Along with the other well-known market leaders Kubota and Daewoo, Hitachi leads the list of the top heavy-duty machinery manufacturers across the entire globe. Their latest range to hit the market is named the Dash-6 and contains a list of five various mining excavators from an average sized model to the top ranking one with almost 4000bhp of power. In the past, the engines of them have always been strong but along with the new releases come the Cummins engine, which was chosen specifically for their power and their ability to comply to the Tier-2 rulings.
The cab or the "house" as it is sometimes referred to has been modified quite drastically in all five of the models. Firstly, the suspension of the seat is now pneumatic and is able to cope with much harsher terrains, without causing any damage to the spine of the vehicle operator. The levers of most of the controls have either been shortened, brought closer to the driver or both. The reason for the controls being shortened is so that the throw between different gears for example, has less distance between them and faster and safer gear changes can be made, with minimal effort. These measures are all to put less stress on the operator and cause less of a requirement to bend into awkward positions for long periods of time.
Another of the major modifications to the cabin unit is to the LCD monitor. Although all of the recent machines have had one, they have only been able to report on 16 different pieces of information, this has nearly now tripled in number. Cameras are built into some machines so a greater and clearer view of the rear can be captures, thus making judgements a simpler task for each driver. Hitachi has also successfully developed what they have called the Global e-service, a piece of software, which can be used by those whom are not able to be on site when construction is live. Contractors are able to log into this software globally and track exactly what is happening on site. If need be, site managers can use this from their office whilst overlooking the progressive work.
Along with natural evolution, the Dash-6 range has been designed and manufactured to provide a greater level to machine reliability. It is understood that such large and powerful ground working tools would be expensive to fix at the best of times and that is without factoring in the costs for replacements to be brought in for urgent projects. The more sustainable each piece of equipment is, the better the investment is for the mining contractors to buy or hire them. The models range from a small 1000bhp Hitachi mining excavator to one reaching almost 4000bhp, of course a huge and powerful piece of equipment. The EX-8000-6, which ranks at the top of this particular range, can use attachments, which will carry well in excess of 50 tonnes of water or liquid at a time.
