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 6th 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 DL 280-5 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 leaders.”
Of whether there are any 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, which now includes 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]
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.”
