Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe) NV holds itself to the highest standards ­– and it’s these ever-evolving quality checks and expectations that are a notable challenge to our team.

Nils Olav Haukaas has represented our Norwegian dealer, Nasta, for almost 30 years. He tells us that it is, “the advent of new international standards” which has made his job more difficult over time, “for instance when it comes to quality issues and also when it comes to emissions”.

Customer standards also pose a significant challenge to Hitachi employees. With over 40 years’ experience, Mark Watson of Hitachi Construction Machinery (UK) tells us: “My job has been made more challenging by customers’ expectations.”

However, new advancements have offered the perfect solution to such tasks! “We’ve been able to alleviate this [challenge] by using the technology available to us, through ConSite Shot reporting and monthly reports sent to the customer,” adds Mark.

And he isn’t the only one to reference technology in the world of construction machinery. When asked what has made his role simpler, Knut Gaarde (from our Norwegian dealer Nasta) references Global e-Service, which “makes it possible to monitor and troubleshoot the machine from my desk”.

Reflecting on his time in the family business, Carlo Kloosterman, from one of Hitachi’s longest-standing customers in The Netherlands, Kloosterman BV, refers to older ways of working, before newer technologies made life easier: “I can remember that on a Saturday, my dad and I changed the bucket of the excavator. This process took more than half a day to make the machine ready to go for the next Monday. Nowadays you just press a button, and the bucket is changed.”

Esther Navest from HCM Nederland also considers the “positive impact” technology has had on her role. With a wealth of experience, Esther considers specific examples of how new processes and technologies have benefitted her industry: “From being a mechanic and everything mechanical to nowadays everything digital, computerised, remote, that makes such a huge impact on the life of everybody.”