Up Close and Personal with Big Komatsus

My good friend and industry colleague Olli Päiviö of Finnish publication Konepörssi, recently got the chance to visit the Komatsu factory in Düsseldorf, Germany, where the company manufacture the heaviest excavators in the Komatsu range from 250 – 780 tonnes.

The impressive Komatsu Mining factory with its roots going back to the Demag days, is one place that I have not been fortunate enough to visit over the years, but its one on my bucket list for the future for sure.

Olli reports that the two-shift production plant manufactures almost everything itself, from track frames, upper-structures, booms, cylinders and even wiring harnesses. The annual production volume is currently around 30-40 machines, which is pretty incredible when thinking about the size of these units, but that number does fluctuate according to the demands of the greater mining industry.

Olli along with the rest of the Finnish group from Suomen Rakennuskone making the trip, were treated to an in-depth tour around the production facility, witnessing the various stages of the build-up with super-sized components, certainly not your regular excavator manufacturing facility!

However, even more exciting times lay ahead for Olli. Just a short 20-minute drive away from the factory, within the grounds of a local quarry, a fully completed and functional PC4000 is available. This machine is primarily used for training purposes, and a dedicated classroom facility is also located in this area.

Talking about this machine and the purpose it serves, Marcel Begemann, the aftermarket manager said, "Previously, we used to visit a lot of customer sites and it caused some kind of disruption to the actual work. The introduction of this area facilitated training for both our own service personnel and customer representatives. Here, we can easily simulate different malfunction situations and give instructions etc. remotely. When a customer in Australia, for example, has a problem, we can simulate the same situation here," begins Marcel Begemann, who works in aftermarket.

Pictured above: The Komatsu factory staff in blue and Finnish dealers Suomen Rakennuskone in orange jackets and helmets. From left to right: Marcel Begemann, responsible for aftermarket, sales director Pasi Gerpe, Thomas Jordan, responsible for the mining machinery sector in the Nordic countries, Ville Mamia, director responsible for mining customers in Finland, and key customer director Jari Salomäki.

It was while visiting this machine that Olli was given the opportunity to briefly operate this giant 400-tonne mining monster, something that not many are lucky enough to get a go on.

Checkout the video below for more interesting material.

Big thanks to Olli and Konepörssi for the images and text extracts.