World class construction machinery Hidromek

WORLD CLASS

CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY

Hidromek is a market leader in the design and manufacture of advanced construction machinery. Philip Yorke talked to Dr Ilhan Varol, the company’s business development, director about its major investments in new plant and its latest world-class excavators.

Hidromek was founded in Turkey in 1978 and started as a small workshop in Ankara. The company began by mounting back-hoe and loader attachments to farm tractors. By 1991 it had developed the application of the world’s first four-wheel steer mode on to its own backhoe loader and by 1998 had achieved ISO 9001 certification. Based upon these successes the company embarked upon an export drive that saw its first overseas sales in North Africa, before going on to expand sales across all five continents of the globe. Today Hidromek is a truly international organisation that employs more than 1350 people and in 2012 recorded sales of over €275 million.

Technology driven

Hidromek’s continuing success is not simply down to its state-of-the-art production facilities and dedicated customer services, but also due to the company’s continuous investment in new technology and R&D. Since it was first established, Hidromek has consistently invested in product development to increase the performance, valuefor-money and low maintenance costs of its machines. With its diverse range of excavators, all designed and manufactured in-house, the company has since grown to become the number-one construction manufacturer in Turkey and a market leader in some of its 50 sales regions worldwide.

The quality and reliability of all Hidromek construction equipment is well known and endorsed by the continuous stream of industrial design awards that its machines attract. Recently the company achieved an ‘excellence in design’ award for its Backhoe Loader Maestro series, as well as for its Excavator Gen series and remains the only manufacturer to have received two design awards in this category.

Increasing production capacity and product range

Hidromek’s core products are its advanced backhoe loaders and excavators that are available with both track and wheels. On offer are two-wheel steer and four-wheel steer versions with four-wheel drive models of backhoe loaders available at 100hp or more. The company’s diverse variety of excavators range from 14 tons to 54 tons. The production volumes of backloaders and excavators reached over 4000 units in 2012. In addition, Hidromek also produces excavators for special, tailor-made applications such as for tunnelling, material handling and demolition operations. In April this year the company had planned to launch its latest hi-tech 54 ton crawler excavator which is claimed to be the most advanced of its kind on the market.

In terms of its manufacturing facilities, Hidromek operates four highly automated production plants in Turkey with a total productive floor space of over 180,000m2. Current production capacity is around 10,000 units per year. However, the company, in line with its vision for growth, has made major investments to establish an entirely new production facility which will increase capacity by a further 30,000 units per year. This latest, state-of-the-art plant will employ more than 150 of the world’s most advanced welding robots.

Mr Varol said, “Hidromek is dedicated to a programme of continuous improvement and this is based upon our culture of listening carefully to our customers’ needs. Even one single customer’s voice is enough to create a change in our design plans in order to satisfy a new need and to improve still further the reliability of our products. Hidromek puts the customer at the centre of its processes, and our aim is to provide complete customer satisfaction. We serve our customers 24/7 with call centres that offer advice and technical support to minimise possible down-time.

“In Turkey alone we have over 60 service centres and none of them are located more than 100km from our own depots. Russia is an important growth market for us and we already have 15 accredited dealers there, and this is all part of our commitment to be closer to our customers. Outside Turkey we have a total of 100 authorised service points. We also believe that our R&D produces

technical achievements that keep us ahead of the field. This new technology is designed to provide increased operational efficiency, greater durability and improved fuel efficiency for our customers.”

Strategy for growth

Hidromek continues to benefit from the organic growth created by its development of new technology. However, in today’s highly competitive market other strategies come into play as Mr Varol explained, “Today’s construction machines are highly complex items and include electronics and mechatronics that require advanced materials and design excellence and expertise.

“Today’s business environment is also very complex and requires planning and interaction on a global scale. We believe that pure organic growth that relies on using our internal resources may not be sufficient to achieve our full growth potential. Therefore our future growth will require acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances with a range of expert institutions and companies. However, we will continue to launch new, cutting-edge products over the next few years that offer even more benefits to our customers. I believe that we will continue to see double-digit growth in the next few years and we will continue to invest in our workforce and the R&D that has brought us to where we are today.”

Hidromek’s tried and trusted recipe for success continues to place it in a strong position for the future. On going investment in new manufacturing facilities and commitment to new product development will continue to ensure their position as a global player in the construction machinery sector. n

For further information about Hidromek products and services visit: ww.hidromek.com