Part of the key to a company’s success, aside from the people within it, are the sound investments made to enable the business to thrive. As an earthmoving company, reliability, productivity and efficiency are vital to that success and the machinery relied upon for this has to make the grade in every aspect.
For Midlands-based Max Earthworks, getting the right equipment, that can be relied upon to do the job, is vital and for Managing Director Alan Wildbore, that means crawler excavators from HD Hyundai Construction Equipment, supplied by local dealer Willowbrook Plant.
Though only recently established, Max Earthworks has a rapidly growing number of earthmoving and ground remediation contracts on its books. Alan has run much larger muck shifting businesses in the past and has built a strong working relationship with local Hyundai dealer Willowbrook Plant over many years. When new machinery for Max Earthworks was required to fulfil these contracts, there was never any doubt about where it would come from.
“I bought my first new 14-tonne Hyundai through Andy Greensmith and the team at Willowbrook in 2012, having run a variety of used machines before that,” said Alan.
“It was affordable and it did exactly the same job as other makes of machine. More importantly, it never let us down. We’ve never had any issues with Hyundai, just one injector that was replaced under warranty.”
Since that time, he has gone on to purchase more than 40 machines from Willowbrook, including two HX300As, six HX220ALs and eight HX140As. When the time came to get Max Earthmoving up and running, the mid-weight Hyundai was therefore at the top of a very short list of machines.
The 22-tonne HX220AL is powered by a Stage V six-cylinder Cummins engine, developing 129kW (173hp) of power. With Hyundai’s Electronic Pump Flow Control (EPFC) hydraulic system, the excavator offers a perfect balance of productivity with precision for the operator. The machine boasts the latest A-Series operator’s cab, with a comfortable working environment and a powerful heating and air conditioning system.
“The HX220AL is the perfect middle ground machine for us. It is suitable for earthworks for housebuilding and can also be used on larger groundworks,” said Alan.
The company is now running two HX220ALs, following delivery of a second machine in early September. Both are equipped with a full boxing ring of upper structure handrails and with Hyundai’s All Around View Monitoring (AAVM) system of 360 cameras, but he said that the machines are so well specified that operators need for little else. Max Earthworks also uses Hyundai’s HiMate telematic system to keep an eye on the excavators, though all service and repair work on the new machines will be carried out by the service department at Willowbrook.
“We used to have our own fitters, but now we use the dealer,” said Alan. “They are dealing with the machines every day and they provide us with a fantastic level of service.”
Though in no rush to expand straight away, he does have plans to add additional machines to the Max Earthworks fleet, to meet growing customer demand for the company’s services.
“Absolutely, when the market permits, the plan would be to run half a dozen machines again,” said Alan.
If those machines are excavators, there seems little doubt where they will come from.
