It’s true – we sometimes neglect the smaller things in life at CMME. So, to redress the balance, the magazine met with Lorenz Hunklinger and his back-sparing paving and grab attachments at the recent PMV Live Show.
Hunklinger is the energetic creator of a self-titled range, which on the face of it seems like a small addition to the region but could have major benefits for contractors looking to compete for municipal and leisure landscaping and paving work.
The compact machine Hunklinger ‘tools’ allow for operators to shift pallatised loads of slabs into position on site. Saving manpower in what is often back breaking work. Like many German firms in the equipment sector, Hunklinger is family-owned, but it is no Liebherr-style behemoth, says its CEO.
“We are a relatively small, family business,” says Hunklinger. “We started with development of our first model of product in 1994 and we sold the first in 1999. After 14-15 years, the business is running very well.”
The momentum in the Hunklinger business has come from its enhancement of both dealer ranges and contractor abilities, he adds.
“The attachments keep the universal machine – the excavator – running. And if you sell an excavator, then you need attachments. If there is nothing on in front, then you can’t do anything.”
The Big-5 and PMV Live shows marked the company’s entry into the Middle East market after a chance meeting at Bauma last year with GCC dealer Al Mahroos. “Bauma is always the best place for making contacts from everywhere; the whole world.”
According to Hunklinger, senior executives from M H Al Mahroos, including former CMME intervieweeds Talal Al Mahroos, were looking for attachments at the world’s biggest equipment show.
“On the Yanmar stand we had put an attachment on and connected for display,” he recalls. “He (Talal) asked, ‘who is this company?’.”
Al Mahroos were clearly impressed (“They came to our stand, said that’s what we need,” says Hunklinger) with what they had seen and were soon inviting Hunklinger to join its ranks in the Middle East.
As at Bauma, a Yanmar excavator is being used to demonstrate the attachment while we speak. Talal Al Mahroos joins his new partner as we watch machine and tool work in tandem.
“Of course, we believe that the two things: the attachment and the excavator go together,” Al Mahroos says. “We were showing the customers the applications and looking for those (types of) products. We had seen in Saudi Arabia and here at different exhibitions full packaged paving machines just for laying stone slabs where you cannot remove the paver.”
Hunklinger adds: “The excavator should be a universal machine.”
Typically in the Middle East the kind of work suitable to the set-up on display is most commonly done manually. Despite this, even with labour being relatively cheap, the process can be a slow and profit squeezing way to make money.
“Save time, save labour, save money,”Al Mahroos affirms.
“There is a huge number of stones here,” says Hunklinger. “It’s like an investment for a customer. If he decides to buy an excavator, he wants to get the best outcome of his investment. And that means that the machine should run everyday. Every day running and earning money.”
Buying attachments offer a way for contractors to increase their usefulness on site and their ability to win work on other phases or aspects of a project that may have been closed off to them previously.
“It creates new business opportunities for the customer who owns it,” explains Hunklinger. “To get the contracts in.”
PMV Live is an opportunity for Hunklinger and Al Mahroos to explore new business opportunities for themselves. It is with some historical irony then, that the German company’s CEO says that the Middle East had not been under serious consideration prior to that meeting at Bauma.
“We did not think about the Middle East,” he states. “We did not have plans from our side to actively start, come here and search for a dealer because were busy enough at home in Europe. But we always said that if somebody comes to us and shows they will be a good partner, then we will try it.”
Considering Al Mahroos’ offer to act on its behalf was more than certainly made easier by the continuing malaise in Europe, says Hunklinger. Describing the Middle East as a ‘hot spot’, he says the timing is now ideal for his company.
How does it work?
The excavator and attachment are deployed on site and where they can pick from palletised stacks of 1sqm paving stones. The paving pattern is half offset allowing each section to come together like a blocky jigsaw pattern. According to Hunklinger, the system of excavator paving has convinced customers in Europe because of the “minimised movements on freshly laid pavers, simple operation and control of the paver attachment and finally best visibility to the laying edge”.
Keen to demonstrate the attachment in action for CMME, Hunklinger hops into the Yanmar to show how easy it is to use. On one side is a set of concrete paving stones ordered into a series of offset rows a pallet is on the other. The load is swiftly grabbed and swung to a new position. It is a straightforward and simple set-up and one that could be easily imagined on-site.
According to Hunklinger, you can lay 500sqm per day with the set-up.
“However we have customers that have been using it for years, so they’re very well trained and experienced and can do double that.”
Excavator/attachment set-up is made possible by the fully automatic hydraulic control of the clamp enabling the excavator driver to easily handle the special attachment for laying stones. Hunklinger says that the operator experience required is fairly basic.
“The whole operation is controlled by the foot pedal. You just push and the clamping is automatic,” he explains. “You need to be able to drive an excavator and the rest is not difficult.”
With Al Mahroos now on board and a tool that could change the way many contractors work in the region, Hunklinger could find its attachment to the Middle East is not difficult for years to come.”