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Digger gets hands on at Hidromek

Sun 01 Dec 2013

Digger gets hands on at Hidromek

My morning in Ankara had begun with meeting members of the Hidromek sales and marketing team, in the company’s new office complex, which since my last visit in 2010, had been built onto the side of the main excavator assembly line. This was swiftly followed by a tour of the factory floors, which I plan to report about in Earthmovers Magazine in the future. After an in-depth look around the manufacturing process, I was invited to take to the controls of the company’s very latest backhoe loader, the HMK102B Supra. I was instructed to follow Hidromek’s Product Manager Ozan Binici, who was going ahead in his car, and we made our way to a massive site further on in the Ankara industrial zone, where Hidromek have purchased 900,000m2 of land and are currently preparing the ground for the first phase of its new production facilities. After arriving on site, we headed down to the star of the show, the new HMK540LCHD, which is currently the only one built in prototype form. This machine is being evaluated by Hidromek’s own operators, with every minute performance detail being noted. The machine is expected to go into full production next year, with any modifications required after this test period being put into the full production machine. I took to the controls to load a couple of lorry’s that were hauling away rock from the dig. As I had experienced on previous trips, operating the smaller HMK220’s, the Hidromek’s have a great feel on the controls. This 54 tonne offering was no different, smooth and powerful and the machine coped well with the tough digging conditions. There was a little bit of tipping with a full bucket over the side, but I was told that this had been noted and that plans are already in place to make the full production machine more stable. As I have reported before, the Gen series cabs on these machines are a nice place to spend a shift, and the design team at Hidromek have done a great job, following consultation with customers and operators alike. At the heart of the control system is the Opera (Hidromek Operator Interface) control panel. This multi-function piece of technology allows the operator to manage functions such as, engine RPM control, navigating and scrolling menus via the colour screen, select work modes, control wipers and lights, stop-start up of the engine, just to name a few. I was quite happy to stay in the machine for the rest of the day loading trucks, but time was getting on and we had a lot of site to look at! There was also an old Cat classic at work on this job, in the form of this 1970’s Caterpillar 955L traxcavator, which I shot as it was pushing loose rocks over the side of the excavation. Needless to say, there were a lot of Hidromek machines on site to see, and further down the job we came across this 30 tonne class HMK300LC machine that was working a hydraulic hammer breaking up large rocks. Another Hidromek machine in action was this HMK370LCHD model that was busy loading trucks with rock that had been broken out previously by the HMK300LC. This material is then taken to a crusher on site, where it is prepared for re-use down on the factory floor level. There were also a number of Hidromek excavators still sporting the old yellow style of paintwork, which was replaced by the stunning new black & white livery in 2010. I am not sure, but I suspect these machines may have been ex-demonstration machines or prototypes, as they did look in excellent condition. This HMK220LC model was busy breaking up rocks ahead of a Caterpillar D8L dozer that was spreading the material. It’s estimated that this new factory will be up and running in two years, increasing the company’s production capacity to over 35,000 units per year; another step in Hidromek’s vision to become a “Global Brand” in the construction machinery industry. Once again I would like to take this opportunity to thank the team at Hidromek for their kind hospitality, during what was an incredibly busy time for them with the pending announcement about their takeover of the Mitsubishi motor grader business.  

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