POWERFUL MINIS DIGGING IN FOR UK MARKET SHARE - THE TEAMS THE PLAYERS

The first mini excavator was sprung on an unsuspecting UK plant scene by Kubota in 1979. Sixteen years later, the plant industry wonders how it managed before the mini appeared.

Without the mini excavator, how would we have performed those myriad little tasks which it now seems only it can do? Would that oft-time mini partner, the mini dumper, have been invented? Would Pel-Job have been born? Would Richard Smalley have become a multi-millionaire?

Few would claim to have spotted in 1979 the potential of a phenomenon which went on to reshape the plant hire industry. Peter Lewis of Ashtead has admitted: 'I didn't see the potential for a while. Now we have many minis in the fleet and they are an integral part of our business.

'We weren't by any means the first in the field. But I believe that hirers should be reactive rather than proactive and should fulfil a demand instead of trying to create one from scratch.'

Worldwide there are some 40 manufacturers of minis but 70 per cent of the market is held by just eight leading companies. At present there are 16 manufacturers/ importers offering around 100 models of mini excavator in the UK. However there is some cross-supply - Kubota builds machines in Germany for Case badging, for example, and machines come from various countries. The recognised traditional home of the mini, Japan, is way down the list because of the non-competitiveness engendered by the strong yen.

JCB builds exclusively in the UK but exports quite a high proportion of its output around the world. Atlas builds its minis in Scotland and promptly exports most of them straight to its home market of Germany! Pel-Job builds exclusively in France and exports to many countries as well as supplying the likes of Case.

For a while IHI (once badged Chieftain) had a factory in Consett, County Durham, making its machines but closed it as the recession began to bite. Subsequently some of the IHI range of minis was built in Italy by FAI ,and still is, while the larger part is built in Japan.

Recently, IHI has given the UK up as a bad job, or rather importer AGD Holdings has. As managing director Robert Law says: 'There is simply not the margin there to support a top-class operation selling and supporting minis. Although we have loyal users saying they want to continue buying IHI minis there simply are not enough to make the operation viable. The position of the yen versus the œ sterling has got worse over the last couple of years and doesn't look likely to improve in the short term.'

But that point of view isn't shared by some of the competition. One leading industry figure told CJ: 'In total Japan builds so many minis (and everything else!) that the ex-factory gate price just has to be competitive despite the strong yen's pressure on other currencies. In any case not all so-called Japanese minis are built only in Japan. Kubota builds for the UK in Germany and supplies Case from that pool too.'

However, it is true that all the Japanese mini manufacturers have established subsidiaries in other countries to make the operation more viable. And among those that haven't, such as Takeuchi, there is no sign of impending UK presence despite rumours of a comeback effort from time to time.

A dark horse, however, might be Melroe-Bobcat which builds its minis uniquely in North America. It needs to export to survive - the home market is tiny because the mini hasn't been taken to its heart by the American hire industry or by its contractors. There are pockets of activity notably around switched-on dealers such as Duhon Machinery Inc, based in New Orleans, where minis are very much in vogue. But the rest of the US has a long, long way to go. Melroe Bobcat is, however, out and out market leader in its home country.

In the UK Bobcat has begun to establish a presence with minis and this can only be aided by the dominant market position of its skidsteer loaders. Prospective users can see that a backup network, which has been proven to work, is fully in place. It's paying off with Bobcat reporting healthy sales trends.

The market leader here in the UK is JCB - a remarkable feat considering that JCB isn't represented in every weight classification, although it does make a proliferation of models. It managed to pip the long-time market leader Kubota during a busier than usual last quarter of 1994. Pel-Job achieved a respectable third place.

JCB (or more correctly JCB-Hydrapower) only concentrates on the 1.5 tonne and the up to 3.3 tonne sectors of the market whereas there are others with ranges from sub-500kg to 6,000kg. But JCB's concentration has paid off in the UK where most machines go into the hire field. The 1.5t size is very popular with end-users as it is massively more efficient than hand digging and also perceived as not too complicated or offputting for non-skilled operators.

JCB has gone much deeper than simply building an excavator. It has targeted variations on its models at specific areas of the market. There are three versions of the 801 and JCB insists each has virtues applicable to a specific market sector. While there are end-users who will want state-of- the-art servo-controlled units complete with electronic gimmickry, there are those who simply want a no-frills unit that will dig a hole when necessary.

JCB provides the kit to satisfy both. The 801.4 satisfies the no-frills man with its cable-operated control levers but it still offers an excellent cab and creature comforts. The 801.5 has servo-operated controls but both feature the same Perkins diesel engine. The digging envelope is identical in each case.

The picture changes slightly with the 801.6. Performance is enhanced by the fitting of a more powerful Perkins diesel (up from 12.2kW to 14kW) driving bigger pumps running at higher pressure. The weight of the machine changes very little but digging power ability is much improved. Dig depth is also up on the 801.4 and 801.5 by 100mm or so.

The 803 is the 3t sector representative and it has just been joined by the 10 per cent heavier 804. The 803 is currently the UK's best-selling 3t mini. Part of the reason for this - and this applies equally to the rest of the JCB range - is ascribed to the fact JCB machines have controls/cabs designed to fit European-sized operators.

JCB came quite late into the market but has achieved considerable success. The company also markets a wide range of attachments designed to match the machine to the task.

Kubota is credited with 'inventing' the mini in its more or less present form and since it showed its first example in 1979 has occupied top sales slot here. Kubota has opted for a broad range of machines with eight current models ranging from 730kg up to just over 6 tonnes. The range was substantially revised and upgraded to become the KX series in 1992 but at the heavier end the KH191 remains in its earlier form with detail modifications from time to time.

JCB offers the option of servo controls even on its 1.5t models, but Kubota by contrast opts for direct-acting control levers on its smaller models, then switching to servo-assistance for the largest unit the 6.1t KH-191. Unusually - although Amman-Yanmar also does this - Kubota makes its own diesel engines for the whole range. But then Kubota makes small diesels for half the construction equipment builders in the world anyway!

The outstanding mainland European success story with mini manufacturing must be that of Pel-Job which occupies the third place sales slot in the UK. Pel-Job now makes more than 3,000 machines each year although they are not all mini excavators. It also produces compact wheeled loaders, crawler loaders and the highly individual Mecalac which is difficult to categorise.

There are other products in the Pel-Job range such as skidsteers and site dumpers but these are produced by other companies and simply badged as Pel-Job. They are not marketed in the UK.

The Pel-Job range of minis runs to ten models with weights from 1,050kg up to 6,800kg. At the bottom of the weight range Pel-Job has created a market niche for plant hirers. It's built a specific machine called Sirius which is aimed directly at the user who wants no frills but still needs strength and reliability in the long term.

Sirius is placed between the EB10 and the 1355kg EB12.4 and it was an immediate sales success in this country following its launch at SED '93.

Although the EB10 and the Sirius have mechanical controls, from the EB12.4 up to and including the EB16.4, buyers have the option of specifying servo-assistance. From the EB22.4 upwards it's servo assistance all the way.

Pel-Job is also extremely strong on marketing its own range of attachments designed to be fitted using a snap-action quick coupler.

Below these three top-selling marques the picture becomes somewhat more fragmented as the rest battle for market share. It's a fair bet that Case, whose minis are built and badged by Kubota in Germany, holds fourth place in the sales league. Case has a sizeable and enthusiastic following for its larger machines and there's little doubt this feeling rubs off when it comes to purchasing smaller kit for the fleet. The current Case mini range embraces seven models from 1.4t up to 6t.

The surprise fifth place is held by Melroe-Bobcat. Although it holds market leadership in the US, it has not before figured so strongly in the UK. It has a new, four model range which has been aimed squarely at users who want a strong, rugged machine. The range runs from the 1,500kg X-320 through the X-325 at 2,500kg, the X-331 at 3,400kg, and tops off at 5,000kg with the X-335. All utilise servo controls and an offset seating position and the two larger models have two speed tracking. There is a strong family identity since the recent re-design and there's plenty of production capacity at Melroe's US factory at Bismarck, North Dakota. If shortage of manufacturing facility ever becomes a problem for any of the competition there's little doubt Bobcat could fill the gap.

Hanix designs and builds its range in Manchester and although the model line-up isn't wide it does have an enthusiastic following. This is because it possesses a unique 'hands-on' dealer network which is strong in the regions.

At the lower end of the sales league the only thing lacking is unit numbers. The technical specification remains just as strong as it is at the opposite end of the scale. Amman-Yanmar builds its seven-strong line-up at its jv factory at St. Dizier in France and the machines look very good in the latest livery.

The Scoppy range goes down to sub-mini size and has had some limited success but there appears to be no large demand for such very tiny machines. There are, however, a couple of cable contractors that swear by Scoppies!

Hitachi has a nine-strong range but it has had relatively little success in the UK. That's probably because the machines are built in Japan which makes them very uncompetitive on price.

Kobelco boasts five different models (not counting the very tiny SS models which go down to under 200kg) but again hasn't made much of a showing here probably because of the currency difficulties. The machines look good and by all accounts perform well but the price is as always the stumbling block.

Atlas Weyhausen makes its minis in Scotland but exports just about all of the production to its German home market where they hold a large chunk. The UK is proving a harder nut to crack but the sales team's concerted efforts are paying off and there are several machines beginning to be seen.

Powerfab began by making truly unique machines which did not pay design homage to anyone. It has recently started to make minis which look more mainstream. The current range comprises three models.

In 1994 the best industry forecasts were saying that the total number of units sold in the UK would be around 2,500. By the end of the year that total had reached around 3.500 which is a 40% increase.

If the whole industry could register that sort of performance the recession would be consigned to a distant memory.