Hill and Takeuchi make the perfect coupler
Successful working relationship sees Hill Engineering supply hydraulic quick-couplers for Takeuchi excavators
QUICK-coupler manufacturers Hill Engineering, based in Newry, Northern Ireland, and Japanese excavator manufacturers Takeuchi, who have UK offices in both the North (Rochdale) and the South (Berkshire), have formed a successful working relationship, with Hill supplying Takeuchi with the majority of hydraulic quick-couplers for their excavators.
Takeuchi have successfully grown their mini-excavator business to a top three market position for the UK and Eire, while Hill Engineering lay claim to being the UK market leaders for hydraulic quick-couplers.
In 2013 Hill supplied around 150 units for Takeuchi machines, but as 2014 draws to a close the figure looks likely to exceed 500.
Mike Roby, Hill Engineering’s sales director, said: ‘With Takeuchi’s strong performance in the excavator market place, we fully expect to retail in the region of 700 couplers next year.
‘This year alone Takeuchi have invested in the region of £700,000 with Hill. We see this growth continuing as the Takeuchi customer base continues to specify the market-leading TEFRA more and more due to the reliability of the product.’
Kevin McLaren, Takeuchi’s service manager, said: ‘In 2014 Takeuchi increased their product range, introducing the new TB260 and TB290 alongside a new wheeled TB295W. It is on these larger-sized excavators, in the 5-tonne-plus weight class, alongside the popular 3-tonne TB228, that customers often select Hill as the preferred hitch.’
Mr McLaren added: ‘The Hill TEFRA is an easy unit to install and operate, and it comfortably handles all sizes of bucket variations required on site. It also gives machine owners and operators that added peace of mind for attachment safety, both in plant hire and for groundworks contractors alike.’
Hill say that while they had always planned to forge a long-term strategic relationship with Takeuchi, the opportunity to work with Japanese manufacturer began in 2012 when Takeuchi approached Hill as they searched for alternative hitch solutions.
‘The TEFRA was perfectly positioned to offer them the solution they required,’ said Mike Roby. ‘With just three moving parts and now recognized with the Queens Award for Innovation, it offered their customers a competitive advantage over other products on the market.’
He added: ‘While working with Takeuchi, we have also looked at better working practices. This has led to the development of a bespoke fitting solution on their machines, new dispatch processes at our factory and an aggressive stocking programme by Takeuchi themselves. All of these have helped to improve the customer experience when buying a Takeuchi machine with a Hill TEFRA hydraulic coupler.’
