Class winners of SED'94

Merlo UK, set up by John Iles 11 months ago, scooped the pool at SED'94 by taking Gold medal and newcomer's award. JCB, Lewis Equipment and Movax Piling came home as strong contenders for the Silver medals.

The JCB 1CX won the judging panel's approval for its unique concept, superb packaging and detail engineering.

Lewis Equipment entered its unique, and patented, three-way tipping bucket which immediately struck a cord with the judges from the plant hire and road works sectors. The design is simple, robust, foolproof and can be operated in any of the three modes without the operator leaving the seat.

Merlo UK won the Gold medal for its P25.9EV telescopic handler - and also the newcomers award. In essence, the P25.9EV is a 9m machine in a 7m package, but still retaining the standard Merlo benefits of superb all round vision due to the low mounted three-stage boom. Safety points that appealed to our judges included chassis levelling, and by skewing the same rams, up to 290mm boom offsetting for accurate load placement. It is the only machine to be equipped as standard with boom lock-outs.

Serviceability to the side mounted engine and all major hydraulic componentry was much appreciated and Iles was the only person to obtain maximum marks from every judge for his presentation.

Movax sheet piler was an instant hit because of its sheer versatility and its claimed ability to make cost savings from 20% to 70%. Attached to the right class of excavator, the unit can handle, transport, drive and extract sheets with speed and accuracy.