Hitachi

Hitachi Construction Machinery Europe is based in the Netherlands, were there is a large production facility building Excavators for the European market. It is a subsidiary of Hitachi Construction Machinery Group. It is responsible for Hitachi's construction machinery-related activities in Europe, Africa, Russia, and the Middle East.

History

The following is from Hitachi Europe web site: http://www.hcme.com/en

Hitachi Construction Machinery Europe (NV) has a relatively short history in Europe. With its origins going back to 1968 when Hovers Constructie NV in Tilburg was appointed exclusive importer of Hitachi's range of construction equipment in Benelux.

By 1970 Hitachi has reorganized its Japanese operations, and a construction machinery division was created as an independent company, called Hitachi Construction Machinery Co.,Ltd.

In order to support its existing customers, as well as to form a strategic basis for its future plans in Europe, a new company called Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe) BV was established on 1st August 1972 after the bankruptcy of Hovers, its original importer.

In the 1970s the company launched a number of crawler cranes designed locally but had appeal throughout the world. Many of the early machines sold by HCME were piledrivers, or crawler cranes with a fixed hydraulic adjustable post used for foundation work.

In 1981 the company opened a new parts warehouse at Oosterhout, which allowed for the first time that all the machines sold by HCME in Europe, Africa and the Middle East could be fully supported by the Oosterhout facility. In that year the 500th machine was sold by HCME, a demonstration of the steady growth made by the company in its first decade.

In 1986 the production partnership between Fiat and Hitachi began with the original plan to build a limited range of Hitachi crawler excavators in Fiat's factory in San Mauro, Turin, Italy. The rest of the Hitachi crawler excavator product line would continue to be imported into Europe from Japan via HCME. The first Fiat-Hitachi excavator was supplied by HCME to a Dutch contractor in April 1988.

The 1990s have seen a gradual expansion of the number of mini excavator models produced in Oosterhout from the original two models, the UE15 and UE30, to the current five models. It has also seen the trebling of production volumes, resulting in HCME becoming one of the leading manufactures of mini excavators in Europe.

In 1997 Hitachi exists a quarter of a century. In this same year, HCME started with ISO certification of the different departments. First the mini factory obtained the ISO 9001 certificate. One year later this certificate was obtained by product support and as of 2000 the whole company was ISO 9001 certified.

In October 1998, Euclid and Hitachi opened a partnership. "A Partnership for a New Millennium" was solidified with Euclid. Hitachi, already holding 80% of the issued stock, purchased the remainder of Euclid stock from Volvo Construction Equipment, Brussels, Belgium, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary. As of that time HCME will purchases Euclid-Hitachi machines.

In March 2001 Hitachi announced that it would terminate the joint venture relationship with Fiat in connection with Fiat-Hitachi Excavators S.p.A. ("FHE"). The sales of all Hitachi interests in FHE to CNH shall be finalized by June 2002. After the termination of the joint venture in June 2002, Hitachi pursues an independent strategy in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

In November 2001 the Hitachi Amsterdam project, a new factory and a training- and demonstration centre started. The training- and demonstration centre shall be used for several activities. In the factory in Amsterdam, HCME will assemble midsize machines with a weight of 10 up to 50 tonnes.

In April 2002 Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe) BV changed from a BV to a NV. Today Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe) NV, (HCME) boasts an overall history as a general manufacturer of construction machinery.

Hitachi and John Deere have a joint venture, Deere-Hitachi, located in Kernersville, NC. It is jointly owned by Deere & Company and Hitachi, and manufactures hydraulic excavators for the North American market.

Hitachi Models

(Model listing required)

Modern Models

Excavators

• Hitachi Zaxis 470LCH-3
• Hitachi Zaxis 500LCH-3
• Hitachi Zaxis 670LCR-3
• Hitachi Zaxis 870LCH-3

Loading shovels

• Hitachi ZW250

Early Models

A semi retired Hitachi EX120 in the Republic of Ireland

• Hitachi EX60
• Hitachi EX120
• Hitachi EX160
• Hitachi EX200
• Hitachi EX400

Fiat-Hitachi Models

(Model listing required)

See Also

• Euclid
• Fiat
• Fiat-Hitachi
• Volvo Construction Equipment

External links

http://www.hcme.com/en Hitachi Construction Equipment Europe