatility is crucial to TSU, as they
continually circulate the excavators to different jobsites.
“The minis are easy to load, haul around and move to different
job sites,” Keller said. “That’s important for our business.
The minis can easily get into alleyways to access existing service
lines. They’re very versatile.”
BULLETPROOF TOUGHNESS
While the ZX27U-3 and the ZX35U-5 are among the smallest
Hitachi excavators, these durable minis don’t mess around.
“We dig in some areas with excessive rock … so we needed something that was going to be very tough, very strong and virtually
bulletproof, and we found that in Hitachi,” Cheatle said. “We
put the Hitachi excavators with some of our toughest guys who
seem to break everything else, and they can’t break the minis. So
obviously they hold a tremendous amount of value – we can keep
going and keep making money – the machines let us do that.”
TSU has relied on Hitachi’s compact excavators as the business
has grown – they now have 150 employees and just built a new
headquarters facility. And the company will continue to depend
on ROMCO to feed its growing Hitachi addiction.
“To describe Hitachi in three words, I would say ‘bulletproof,’
‘durable’ and ‘maintenance-free.’ The mini excavators are tough
and have been extremely reliable,” Cheatle said.
Texas State Utilities Inc. is serviced by ROMCO Equipment Co.,
Fort Worth, Texas. ■
TSU AT A GLANCE
• 16 years of business
• 150 employees
• 15 HITACHI compact excavators
• 250+ service installations/week
Third Issue 2014 BREAKOUT
| 13
EX2600-6
EFFICIENCY
• Available in both front-shovel and
backhoe configurations
• Zaxis-3-style operator station and
monitoring system
• Swing/boom priority-selection mode
RELIABILITY
• Cummins® QSKTA50C EPA
Tier 2/EU Stage II engine
• Floating pins
• Improved style of hydraulic hosing to boom
DURABILITY
• Improved backhoe boom and arm geometry
• Upgraded undercarriage
ROCK-SOLID PERFORMANCE
“IT’S FASTER
AND SMOOTHER
TO OPERATE,
AND IT’S GOT MORE
HOISTING POWER.”
Randy
Rudnick
EX2600-6
operator
BNI Coal® Ltd., owner and operator of a lignite
mine near Center, N.D., knows frsthand about
the effciency, reliability and durability of Hitachi
mining excavators.
BNI’s Center Mine accepted delivery of a Hitachi
EX2600-6 in March 2013, and began operation
in April 2013. The EX2600 joined the mine’s
one-year-old EX2500-6 to clear overburden for
BNI’s three draglines.
Prior to the Hitachi excavators, BNI was utilizing
scrapers to remove the overburden. The implementation of the excavator approach has allowed
the mine to realize signifcant savings compared to
moving dirt with scrapers. Luke Retterath, BNI
maintenance planner, expects to move roughly
8-10 million yards of dirt per year with the feet of
Hitachi excavators.
“The 2500 was working really well for us, and we
really liked the cost savings,” Retterath said. “When
we had the opportunity to buy a feet of used trucks,
we decided to add another excavator to our feet.”
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HitachiConstruction.com
Randy Rudnick is the operator of the EX2600-6,
which averages 6.3 passes for an average of 190 tons
per load (using a 30-35 ton bucket).
“It’s faster and smoother to operate, and it’s got
more hoisting power,” Rudnick said. “It’s a good
machine. I can’t say anything bad about it.”
BNI, a subsidiary of ALLETE (NYSE-ALE)
delivers roughly 4.5 million tons of coal per year to
the nearby Minnkota Power Cooperative, which
provides electricity to cooperatives in eastern North
Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.
BNI Coal® Ltd. is serviced by RDO® Equipment
Co., Bismarck, N.D. ■
Learn more about the EX2600-6 at
HitachiConstruction.com/EX2600-6/html.
See more Hitachi machine deliveries at
HitachiConstruction.com/recent-deliveries.html
NOT EXCUSES.
You’ve probably heard all kinds of excuses about poor reliability
with some excavators. But not from Hitachi. We focus on building
excavators—not every other kind of machine. The results?
More reliability. Higher productivity. No excuses. THAT’S ALL.
HitachiConstruction.com
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
PAID
STEVENS POINT WI
PERMIT NO. 272
DKD1403BO Litho in U.S.A. (14-08)
Hitachi Construction and Mining Products • 1515 5th Avenue • Moline, IL 61265 • www.HitachiConstruction.com
NEVER SIDETRACKED.
A “jack-of-all-trades” is good at some things, but great at nothing.
That’s why at Hitachi, we stay on course specializing in excavators.
By not getting sidetracked, we make exactly what you want.
Great, reliable excavators. THAT’S ALL.
HitachiConstruction.com