At Intermat 2018 Paris – the world’s biggest construction and quarrying equipment exhibition of the year - Doosan Infracore Construction Equipment (Doosan) celebrated 40 years as an excavator manufacturer and its 400,000th machine sale since the company began trading in the global construction equipment market. Speaking to ABE editor Guy Woodford, Gilles Bendaoud, Doosan’s heavy sales director Europe, discusses the ambitious company’s rise to prominence in the European and wider global marketplace.
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“We are now the sixth biggest construction equipment manufacturer worldwide, after being 15th biggest 10 years ago. It’s a result we are very proud of,” says Gilles Bendaoud, Doosan heavy sales director Europe. “In Europe we are always aiming for a double-digit market share across all our major product lines. We are much better recognised in the excavator business, where we have a leading [sales] position in a few countries in Europe. We are number one in wheeled excavators in Holland, number two in crawler excavators in Spain, and have a good position in major national markets like France, Poland, Germany and Italy.
“I think buyers are choosing Doosan equipment because of its performance and reliability. Whenever they test our machines, they form a relationship with them. When we get customers, we keep them.”
Among the machines and technology on show from Doosan at Intermat 2018 Paris was the 52tonne DX530LC-5 crawler excavator, which will soon incorporate Doosan’s D-ECOPOWER technology, said to increase productivity, fuel efficiency and machine control. The new DL420-5 CVT (continuous variable transmission), the new DL580-5 wheeled loader and the new DL280-5 wheeled loader, especially developed for waste material recycling customers, and the new DA30 articulated dump truck (ADT) were other stand-out models.
Gilles emphasises Doosan’s investment in its wheeled loader model range. “In the last ten years, our wheeled loader products have been significantly upgraded, in terms of the comfort they offer the operator. The cab interior has been greatly improved and we are continuing to do a lot on that. Our wheeled loaders are very powerful and operators feel they are really penetrating the material they are working with. If you look at all the models we are launching this year, you can feel how committed we are with our new wheeled loaders.”
Regarding any possible gaps in the current Doosan heavy excavator model range, Gilles says: “In the major 14 to 50 tonne excavator market, we have all the products you could want across 14 models. We also have more models in this category than most of our competitors. On the wheeled excavators side, in the 14-20 tonne class we have a complete range. We are also working on mid-sized 9-10 tonne wheeled excavators, to complete the range. These models will be targeted at urban works customers.
“At the request of our Europe dealer network, we are continuing to develop our Doosan mini-excavator range and soon will introduce new models in the 1.5-2tonne class, and in the 2.5-3.5tonne class. Doosan currently has 10 models in its mini-excavator range.”
Turning his attention to Doosan’s articulated dump trucks (ADTs), which now include the Intermat 2018 Paris globally-launched DA30, Gilles continues: “We are still a small player on the dump trucks, apart from in Norway, where we have a leading position through [the acquisition of] Moxy. We know that our ADTs are good, otherwise we would not have been able to maintain our lead in Norway. We have made a lot of investment in our articulated dump trucks and in our distribution capabilities for this kind of machine. It’s a far more technical product and we’ve also invested heavily in our dealer servicing capability.”
Doosan has also invested heavily in its global replacement parts capabilities, including its ability to meet European customer demand. “We have improved all the logistical aspects of our parts inventory. In Europe we have centralised it in Germany, in a major warehouse where we have increased inventory over the years. We are also close to a DHL logistics hub in Halle, near Leipzig. The UK also has a specific parts inventory warehouse which is speeding up parts deliveries to customers.”
Since the launch of the company’s DoosanCONNECT fleet and asset management system, Doosan has increased its presence particularly in European and North American markets, to now cover approximately 60,000 of the company’s excavators, wheeled loaders and ADTs worldwide.
Doosan launched its first telematics service in China in 2005. As part of its efforts to further expand its market share in developed markets, the company is placing special emphasis on expanding the application of its cutting-edge technologies based on DoosanCONNECT and world-class information and communications technologies (ICT), developing new products customised to local needs, and continuously upgrading its customer service.
The DoosanCONNECT system is designed to increase efficiency in site management and equipment operation through real-time data monitoring to check engine and hydraulic system parts of Doosan machines and other construction equipment and to provide information, mapping and visuals on their location and availability. Doosan customers receive a monthly report on equipment operations to ensure efficient equipment deployment with detailed information on service hours, fuel consumption and timely responses to filter and oil replacement.
Gilles says Doosan is planning to expand the types of equipment covered by DoosanCONNECT and develop various services based on the telematics system to manage consumables and provide enhanced maintenance packages.
The DoosanCONNECT system is available as a standard feature on all new generation Doosan Stage IV compliant excavators (from 14 tonne), all-new generation Doosan Stage IV compliant wheeled loaders and the new generation Doosan Stage IV compliant ADTs.
Also available for retro-fitting in a kit form, the DoosanCONNECT system is supplied with a free three-year subscription and customers are provided with their own account so that they can manage the machines in their fleet using the system. Once the three-year complementary period expires, customers have the option to purchase a service extension.
“Over time we have improved DoosanCONNECT features to make it as easy as possible for our dealers to propose machine servicing times with customers and for dealers and customers to monitor overall machine performance,” explains Gilles. “We will be available to offer smartphone access to DoosanCONNECT machine monitoring data before the end of this year.
“Tools are one thing, people are the other. With that in mind, we have developed DoosanCARE. It involves a dedicated team of engineers going to selected major fleet customers and analysing the performance of their Doosan machines in certain applications, making changes that lead to improved machine fleet performance. DoosanCARE has been running in Asia for the last couple of years and is currently being launched in Europe.”
Based in Paris, Gilles, a French and Moroccan national, has worked for Doosan for 11 years and been in his current role since January 2016. Prior to joining Doosan, the married 53-year-old, who has four daughters and a baby granddaughter, worked in sales and marketing for Komatsu and CASE New Holland.
“I’ve been in the construction and quarrying equipment business since 1995. Before that I worked in the computer industry for around seven years. What makes me happy is people and contact with them. What is really attractive about the [construction and quarrying] equipment business is that people and relationships matter. We have this credo at Doosan that we call ‘the Doosan Way’. It was developed around ten years ago by the company’s chairman. It refers to how we really demonstrate that we care about people. ‘The Doosan Way’ is the driver of our company.”
