Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe) sales director Paul Burger talks about the need for standardisation

Hitachi's range of special application machines are centre stage on its stand at Intermat this year as the company aims to highlight its equipment for the waste and recycling, demolition and material handling sectors. "Having a special application focus is more interesting for our customers," said HCME sales director Paul Burger.

New machines on show in this field will include a ZX470LCH-3 long-reach demolition excavator, and two new additions to the Hitachi line-up of material handling equipment, the ZX250W-3 and ZX360W-3. Also on display will be the ZX14-3, the latest Hitachi mini excavator, and the ZW140 wheeled loader.

Paul Burger, sales director for HCME, a change in approach."Intermat is important to Hitachi for the French market. In fact, this year will be the first time that Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe) NV (HCME) has handed over the responsibility for Intermat to its French sales office, Hitachi Construction Machinery Sales & Service France (HCSF)," said Burger.

The launch of these new Hitachi models follows on from the company's recent innovation that led to the development of its hybrid hydraulic excavator that is now in production in Japan.

The company has also focused on special applications outside of the conventional construction use of its equipment and produced a mine-sweeping excavator that is now being used for United Nations projects in countries such as Angola and Cambodia.

"The demolition and recycling sector has been hit by the recession but not to the extent that other areas of construction have," said Burger. "There are demolition jobs out there but it is challenging."

Burger explained that the change in the economic climate has brought about a change in the company's approach to Intermat and Burger said he expects this to continue in the future. "We have moved away from using the show just for entertainment and have tried to create a more customer focus. Its no longer enough to just launch a new model because another manufacturer has one, we need to work with customers to find out what they want. If there is demand, then we will develop new machines."

Burger also said that the current climate has brought renewed attention on closer management of costs. "At present our excavator range uses 21 different styles of cabs, each with different glass, mirrors and other components and this makes it difficult to cut costs," he said. "In future I think more designs will be modular and there will be a drive for standardisation.

"But in conjunction with this, we also need more standardisation across Europe. At the moment, while machines are produced to CE standard, a machine such as a wheeled excavator can be road legal in Italy but does not meet the standards in Germany. These barriers need to be removed not just to make supply of machines easier but also to make it easier for contractors to work freely across Europe with the same machine fleet."