Earthmovers & Excavators – October 2019

32 TradeEarthmovers.com.au

I

n ourindustrywehavemachinessuitedtothe

multitudeofapplicationsinvolvedandover

thelast 40 yearswehaveseenunprecedented

expansioninthevariety,qualityandtechnological

advancementinallbrandsofexcavators,but

nonemoresignificantthantheincreasein

popularityofminiexcavators.

FromAustralia’sfirstattemptsatimportingthe

miniexcavatorin thelate1970stothenewest

modelsfloodingourshorestoday,weare

definitelyspoiledforchoice.

BanburyEngineering,inmyopinion,wasthe

first heavy machinery importer to introduce the

mini excavator range into the Australian market:

the Nissan N3 mini digger.

These particular machines were not taken

seriously enough to make much of a dent in the

market but, despite having some serious design

issues, they had potential.

Banbury at that time was by far the most

successful importer of excavators into Australia

with the Kato range of diggers and held an

unprecedented 80 per cent share of the market.

The successful range of diggers ranging from the

10t 350G to the 45t 1800 covered all the bases

for the Aussie market with the 14t 550G and 20t

750Gthepickofthebunchbutcloselyfollowed

bythe28t 1200 range.

Alwayslookingoutsidethebox,in anera

ofstrongcompetition,Banburytooka punt

ontheKatofactory-built4t180Gand

commencedimportingthemintoAustralia

inlate‘79/80.

It is myopinionthatthismovebyBanburywas

themostsignificantadvancementin excavators

in Australia’sshorthistoryandchangedthe

excavatormarketforever.

Goodfortune,goodluckorgoodmanagement

doesn’t really matter to me ... the point is they

were the first and the mini excavator market in

Australia was born and boomed.

DEMONSTRATION TIME

I was fortunate to be Banbury’s demonstrator

operator and owned a fleet of Kato excavators at

that time.

I was called upon to complete a demonstration

of the newly-imported Kato 180G fitted with a

blade by all things.

I questioned the sales rep at the time on why

would they place a blade on a digger and, not

having seen it prior to the demonstration day,

These particular

machines were

not taken seriously

enough.

TIGHT

NEW MACHINERY REVIEW

Although not being

the roomiest of

machines, the Volvo
ECR35D Close

Radius mini

excavator is very

handy for a tight
spot, says Ron

Horner

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