LOAD & HAUL
RENTAL COMPANY
UNVEILS 190-TONNE MONSTER The EX1900-6 is now easily the heaviest machine available from Delta Rent.
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elta Rent has upped the ante for rental equipment in the quarrying and construction game with the latest and greatest from Hitachi. Th EX1900-6 excavator became the newest addition to Delta’s fleet this year, upon request from a major Melbourne operator. The 190-tonne giant far outweighs Delta’s now second-heaviest machine by 70 tonnes and fills a new need for the rental company, as it attracts customers with its flexibility and retains them with its service. Delta Rent national sales manager Damien Gramola told Quarry the delivery of the EX1900-6 epitomised the company’s devotion to fulfilling its customers’ needs. “This specific order was a bit out of the norm owing to its size, but that’s what we do and that’s how we operate at Delta Rent,” Gramola said. “When a customer comes to us and says, ‘this is what we need and we don’t want to buy it,’ because hiring is such a fantastic option for them, we’ll always cater to that.” The first recipient of the new excavator is a major player in Victoria’s sand quarry market and will use the machine to remove topsoil as part of an expansion to its operations. In preparation for a big 2022 – as Victorian extractive industries look to continue a 10year production high – the client was keen to receive the machine as soon as possible. Conveniently, Hitachi had one scheduled to arrive in Australia by December, and thus
a significant relationship between Delta and the key client was maintained. Gramola said Delta’s commitment to reliable equipment is what keeps its customers coming back for more. “The one thing they love about us is we supply them with equipment with low running hours – the majority of our fleet has all run under 4000 hours,” he said. “The reason being is we continually swap them out when they get too old. Once a machine gets to 5000 or 6000 hours, it gets removed and we get a brand new one to replace it.” Such service isn’t restricted to business hours either, according to Gramola. He said an example of Delta’s devotion came when one customer asked for a new alternator belt at 3pm on a Saturday. “They asked if someone could come out on the Sunday to be ready for the Monday,” Gramola said. “Before 5pm on the Saturday afternoon, someone was out there fixing it, repairing and replacing the issue. “Being in the hire game, you’ve got to be prepared to act on things out of hours sometimes because a customer might need to be up and running the next day.” In the case of the Melbournian sand quarry, the customer has committed to at least two years with the EX1900-6, with the option to keep it and extend the rental period for as long as required by their application.
Gramola said the main reason the customer chose Delta Rent and its rental model was because it’s scalable as operations evolve. “Once they’re finished with it, we’ll take it out of there and into our demo fleet it will go,” he said. “With renting, it doesn’t come out of a customer’s capital expenditure. A lot of procurement managers can’t make these kinds of big decisions outright. “So, they come to businesses like us and spend the same amount on a rental option and mark it under operational expenditure without having to take it up their company for CEO or CFO sign-off.” And of course, if any higher-ups did want to run their eyes over the Delta Rent deals and ensure things are spick and span, they’d find a well-serviced, cost-effective machine, owing to Hitachi’s maintenance prowess. Gramola described the technology that comes standard in Hitachi equipment, called global e-service, as allowing equipment owners to dial into machines from around the world to understand each unit. “This includes how much it’s loading, its fuel consumption, and its emissions down to its cubic tonnes per shift,” Gramola said. “All these things are important to understand from machine to machine to understand which operators are working the machines too hard or not hard enough.” This can help with servicing intervals as the machine counts down the running hours until its next scheduled service and notifies Delta Rent. Gramola said there’s no one who knows Hitachi equipment like Hitachi employees, so when a service is required – scheduled or otherwise – Delta Rent trusts Hitachi to do its thing for its clients. “Because we have that relationship with the OEM, they’ll come out on a Saturday or even a Sunday so that it doesn’t impact the quarry,” Gramola concluded. “The ones that are currently on site have 100 per cent utilisation because they’re just not stood down for anything. A fuel truck will roll around to keep them running and it’s just go, go, go.” •
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