Celebrations for the shipment of the 25,000th medium Hitachi Zaxis excavator from the Amsterdam factory.
The milestone machine, a ZX140W-3, represents "an impressive achievement" for the Japanese construction manufacturer and the largest of its European assembly plants.
To mark the occasion, a special ceremony was held at the factory and was attended by guest speakers Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd president Mr Kikawa; HCME president Mr Tabei and managing director of the official Hitachi dealer in Belgium, Jos Luyckx.
All employees at the HCME factory were also invited to the ceremony. Their important role in the manufacturing and sales processes at HCME was highlighted by all three speakers.
The keys of the Hitachi ZX140W-3 wheeled excavator were handed over to three representatives of the customer, Demaecker & Van Haecke (DMVH), which specialises in earthmoving, waterworks and material handling projects in Belgium, France and The Netherlands. It has been a Hitachi customer since 1987.
"Over the years, DMVH has ordered approximately 130 Hitachi machines, of which 72 are still in use today. Its fleet includes crawler excavators from eight to 35tonnes, wheeled excavators, material handling machines and wheel loaders," said Jos Luyckx.
Established in 1960 by Julien and Fernand Demaecker and Louis van Haecke, DMVH management is now in the hands of both families' second generations: Serge Demaecker, Alain van Haecke and Filip Fossé, husband of Eveline Demaecker. "It was an honour for us to take delivery of the 25,000th machine to be produced at HCME in Amsterdam," Alain van Haecke.
"We continue to buy Hitachi construction machinery because the wide variety of machines including the standard models and modifications tailored to our specific requirements by Luyckx is a huge advantage for our company." The HCME factory in Amsterdam was extended in 2006 when a 19,600m² production plant was built alongside its existing facility as part of a Euro 20million investment programme. The aim was to increase production figures from 3,500 to 6,000 units a year, reaching a maximum output of 23 units per day.
The manufacture of Hitachi Zaxis excavators began at the factory in January 2003 and the 10,000 total was reached in May 2006.
