Construction Industry Players Welcome Komatsu’s Latest Excavators and Skid Steers
- Written by Anna Koretskaya
Construction Industry Players Welcome Komatsu’s Latest Excavators and Skid Steers
Komatsu is undoubtedly a market leader within the scope of the construction industry’s heavy machine spectrum and their latest offerings of skid steers and excavators has raised the bar setting a pace for other large manufacturers hot on their heels. The latest excavator unveiled by Komatsu is the mid-sized hydraulic excavator, the PC 290LC11 that sports a long reach arm and boom for extended reach and a sturdy undercarriage that enhances stability. This excavator has been designed with practicality in mind based on the fact that a machine used for excavator hire services is easily transportable and has a production capacity that is higher than all other previous excavators in its class due to quite a bounty of innovative ideas. The machine takes after the success of the PC 200 which was outfitted with a wide range of sensors that takes ‘guessing games’ out of the equation stated Seiichi Fuchita, a senior executive officer within the development division for Komatsu. The launch follows their release of the 20 ton PC200-10M0 hydraulic excavator in South East Asia which were also designed and developed with practicality in mind. He added that Komatsu moves forward with new innovation by listening to their customers and takes action based on the feedback. Even their latest progress within the electric excavator development component has been based on observing, testing and most of all listening to customers, especially the operators of the excavators themselves who work the machines. No one else knows these machines and their capabilities more than the operator and they are the best people to go to and ask about how these machines may be improved and that is a given.
On the skid steer front, Komatsu has also raised the benchmark with their latest release of the SK Skid Steer Loaders Series. The leading manufacturer introduced three new models (SK 715, SK 815, and the SK 820) which according to product manager Alex Visentin offers indomitable value for customers due to the power, efficiency and user friendliness of the SK series. The engineers at Komatsu again arrived at the development of these machines by listening to their customers (especially operators) that resulted in the spacious cabin despite these loaders being ultra-compact size and enhancing the agility of these machines and an intuitive monitor to boot merging driver and machine seamlessly. The latest releases also feature high torque engines that enable rapid acceleration without burning too much fuel. Under the EU stage V compliance category, these machines mark the environment with lower carbon footprints.
Other features that are notable with these latest machines are long-life filters, free maintenance for extended periods, enhanced operating loads, and enhanced ergonomics that are targeted at reducing operator fatigue. A critical aspect of Komatsu’s strategy has always been practicality and these changes and improvements that have been introduced according to senior exec Seiichi Fuchita was all based on inputs from customers, especially the operator segments. The latest features that have been introduced raise the benchmark for other leading manufacturer to follow suit. Most of Komatsu’s newest releases are digitised machines and are capable of being upgraded to even enhance their performance capabilities. The higher end machines are mostly capable of streaming real-time data to management teams that allow them to keep track of progress more intently and make adjustments accordingly to optimise project schedules. Electric autonomous machines are the direction that most manufacturers are heading towards and there is no doubt that Komatsu is leading the pack along with Kubota, Caterpillar and other major manufacturers and new players.
