When Peter Haddock met Mr Komatsu UK

During the course of my career in the construction machinery media sector, I’ve been fortunate enough to visit the Komatsu UK facility in Birtley about 3-4 times and it's always a fantastic experience.

My good friend and industry colleague Peter Haddock of Content with Media, recently got his first opportunity to visit the Komatsu UK site which covers a total area of 200,000 sqm, which includes some 50,00 sqm of covered manufacturing space, and see first-hand, this state-of-the-art production line that currently produces 14 hydraulic excavators per day, right here in the UK.

Peter also got to meet the legend that is John Lawson aka ‘Mr Komatsu UK’ who has recently retired from the factory after an incredible 35 years of service, what John doesn’t know about Komatsu isn’t worth knowing and he will be sorely missed by all of us who visit the facility over the years.

Models produced at Birtley start with the 17-tonne class PC170-11E0 which was previously manufactured in Italy, right up to the 70-tonne class PC700-11E0, all of which are sold and serviced in the UK by Marubeni-Komatsu. 

The video is presented in Peter’s unmistakably enthusiastic style and features clips from Komatsu’s own production line video, it’s a fantastic watch, so enjoy!