In 2015, equipment and crane hire firm Hewden presented its Supplier Innovation Award to Miller UK, and in doing so cemented a relationship that is fuelling the growth of both companies.
Miller has long been a supplier to Hewden and the two companies have collaborated on a number of occasions to produce new products designed to meet a real market need.
Amongst a range of other attachments, Hewden has pioneered the use of Miller’s hydraulic breaker to great effect, making cutting edge technology readily available to consumers who benefit from a product that is tailored to the needs of modern day construction sites.
Miller and Hewden work closely during the design and development stage of products such as breakers, buckets, couplers and brackets, bringing together decades of manufacturing expertise and the most up-to-date information on the detailed requirements of construction firms and their operatives.
Once the products are brought to market, Hewden ensures that Miller’s attachments are utilised to their fullest potential by equipping rental customers with first class customer service and training in how to get the most out of the ground-breaking products.
Unique products
In 2015, Hewden invested £1million in 200 new breakers from Miller, and the company’s faith in the product was based on the role it played in the development of the breaker’s three key innovations.
This faith in the product proved justified as it has since been recognised for a number of industry awards, and remains steadfastly the most popular Miller attachment among Hewden’s customers.
Adaptability was a major consideration in the design of the breaker. Attachments that can only be used with a limited number of machines create problems on site, as additional investment is required to bring in more equipment, which in turn creates increased risks to worker safety as multiple attachments are used across a fleet of excavators.
The Miller hydraulic breaker has a unique hanger at the top of the breaker, which allows the attachment to be fitted to any of Hewden’s excavators, from 1.5 tonnes to 22 tonnes.
The hanger allows for quick, easy, safe switching between machines, and has already helped construction companies to make significant cost and time savings on the sites where it is used.
Attachments, particularly those offered by hire companies, can prove to be something of a challenge when it comes to maintenance.
Operators can find themselves spending almost as much time greasing and lubricating an attachment as they spend actually using it, and this can breed frustration as productivity drops.
To avoid this type of issue occurring, Miller’s hydraulic breaker range has been developed with a self-lubricating system that continually greases the attachment while it is in use.
Operators never have to pause to check the attachment or to re-grease it, which not only means maximum uptime and increased productivity, but also boosts worker safety.
The third key feature of the Miller hydraulic breaker might just be its most impressive component, and most vital: each and every Hewden breaker is fitted with a tracker, so if it is lost or stolen it can be located in minutes.
Attachment theft has been a bane of the industry in recent years, but a staggering eight breakers have been recovered as a direct result of the tracker technology to date. This not only saves vast amounts of time and administrative costs, but also the cost that would have otherwise been spent on replacement tools.
Hewden estimates that reported attachment theft alone could be costing the industry more than £1m per year, and is calling on the hire industry to follow suit and make trackers standard on all attachment equipment.
“Working alongside Miller, we were the first in the industry to introduce tracking devices on our breakers,” said Alex Gadd, attachments manager at Hewden. “More needs to be done and until we’re able to stop the problem completely, the best we can do is deter criminals and help locate the equipment.”
A training programme has been carefully devised to enable Hewden staff to fully understand and appreciate all aspects and benefits of the Miller attachment range.
This means that as well as being able to use and handle the attachments safely themselves, they can also advise customers accordingly to ensure they get the very best out of products, particularly with regards to the new product ranges.
Following the success of the enhanced hydraulic breaker, Miller is currently working on a new riddle bucket product, designed to provide a solution to those working on demolition, quarrying or landscaping projects, to sort materials and move debris quicker and more efficiently.
