A new EC02 tiltrotator package supplied to John Clarke Mini Digger Hire by Engcon is credited with helping the company win 85% of jobs they quote for.
John Clarke, an owner-operator working directly for home owners and small builders in the Liverpool, Manchester and Wigan area, has an Engcon hitch fitted to each of his excavators and switches the tiltrotator between his 1.7 tonne Takeuchi TB216 and 1.2 tonne Takeuchi TB210R Micro Digger, depending on the restrictions of the site.
He explained: 'I invested in my Engcon tiltrotator, hitch and buckets, mainly for digging foundations and groundworks.
'A lot of my work involves squaring off against walls, which is hard work with continuous digger repositions and I was looking for something to help with this.
'I'd stumbled across the Engcon videos on YouTube while on holiday and decided within a few hours I must have one. I did look at two other tiltrotator options but found them more expensive and not compatible with both diggers.
'The quick hitch and tiltrotator makes you think differently about your day. Because you can change your accessories so quickly ' for me in about 4-5 minutes ' you find yourself much happier about changing tools. So you make-sure you're using the right-tool for the right job, rather than making do with what's fitted or grouping together all your jobs with a particular tool, which isn't always great for the site manager.
'I've had my tiltrotator for three months now. Originally, I alternated between the tilt and rotate functions due to the hydraulics on my diggers but Engcon promised to work on a more refined system.
'True to their word, they did and it's been installed. This gives me simultaneous tilt and rotate from a single hydraulic line and I believe I'm the first person in the UK to have this solution on a micro digger this small. I can't praise the Engcon team enough for their support.
'With Engcon fitted I am now winning up to 85% of the jobs I'm quoting for. A great improvement that I'd put down to growing awareness on site of the benefits a tilty-equipped digger brings.
'I have managed to increase my day rate slightly with my improved job win ratio but the big one for me is that I can do all the levelling and straightening off with my digger, so I've not employed a shovel man since my purchase, really reducing my daily out costs.
'In my area in the Wirral and North West, the tiltrotator is still a rare sight, especially on a mini digger. Certainly, I'd never seen one in the flesh until my fitting day at Engcon. People presume they are for larger machines.
'When other workers see it in action they are amazed, spinning the bucket the other way around is something else. I spend some time each week showing it off to interested passers-by'
Robert Hunt, managing director of Engcon UK, said: 'John was very clear about his requirements and his budget. The hydraulic constraints of his diggers meant that, aside from a more sophisticated and costlier control system, we could only install a unit with limited functionality; but it got us thinking.
'Within three weeks, our UK Engineers had come up with a more advanced development and our Swedish team managed to productionise and CE-mark it 6 weeks after that. It's a classic example of customer and market-led product development which has resulted in Engcon's tiltrotators being more affordable and available to a wider market.
'This has also been a sound investment for John, enabling him to use his time far more productively, and increase his revenue. By our estimates, he'll get a full return on his investment within the year.
'Engcon aims to supply the very best solutions for customers. Many owner-operators like John work in confined places and for them the Engcon EC02 tiltrotator solution for mini diggers is game changing'
