My
My name is Lars Sylla and I am an operator at Asphaltmischwerk Remscheid, a concrete and asphalt plant near Wuppertal, west Germany. The company is owned by the Dohrmann Group, which owns a quarry and two additional sites in Germany.
There are seven employees at this site. I operate a Hitachi ZW150 wheel loader to transport 14 different types of materials. The asphalt and cement is used on general construction and road construction sites within a 40km radius.
Asphaltmischwerk Remscheid produces approximately 200m³ of concrete and 4-5,000 tonnes of asphalt per day. The site is open five days a week and the ZW150 is used for up to seven hours a day.
HITACHI
The Dohrmann Group owns several Hitachi medium and mini excavators including ZX10U-2, ZX40U, ZX85USBLC, ZX160W-3, ZX225USLC and ZX350LCN-3 models.
Asphaltmischwerk Remscheid has been a Hitachi customer since 2006. It also owns a Hitachi ZW250 wheel loader, which is based at a larger site nearby and was delivered in 2008.
The ZW150 was delivered in December 2008 and has 250 hours on the clock. It has a standard bucket, automatic lubrication and a rear-view camera that was fitted by Kiesel, the official Hitachi dealer in Germany.
Experience
The Hitachi ZW150 is the perfect size for this site and we are satisfied with its performance. I find the Hydro-Static Transmission particularly useful – it makes loading the containers and climbing uphill much easier.
The wheel loader is also easy to operate, the cab has a comfortable seat and everything is within reach. The air conditioning switch is in a more convenient position, so you can alter it while you are working instead of stopping to turn around, like in the previous model I used. That model also had no automatic handbrake, which I think is a useful safety feature on the ZW150.
GERMANY > ZW150 > EARTHMOVING