Excavators without tilt- rotators - Engcon
Excavators without tilt- rotators - Engcon
Excavators without tilt- rotators - Engcon
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engcon news<br />
#1 • 2008<br />
Jorma has had his JCB200 with<br />
an engcon EC20 for a year now.<br />
“Everything works perfectly,” he says.<br />
22 years old and<br />
already a name<br />
in the industry<br />
22 year-old Jorma Kalteva has been running his own contracting company for several years.<br />
“We’re a small but flexible company that does almost every type of construction job,” says<br />
Jorma when engcon’s correspondent visits him during a water and sewage project in<br />
Hyvinge, Finland.<br />
Continued on next page.<br />
IN THIS ISSUE:<br />
leading article: Give us<br />
straight answers and<br />
be a winner!<br />
PAG E 2<br />
EC oil soon tested<br />
and ready.<br />
PAG E 3<br />
jemab in jönköping:<br />
“engcon are reliable”.<br />
PAG E 6<br />
engcon supports elite<br />
league ice hockey both<br />
home and away.<br />
PAG E 8<br />
INTRODUCING SYSTEM ENGCON<br />
engcon’s broad product range is about to<br />
become even broader. This spring, we’ll launch<br />
System engcon, a new line of deep excavation<br />
buckets, levelling buckets, cable buckets,<br />
asphalt cutters and rippers.<br />
PAGE 4–5<br />
DISABLED-ADAPTED EXCAVATOR HELPS<br />
SEBASTIAN AND FREDRIK TO REALISE THEIR<br />
DREAM<br />
Sebastian Lidéh and Henrik Fredriksson<br />
dream of becoming excavator operators.<br />
They’re both wheelchair-bound, but Wendesgymnasiet<br />
Upper Secondary School in Kristianstad<br />
solved this by specially adapting<br />
a Hitachi Zaxis 130 for disabled use.<br />
PAGE 8<br />
THE TILTROTATOR – A SUCCESS<br />
RIGHT FROM THE START<br />
Tord Eriksson was among the first to discover<br />
engcon in 1994. Today, <strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong> are a must<br />
on all excavators – and he can’t understand<br />
how anyone could work <strong>without</strong> one.<br />
PAGE 7<br />
ENGCON ISN’T JUST THE CUSTOMERS’<br />
FAVOURITE – WE’RE ALSO EMPLOYEES’ CHOICE<br />
In September, engcon’s CEO Stig Engström<br />
was presented with the Sundsvall Business<br />
Award by Minna Annerstedt, engcon’s local<br />
union chairperson.<br />
PAGE 4<br />
ROTATE Tilt&
Give us<br />
straight<br />
answers<br />
to make us<br />
all winners<br />
What can we improve? At engcon,<br />
we’re always asking ourselves this<br />
question. Our new line of buckets and<br />
tools, due for release this spring, is a<br />
prime example of our ambition to constantly<br />
improve and be a complete supplier.<br />
You can read more about this in<br />
the magazine.<br />
Of course, we also get suggestions<br />
and ideas during our daily dealings with<br />
customers. To supplement this feedback,<br />
we’re now introducing an improvement<br />
initiative called Listen &<br />
Learn. You might well be one of the customers<br />
we listen and learn from.<br />
In the first step in this process, we<br />
asked about 20 employees of some of<br />
our partners in Sweden and Norway the<br />
question: What can we improve? We<br />
got some very interesting answers. And<br />
it’s about to get more exciting still: in<br />
step two, we’ll ask a large number of<br />
customers to evaluate the improvement<br />
suggestions that emerged during the<br />
interviews.<br />
This is where you come in – and now<br />
we’re really looking at a win-win situation.<br />
Based on the responses we get from you<br />
and other customers, engcon will produce<br />
a list of things you want us to improve,<br />
in order of priority. This will make<br />
engcon an even better partner to you.<br />
That’s because Listen & Learn doesn’t<br />
end after we get your answers. Far from<br />
it: at this point, we’ll initiate daily improvement<br />
efforts based on your toppriority<br />
improvement suggestions.<br />
Always putting customers first is our<br />
key objective. We do this by sharing a<br />
set of common values. One of these is<br />
professionalism. Another is clear communication.<br />
Intensifying our dialogue<br />
with customers will help us develop<br />
both of these values.<br />
And on a final note – speaking of<br />
communication – I would like to welcome<br />
you to our new customer magazine.<br />
We’ve improved it by listening and<br />
learning from your feedback. Happy<br />
reading!<br />
Stig Engström<br />
2<br />
continued from page 1<br />
Already as a teenager, Jorma gained ample experience<br />
by operating a variety of construction<br />
machines owned by a family acquaintance.<br />
Now Jorma has a JCB200 crawler excavator<br />
with an engcon EC20, a Lännen 860C backhoe<br />
loader with an engcon EC10, a Liebherr 522<br />
wheel loader and a Volvo A25 dumper. Jorma<br />
and his two employees alternate between these<br />
machines depending on the job at hand.<br />
Tiltrotatorn har sedan sin introduktion revolutionerat<br />
grävandets kont. Feu feu faci tat, core mincidunt lutpat.<br />
Iquis et nummy nulla alit, commodip ese vulluptat.<br />
Uscil dit nis aut lore molorem do ex esequat.<br />
Despite being only 22, Jorma Kalteva is experienced and successful. One of his secrets is flexible machinery and equipment – and engcon’s <strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong> are a must.<br />
A good start with the right<br />
equipment<br />
A year ago, Sören Lyngså of Roskilde, Denmark<br />
took a big step: after working as a machine operator<br />
for various contracting companies, he<br />
decided to go solo.<br />
Things have gone well, thanks to the right<br />
attitude and the right equipment. Sören’s<br />
company now has four employees. Its equipment<br />
includes a mini dumper and two small<br />
excavators.<br />
The company mainly does subcontracting<br />
work for other contractors. Our correspondent<br />
visited Sören during a project outside the<br />
Crown Golf Club in Copenhagen. His <strong>tilt</strong>rotator,<br />
a EC02, came in very handy – just as it<br />
did when the golf course was built using larger<br />
excavators fitted with engcon <strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong>.<br />
Sören Lyngså operates his Takeuchi TB<br />
125 with an engcon EC02 during a<br />
parking lot conversion outside the<br />
Crown Golf Club in Copenhagen.<br />
Certain operations would be<br />
impossible <strong>without</strong> a <strong>tilt</strong>rotator<br />
Jorma recently signed a 3-year contract for a<br />
water and sewerage project, so the future looks<br />
bright. Today’s task is to connect a property to<br />
the new trunk line, and to refill excavated areas<br />
around wells and pipes.<br />
“I’ve been using this machine and <strong>tilt</strong>rotator<br />
for about a year now, and everything works<br />
perfectly,” says Jorma, who can’t imagine<br />
working <strong>without</strong> a <strong>tilt</strong>rotator.<br />
“No way – many of my jobs would be impossible<br />
<strong>without</strong> a <strong>tilt</strong>rotator. And the ones that<br />
could be done would take a lot more time.”<br />
After finishing his day’s work on the water<br />
and sewerage project, Jorma continues his day<br />
by travelling round digging building foundations<br />
and planning construction sites<br />
throughout Finland, which is currently seeing<br />
a huge construction boom. This is made possible<br />
by a flexible machine fleet with flexible<br />
equipment.
Don’t reinvent the wheel, as the saying<br />
goes. Mats Lagerkvist (Matte to<br />
his friends), is painfully aware of the<br />
cost of ignoring this advice.<br />
“Now I’ve gone back to using the<br />
engcon EC 10, and everything’s running<br />
smoothly again,” he says.<br />
Matte started his own company, Mattes Entreprenad<br />
AB, in the early 1990s. As a small<br />
enterpriser, he has chosen to specialise, and in<br />
recent years has worked almost full-time on<br />
various water and sewerage projects for Täby<br />
Municipality.<br />
Last autumn, he decided to replace his five<br />
year-old Huddig excavator loader with a permanently<br />
mounted engcon <strong>tilt</strong>rotator. He<br />
opted for a Huddig 1060 – but things quickly<br />
went wrong.<br />
“I wanted a permanently mounted engcon<br />
EC10 on my new machine too, but just then<br />
a different brand released a new model. It was<br />
promoted as being narrower, lighter and more<br />
manoeuvrable, and I was offered a discount<br />
price. I let myself be persuaded,” recalls Matte.<br />
But Matte remained deeply sceptical. He’d<br />
tested the other <strong>tilt</strong>rotator on a demo machine,<br />
and was far from impressed.<br />
“So I bought it on the condition that I could<br />
exchange it for an engcon <strong>tilt</strong>rotator if I wasn’t<br />
satisfied,” says Matte.<br />
Big problems<br />
That proved a wise move. The new excavator<br />
soon turned out to be trouble.<br />
“It had poor capacity. Both the <strong>tilt</strong> and the<br />
rotor were very weak. It often got stuck and<br />
you had to start the operation again. What’s<br />
more, the grab claws were much too flimsy,<br />
and buckled even on normal impact.”<br />
The dealer promised to fix the problems, for<br />
instance by replacing the slew motor and pistons.<br />
But the weeks passed by and nothing<br />
happened.<br />
“I couldn’t work properly,” says Matte.<br />
“Things finally got impossible and I demanded<br />
that they mount an engcon EC10 with a grab<br />
cassette on my machine.”<br />
This was duly done, and everything is now<br />
back to normal. Who knows – was the other<br />
<strong>tilt</strong>rotator defective, or were there other reasons<br />
for the problems? Frankly, Matte isn’t interested<br />
in finding out. Now he’s back to his<br />
winning concept, and he’ll stick with his<br />
engcon <strong>tilt</strong>rotator in future.<br />
EC oil – soon<br />
fully tested<br />
We’re approaching the launch of the EC oil,<br />
the new engcon quick hitch with automatic oil<br />
coupling. The EC oil is currently being tested<br />
intensively by various contractors.<br />
“It works really well,” says Janne Ottosson at<br />
Ottossons Åkeri AB, who’s got the EC oil<br />
mounted on his Volvo EC140 with an EC15<br />
<strong>tilt</strong>rotator.<br />
Last autumn, Janne was given one of 20 prototypes<br />
developed for testing purposes. During<br />
the autumn and winter the machine has been<br />
used for district heating installation and road<br />
construction.<br />
“We’ve worked it very hard, but it’s passed<br />
with flying colours. It’s a great advantage being<br />
able to quickly detach the <strong>tilt</strong>rotator, for example<br />
when you’re digging in frozen ground<br />
and need to attach a frozen earth hook.”<br />
The EC oil works like a traditional adaptor<br />
bracket: the operator hooks the front of the<br />
adaptor into place as usual and then <strong>tilt</strong>s the<br />
hitch down into the locked position. After this,<br />
the hydraulic lock is activated by a sturdy hydraulic<br />
cylinder which pushes the tool into the<br />
correct position, while automatically connecting<br />
the hydraulics.<br />
“The beauty of the EC oil lies in its simplicity,<br />
price and flexibility,” says CEO Stig<br />
Engström. He says that the hitch has a simpler<br />
design than currently existing systems. What’s<br />
more, customers can buy the hitch first and<br />
then supplement it with the oil couplings at a<br />
later point.<br />
The EC oil is scheduled for release this<br />
summer, when the models EC10 and EC15<br />
with S45, 50 and 60 hitches will go on sale.<br />
You can read more in the next issue of<br />
Tilt & Rotate.<br />
A profitable exchange<br />
Matte Lagerkvist was persuaded to change his<br />
engcon <strong>tilt</strong>rotator for a different brand. Things didn’t<br />
work out, and now he’s back to his winning concept:<br />
an excavator loader with an engcon EC10.<br />
3
System engc<br />
Asphalt cutter for clean cuts that save material<br />
and limit damage to surrounding ground.<br />
Top quality cutting steel with a hardness<br />
of 500 Brinell for maximum life.<br />
In spring 2008, engcon will introduce a completely new<br />
line of equipment to complement its existing wide range.<br />
Known as System engcon, the new line includes<br />
deep excavation buckets, levelling<br />
buckets, cable buckets, asphalt cutters and rippers.<br />
This whole line of buckets and tools is compatible<br />
with engcon’s other products for excavators,<br />
and offers customers a complete solution<br />
that meets most normal needs.<br />
All the tools are made of high quality steel,<br />
and their wear areas are reinforced with Hardox<br />
steel.<br />
“Our customers have been requesting this for<br />
many years, and have asked us to supply a more<br />
complete range of excavator tools,” says engcon’s<br />
marketing manager Sten Strömgren, who is responsible<br />
for introducing the new line.<br />
engcon currently has buckets and tools for<br />
machines weighing 5–18 tonnes, but during<br />
the spring the line will gradually be extended<br />
with products that fit engcon <strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong> for<br />
machines weighing 1.5–32 tonnes.<br />
1 engcon levelling bucket – Optimised<br />
in consultation with experienced contractors<br />
for use with a <strong>tilt</strong>rotator.<br />
Chamfered edges from the base to the top<br />
to prevent collision with house walls and other<br />
objects when the bucket is rotated. Conical<br />
shape for easier filling, adapted 16 degree angle<br />
between the mounting and base for easy<br />
bucket rotation <strong>without</strong> spilling the material.<br />
2 engcon deep excavation bucket<br />
– Robust design for tough jobs. A favourite<br />
for excavating and digging in extreme conditions<br />
where fast incision and easy filling are<br />
essential, for instance for digging shafts and<br />
other bulk moving operations requiring high<br />
capacity. Available with or <strong>without</strong> teeth.<br />
engcon wins SIF award<br />
engcon isn’t just the customers’ favourite – we’re also the employees’ choice, according<br />
to SIF (the Union of Clerical and Technical Employees in Industry).<br />
In September, engcon’s CEO Stig Engström was presented with the Sundsvall Business<br />
Award by Minna Annerstedt, engcon’s local union chairperson.<br />
“It’s very easy for us to get our members’ needs and requests heard,” says Minna<br />
Annerstedt. She particularly mentions engcon’s efforts to promote competence development<br />
and work environment improvement.<br />
4<br />
5<br />
2<br />
Top quality hard-wearing steel with a hardness<br />
of 500 Brinell for maximum life.<br />
3 engcon cable bucket – For excavation<br />
in very narrow spaces, e.g. for cable laying or<br />
other work involving narrow channels. The<br />
bucket’s long shape allows you to reach into<br />
deep channels while the <strong>tilt</strong>rotator remains<br />
above ground level.<br />
4 engcon ripper – With an engcon ripper,<br />
you’ll have no problems digging in frozen or<br />
hard ground. The ripper, also known as a frozen<br />
earth hook, is specially designed for optimum<br />
breaking and demolition of hard materials.<br />
Designed for tough excavation.<br />
Hardox steel wear surfaces<br />
5 engcon asphalt cutter – With an engcon<br />
asphalt cutter, you can make clean cuts<br />
and save unnecessary asphalt removal costs. It’s<br />
also ideal for making clean cuts in lawns and<br />
other surfaces where precision is required.<br />
CEO Stig Engström was delighted, and commented:<br />
“Our employees are our most important asset. Our efforts are repaid many times over<br />
if our employees are committed and always willing to do their best.<br />
SIF explained its decision as follows:<br />
“engcon Nordic AB is part of the group engcon Holding AB, several-time winner of the<br />
Dagens Industri newspaper’s Gazelle of the Year award. The company has also won the<br />
Sunda Finanser Trippel A award, and is EQ-marked for its equal opportunities performance.<br />
The Employees’ Choice award completes the company’s array of merits. engcon Nordic<br />
is living prove that when a company invests part of its profits in personnel and work<br />
environment development, its profits increase because its employees become more<br />
committed and their skills and knowledge contribute in a constructive and exemplary<br />
way to promoting the company’s development.”<br />
2
onDeep excava-<br />
tion bucket Volume Width<br />
DB1 50 400<br />
Proven geometry for optimum<br />
bucket angle.<br />
3<br />
Ripper/frozen earth hook designed for Nordic<br />
weather conditions with frozen and hard ground.<br />
DB1,5 70 450<br />
DB2 90 550<br />
DB3 120 550<br />
DB5 160 600<br />
DB6 200 600<br />
DB7 250 600<br />
DB9 350 700<br />
DB11 400 700<br />
DB12 500 800<br />
DB14 600 900<br />
DB16 750 1 000<br />
DB18 900 1 000<br />
DB21 1 100 1 100<br />
DB23 1 250 1 100<br />
DB26 1 400 1 300<br />
Levelling<br />
bucket Volume Width<br />
GB2 90 900<br />
GB2 130 900<br />
GB4 200 1 000<br />
GB6 300 1 200<br />
GB8 370 1 300<br />
GB11 500 1 400<br />
GB13 600 1 600<br />
GB15 750 1 600<br />
GB17 900 1 700<br />
GB18 900 1 800<br />
GB20 1100 1 700<br />
GB24 1400 2 000<br />
GB29 1 600 2 000<br />
4<br />
1<br />
Cable<br />
bucket Volume Width<br />
CB2 55 250<br />
CB3 80 250<br />
CB5 130 300<br />
CB10 160 400<br />
CB15 350 500<br />
CB20 400 600<br />
Ripper Depth<br />
R2 400<br />
R5 600<br />
R10 700<br />
R15 1 200<br />
R20 1 200<br />
R30 1 400<br />
Levelling bucket optimised for use<br />
with a <strong>tilt</strong>rotator.<br />
Asphalt Dia- Cutting<br />
cutter meter depth<br />
TC 3-14 370 100<br />
TC 12-22 470 150<br />
5
Precision work<br />
with a <strong>tilt</strong>rotator<br />
Martin Karlsson digs out the petrol and<br />
diesel tanks and pipes for the pumps<br />
with the utmost care and precision.<br />
“It’s quite complicated since the<br />
pipes run in all directions. The job<br />
would be impossible <strong>without</strong> a <strong>tilt</strong>rotator,”<br />
he says emphatically.<br />
When the new Coop Forum supermarket was<br />
being built in Ulricehamn, it turned out the<br />
Uno X petrol station was too close and needed<br />
to be moved. Lasses Entreprenad AB in Frillesås<br />
was hired to do the excavation work. The three<br />
fuel tanks could stay where they were, but the<br />
pipes and pumps needed moving slightly.<br />
Martin joined the company in January this<br />
year. Not only was he given an exciting task<br />
straight away – he also got to operate a brand<br />
new Komatsu PC138 fitted with an engcon<br />
EC15.<br />
“It’s my first new machine, so it was a very<br />
special feeling,” he says.<br />
Demanding job<br />
The excavation work lasted almost two weeks.<br />
It took slightly longer than expected because<br />
leaked diesel was found in the ground and had<br />
to be cleaned up.<br />
The actual excavation work was also demanding.<br />
It involved digging up the existing<br />
pipes that needed to be moved, as well as uncovering<br />
the upper side of the tanks so that<br />
new pipes could be installed to the new distribution<br />
point.<br />
engcon <strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong><br />
the trend<br />
6<br />
“There were five pipes attached to each underground<br />
tank. It was quite complicated, and<br />
would have been impossible <strong>without</strong> the <strong>tilt</strong>rotator,”<br />
says Martin.<br />
For Lars Gustavsson, who founded Lasses<br />
Entreprenad in 1990, <strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong> are a must on<br />
excavators. He has a total of twelve excavators<br />
– mainly Komatsus – and ten of them are fitted<br />
with engcon <strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong>.<br />
“They range from EC05 to EC30. The only<br />
Jemab in Jönköping has worked with construction<br />
and ground installation for over 40 years. A lot has<br />
happened in that time – and Mats Davidsson, machine<br />
supervisor at Jemab, sees a clear trend.<br />
“Tilt<strong>rotators</strong> will soon be standard on excavators<br />
weighing up to 25 tonnes,” he says. “They’re a must<br />
for machine owners and a requirement from clients.”<br />
excavators <strong>without</strong> <strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong> are my two<br />
smallest ones, Takejob, but they’ll soon be getting<br />
<strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong> too,” says Lars.<br />
The company has just over 15 employees. It<br />
does a wide range of work, but specialises in<br />
road and railway works, service operations,<br />
drainage and ground levelling. engcon <strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong><br />
are a given choice.<br />
“The equipment itself is great,” says Lasse.<br />
“But what’s equally important is that engcon’s<br />
Jönköpings Entreprenad & Markbyggnad AB,<br />
commonly known as Jemab, was founded in<br />
1966. Today the company is a large, well-established<br />
actor in central and south Sweden,<br />
with roughly 40 employees. Although the business<br />
has several strings to its bow, roughly 70%<br />
of the parent company’s business consists of<br />
renting out machines with operators, and the<br />
rest consists of contract work. The company’s<br />
subsidiary, Jemab Rent, rents out smaller construction<br />
machines (up to 10 tonnes) <strong>without</strong><br />
operators.<br />
“In Jemab and Jemab Rent, we have about<br />
ten excavators fitted with <strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong> ranging<br />
from the engcon EC02 to the engcon EC30,”<br />
says Mats.<br />
“We’ve been using engcon <strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong> for<br />
five years. They’re reliable, and engcon has an<br />
excellent aftermarket organisation for service<br />
and spare parts. This is extremely important,<br />
since time is money.”<br />
The parent company, Jemab, has 22 con-<br />
“engcon makes great equipment, and their service is by<br />
far the best,” says Martin Karlsson, who uses engcon<br />
<strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong> in all sizes from EC05 to EC30.<br />
service is by far the best. Having ready access to<br />
the equipment is crucial. These days you can’t<br />
turn up for a job <strong>without</strong> a <strong>tilt</strong>rotator on your<br />
excavator.”<br />
Chuckling, he adds:<br />
“By the way, I’ve got an engcon vibratory soil<br />
compactor too. That also works like a dream,<br />
but we’ll talk about that another time.”<br />
struction machines and twelve trucks. Its<br />
projects include roadworks, foundation laying,<br />
fine levelling and water and sewerage. The<br />
company’s long list of customers includes<br />
Vägverket Produktion, NCC, PEAB, Jönköping<br />
Municipality and Skanska.<br />
The larger excavators used to be equipped<br />
with a different brand of <strong>tilt</strong>rotator – until<br />
about a year ago when Jemab fitted an engcon<br />
EC30 to a New Holland 305.<br />
“We’ve had excellent experience of engcon<br />
<strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong> on our smaller machines, and<br />
wanted to try engcon on a large machine. So<br />
far we’re very satisfied,” reports Mats.<br />
He’s convinced that more of their larger machines<br />
will also be equipped with <strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong> in<br />
future.<br />
“Many jobs like water and sewerage work,<br />
golf courses and reservoirs really can’t be done<br />
<strong>without</strong> a <strong>tilt</strong>rotator. And machine operators<br />
are increasingly expected to do the fine levelling<br />
during earth moving work.”
After a motorbike holiday in Germany<br />
last summer, Tord Eriksson came<br />
back to Sweden with lots of great<br />
experiences – and a big question:<br />
“How on earth do they manage<br />
<strong>without</strong> <strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong>?”<br />
For Tord, an excavator <strong>without</strong> a<br />
<strong>tilt</strong>rotator is quite simply incomplete.<br />
<strong>Excavators</strong> <strong>without</strong> <strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong><br />
– a mystery to Tord<br />
For Tord Eriksson, engcon <strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong><br />
have been the given choice since 1994.<br />
“Tilt<strong>rotators</strong> are a must on almost all<br />
machines,” he says.<br />
are<br />
Jemab in Jönköping has excellent<br />
experience of engcon <strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong>.<br />
“Many jobs really can’t be done <strong>without</strong><br />
a <strong>tilt</strong>rotator on your excavator,” says Mats<br />
Davidsson, machine supervisor at Jemab.<br />
Tord Eriksson had no doubts when choosing<br />
his future profession. After leaving school and<br />
completing his national military service in<br />
1978, he started work as an excavator operator<br />
at his dad’s company, Allan Eriksson Mark AB<br />
in Sala. At the time, the company had three<br />
employees.<br />
In 1994, he and his brother Mats took over<br />
the company, which now has almost 30 employees<br />
during the summer season.<br />
A whole adult life spent working in the construction<br />
sector leaves an indelible mark – even<br />
during the holidays.<br />
“I biked down to Germany last summer with<br />
some friends to watch a football match. There<br />
was a lot of construction work along the Autobahn,<br />
and as we crawled past the roadworks, I<br />
got a chance to take a good look. I saw several<br />
hundred excavators, but only a handful of<br />
<strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong>. I couldn’t understand it…<br />
Tord can’t imagine working <strong>without</strong> a <strong>tilt</strong>rotator<br />
– and engcon is his obvious choice.<br />
“When my brother and I took over the business<br />
in 1994, one of our excavator operators,<br />
Göran Lund, suggested we get a <strong>tilt</strong>rotator. Although<br />
it seemed expensive, we bought an<br />
engcon EC20. We’ve never looked back – it<br />
saved us time, material and money.”<br />
Among the first<br />
At that time, the engcon <strong>tilt</strong>rotator was new on<br />
the market. The first model had been launched<br />
just the year before. Tord found himself acting<br />
as an unofficial representative for engcon.<br />
“People kept calling up and asking my<br />
opinion.”<br />
Today, Tord could be described as a voluntary<br />
ambassador for engcon. His company has<br />
eleven excavators in various sizes and nine<br />
engcon <strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong>.<br />
“In the jobs we do – excavation work for district<br />
heating and broadband installation, as<br />
well as transmission lines and foundations for<br />
housing complexes – excavators would be useless<br />
<strong>without</strong> a <strong>tilt</strong>rotator attached,” he says.<br />
“Because <strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong> are used almost every day,<br />
they’re a must on almost all machines.”<br />
Over the years, he and the company have remained<br />
faithful to engcon. Well, almost. Tord<br />
admits with slight embarrassment that they<br />
tried a competing brand a few months ago.<br />
“You have to try other brands too,” he says.<br />
But they’ll be sticking with engcon.<br />
“The machine operator didn’t like the new<br />
<strong>tilt</strong>rotator. It was too bulky and less manoeuvrable<br />
than engcon, and one of its pistons<br />
broke early on. Yes, we’ll definitely stick to<br />
engcon in the future.”<br />
7
Disability is no obstacle with<br />
a specially adapted crawler<br />
excavator<br />
It looks just like any crawler excavator,<br />
and the work is progressing exactly<br />
as usual. The big difference is<br />
the two guys taking turns to operate<br />
the machine. Sebastian Lindéh and<br />
Henrik Fredriksson are both wheelchair-bound.<br />
“My dream is to work as an excavator<br />
operator”, says Sebastian.<br />
Henrik has had spinal nerve damage since<br />
birth. But his disability hasn’t stopped him<br />
from helping his dad operate a timber truck or<br />
wheel loader in and around Borås. You could<br />
say that he was also born with his passion for<br />
machinery.<br />
Sebastian’s story is slightly different. At the<br />
age of 15, he enrolled in the automotive programme<br />
in an independent day school in<br />
Skåne, Sweden. A year later, he was a passenger<br />
in a car crash. Sebastian was badly crushed,<br />
and remained paralysed from the waist down.<br />
“I’ve always loved machines, but after the accident<br />
I thought it was the end of the road,” he<br />
says.<br />
It wasn’t. Thanks to Riksgymnasiet, an upper<br />
secondary school for disabled students, Sebastian<br />
and Henrik got the chance to realise their<br />
dreams. Riksgymnasiet initiated a collaboration<br />
with Wendesgymnasiet upper secondary<br />
school in Kristianstad, and commissioned Delvator<br />
to adapt an excavator for Sebastian’s and<br />
Henrik’s special needs.<br />
“Delvator did a truly excellent job,” says automotive<br />
teacher Jörgen Lindström.<br />
Technology box<br />
New screw casing<br />
Since September, engcon has gradually been installing<br />
a new screw casing on its <strong>tilt</strong><strong>rotators</strong>. The<br />
main new feature is a hole in the casing that facilitates<br />
the mounting of a central lubrication<br />
system. The new screw casing is fully compatible<br />
with the older model, and will replace it as a spare<br />
part.<br />
The new screw casing requires a new type of<br />
shim. Unlike the old model, the new screw casing<br />
is shimmed between the casing and body. This<br />
makes the shimming easier and reduces wear.<br />
8<br />
The result was a disabled-adapted Hitachi<br />
Zaxis 130 with an engcon EC15. Jörgen, Sebastian<br />
and Henrik describe the most important<br />
adaptations:<br />
• Wider 700-bands and an extra entrance<br />
step makes it easier for Henrik, who has partial<br />
mobility, to get in and out.<br />
• The pedal functions have been transferred<br />
to two joysticks with rollers.<br />
• The seat is air cushioned and can be adjusted<br />
to various positions.<br />
• A radio-controlled lift enables Sebastian to<br />
get in and out of the machine.<br />
Minister visits<br />
engcon<br />
At the end of last year, Migration Minister Tobias Billström<br />
visited engcon. Impressed by engcon’s continued explosive<br />
growth, he commented, “Companies like this are vital<br />
growth engines in Swedish industry.”<br />
CEO Stig Engström guided Billström around engcon’s facilities.<br />
HR manager Mikael Persson stressed the importance<br />
of integration, since Sweden can’t sustain the entire labour<br />
market on domestic labour alone.<br />
Sebastian Lindéh operates the school’s specially equipped Hitachi,<br />
while Henrik Fredriksson instructs him with the help of various hand signs.<br />
They both dream of becoming excavator operators after graduating.<br />
“Delvator also chose to attach an engcon<br />
EC15, and it works beautifully,” says Jörgen.<br />
Sebastian and Henrik agree.<br />
“The <strong>tilt</strong>rotator is a must in certain situations,<br />
for example during sloping work,” says<br />
Sebastian.<br />
Dreams of loading trucks<br />
Sebastian and Henrik are currently in their<br />
third year of the 4-year programme. The reason<br />
for the extra year is that they attend physiotherapy<br />
sessions during school hours. Both<br />
boys have been specialising in excavators and<br />
excavator loaders since their second study year,<br />
and will graduate in the summer term of<br />
2009.<br />
“Above all, I hope I get a job so I can continue<br />
digging. That’s what I want to do. Most<br />
of all, I’d like to load trucks,” Sebastian says.<br />
After some reflection, Henrik says:<br />
“When you’re in a wheelchair, you probably<br />
don’t have a huge choice of jobs. I hope there’s<br />
something out there for me too.”<br />
Their teacher Jörgen will be happy to provide<br />
references if necessary.<br />
“The fact is that the boys are as good as any<br />
other student machine operators once they’re<br />
inside the machine. They have no problems at<br />
all operating it,” he says proudly.<br />
Vid montering av centralsmörjning är det Shimset går att vända åt alla håll då det är<br />
förberett för slanggenomgång genom skruvkåpan. symetriskt.<br />
Rekommendationerna är därför att vända hålet<br />
enligt bilden.<br />
engcon Head Office +46 670 17800 • engcon Denmark +45 202 035 84 • engcon Finland +35 8 63 222 81<br />
engcon GmbH +49 9342 93485-0 • engcon UK +44 1564 785 161<br />
www.engcon.com info@engcon.com<br />
Så här ser det nya shimset till den nya skruvkåpan<br />
ut, shimset är även kompatibelt med äldre<br />
skruvkåpor<br />
engcon supports<br />
ice hockey both<br />
home and away<br />
engcon and the elite league hockey team<br />
Skellefteå AIK will raise ice hockey in<br />
Strömsund and Jämtland to new heights.<br />
“Our aim is to make Strömsund an even<br />
more attractive town – and of course it’s<br />
also good publicity,” says engcon’s CEO<br />
Stig Engström.<br />
At the end of last year, a three-year agreement was<br />
signed between engcon, Skellefteå AIK, the IFK<br />
Strömsund sports club and the Hjalmar Strömerskolan<br />
ice hockey high school in Strömsund. engcon’s<br />
sponsorship of Skellefteå AIK won’t just give<br />
us advertising space on sweaters and in the home<br />
arena; it will also benefit Strömsund in various<br />
ways.<br />
For instance, Skellefteå AIK will hold a training<br />
week in Strömsund once a year and play at least<br />
one match against another elite league team.<br />
What’s more, the students at the ice hockey high<br />
school will have the opportunity to train with<br />
Skellefteå AIK, and IFK Strömsund Hockey will<br />
get help with training, material and cup events.<br />
“The strong publicity generated by this agreement<br />
has already raised Strömsund’s profile,” commented<br />
Stig Engström when the agreement was<br />
signed.<br />
This will indirectly benefit local industry. The<br />
positive publicity and increased appeal will make it<br />
easier for businesses to attract the necessary manpower<br />
to Strömsund, which is currently in a phase<br />
of expansion.<br />
“Although there’s still good manpower available<br />
here, we sometimes need to import spearhead<br />
expertise. Then it helps to be able to offer something<br />
in addition to the work itself,” explains Stig<br />
Engström.<br />
engcon invests<br />
in Germany<br />
engcon has operated on the German market<br />
since the mid-1990s, and has built up a dealer<br />
network with its own sales office in Berlin.<br />
Now engcon is strengthening its German<br />
presence still further by founding its own company,<br />
engcon Germany GmbH, which will be<br />
fully integrated with the market and customers.<br />
“We’ll review our German dealer network,<br />
with the aim of covering the whole country<br />
with either our own resources or skilled partners,”<br />
says sales manager Christer Zander, who<br />
previously worked for Volvo CE.<br />
Our German business<br />
will be presented in more<br />
detail in the next issue of<br />
Tilt & Rotate.<br />
Christer Zander, sales manager<br />
at engcon Germany GmbH, previ-<br />
ously worked in the marketing de-<br />
partment of Volvo CE in Germany.<br />
Tilt & Rotate is published by engcon Nordic AB<br />
Official publisher: Sten Strömgren,<br />
sten.stromgren@engcon.se<br />
Postal address:<br />
Box 111, SE-833 22 Strömsund, Sweden<br />
Street address:<br />
Industricentravägen, Strömsund, Sweden<br />
Phone: +46 (0)670 178 00<br />
Fax: +46 (0)670 178 28<br />
Website: www.engcon.com<br />
Tilt & Rotate is produced in collaboration with<br />
Strateg Marknadsföring AB, Örebro, Sweden.