Irish Flair

by Nick Drew | Fri 31 Mar 2017

Irish Flair

Taking a look back at another of my Earthmovers Magazine articles and bringing it to life on the internet with this one from 2015 on M O'Brien Plant Hire and their Hyundai excavators.

Michael O’Brien was just 17 years old when he first came over to England. Like so many young Irish lads of his generation he very quickly found work in the UK construction industry, initially starting out as a groundworks labourer. As time went by, the young Michael got a hankering to operate the machines and blagged his way into the seat during lunch breaks. During these periods he used to practice hard to perfect his skills and in time he was given his own mount top operate. In 1990 Michael decided to have a go at machine ownership, and in conjunction with his wife Annamarie, he formed M O’Brien Plant Hire, which at the time based in Luton. Michael’s first ever machine was a JCB 3CX, which they ran out of there back garden in the town. As the business expanded they were eventually running no less than 11 JCB 3CX’s from their back garden, but as one can imagine the neighbours rapidly got fed up with the sound of machines firing up at 5am in the morning and the late night sound of sledgehammers and tools clanging as repairs were carried out in preparation for the next day. It was at that time that the company purchased its first yard at Markyate, which is currently being refurbished to house the head office and accounts department.

Archive photo: Courtesy of M O'Brien Plant Hire. Today the business runs in excess of 400 pieces of equipment, employs 20 office based staff spread between two depots, around 200 plant operators at any one time plus additional supporting plant engineers and yard staff out of their premises near St Albans adjacent to the M1. The business operates not only locally but on a nationwide basis, providing a one stop plant solution to a wide variety of clients including blue-chip company’s such as Balfour Beatty, Skanska, Costain, Carillion, Bam Nuttall, PPS Pipelines, to name but a few.

The company, which runs machines on an operated or self-drive basis, runs a wide variety of kit featuring some of the biggest brands in the business, including Hitachi, Volvo, Case, JCB, Takeuchi and more recently Hyundai’s, which are proving to be a big hit with customers and operators alike. The company purchased their first Hyundai excavators some two years ago from local dealership Willowbrook Plant Sales. That initial batch of machines consisted of 10 x 8 tonne class excavators, which were well received and todays Hyundai fleet total is around 30 units, with new machines arriving all the time, talking about the Hyundai excavators, Michael’s son Daniel O’ Brien said, “We’ve been very impressed with the machines overall. We like the push button start feature, which we feel makes the machine quite secure and prevents unauthorised use thanks to its 5 digit pin code start up feature, so it’s great for security and also as a safety feature too. In addition we like the fact that these machines all feature the well proven components under the skin, like Kawasaki hydraulic pumps and Hyundai’s own slew motors and final drives which gives us peace of mind about the quality of the product”.

Daniel continued, “We find that a vast majority of the operators really like the Hyundai’s too and are pleasantly surprised when they turn up on site. For most operators the generous sized and well-appointed cab is a big hit. But overwhelmingly it’s the speed and smoothness of the machines that the operators comment on the most. Some of our younger and more computer savvy operators understand how to change the settings on the machine menu screen to adjust the machine to suit their own individual needs. This enables them to achieve the optimum performance when tackling tasks like grading, loading, lifting or even for general digging operations, which is just another feature that makes the machines appealing”. “We have been very impressed with the level of service we get from Willowbrook Plant Sales and our local rep is always very helpful, you can’t really ask for much more than that these days and we are confident that we will be adding more Hyundai’s to the fleet as we go forward”. Dan was keen to show off one of the latest Hyundai 14 tonners to arrive in the yard as he put the machine to work loading a Hydrema 912E articulated dumptruck, which is owned by sister company Willow Hire. The 13/14 tonne class hydraulic excavator is a staple component for any plant hire company and these new Hyundai models seem to represent great all round value for money, especially in this competitive sector. This machine, like a vast majority on the fleet these days, features fall from height (Boxing ring) protection, a Hill Tefra fully automatic quick coupler system and a full set of cab windscreen guards from Cab Care as specified in the deal between M O’Brien and Willowbrook.

The Dash 9A R140 models are powered by a stage 3B emissions-compliant Perkins engine, which is rated at 116hp (88kW). There’s no doubt that this is a good engine choice for the European market and it replaces the Mitsubishi lump that was previously fitted in the old Dash 9 models. The engine offers plenty of power and torque too making this machine very quick and nimble and in addition the machine is very frugal on the fuel consumption, which is another factor that appeals to M O’Brien’s loyal customers.

Earthmovers caught up with another M O’Brien Plant Hire Hyundai R140LC-9A model, which was working on the A5 Link Road scheme, where it was on hire to Costain-Carilion, this job will eventually link the A5 to the M1 motorway to help ease traffic flow through Dunstable and the surrounding villages. It has to be said that sign writing on the O’Brien machines is stunning and the 3 leaf clover design, which also bears the fleet number of each machine is a fantastic touch too. A vast majority of this sticker design and manufacture is done in house as the company has its own equipment for designing and making the stickers, which in turn cuts out having to rely on any outside signwriting source and which is very handy for repairing any damaged graphics too. It was on this site that we met long term O’Brien’s operator Timmy Hough. Asked what his thoughts on the Hyundai machines were he said, “I like them, I really do, they are very user friendly, with nice smooth controls and everything in the cab is close to hand”.

Timmy also recalled that as a young 5 year old lad back home in Ireland he quite often spent time in an old white cabbed Robex model and said, “They’ve certainly come a long way since those days for sure, in fact I have a friend back home, who is a dealer and is selling them like mad, people are simply going crazy for them!”

Our next port of call was to a landfill site in Colnbrook in Slough to check out a couple of R220LC-9A Hyundai’s, which were working on a Buckingham Plant job in conjunction with some Hydrema dumptrucks, which were also supplied by M O’Brien Plant Hire. The R220LC-9A is another top selling machine for Hyundai dealers in the UK at the moment, powered by a Stage 3B emissions compliant 6 cylinder Cummins QSB6.7 engine, which offers a power output rating of 167hp (124kW). Once again this machine has proven to be very popular with M O’Brien’s customers.

When we caught up with the machine it was busy loading one of the Hydrema dumpers towards the end of the Friday shift, but we did manage to get the thoughts of the operator who said, “In all fairness I had not had much to do with the Hyundai’s in the past and initially I must admit I was a bit on the sceptical side, but I can honestly say I’ve been well and truly impressed with the machine. I have operated a lot of different makes and models of machines over the years in the game, but this machine easily ranks up with some of the best I’ve been on, it’s very fast, has plenty of grunt when needed and as for the cab well, it’s a dream place to spend your days, I cannot see what there isn’t to like about them to be honest, my only concern is how long they last, but if you only run them for 3 – 4 years maximum before trading them in you are always still going to have a decent machine on your hands”.

It was quite clear to see that the Hyundai brand has made quite an impact on the O’Brien fleet and although the firm will always run a large cross section of machine makes to suit many individual customers requests, it was very evident that the good relationship with the dealer and the quality of the product will almost certainly guarantee that Hyundai kit will continue to be run by the firm in the future.

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