Digger Guard, a patented new range of protective guards developed for leading construction machinery manufacturer Hitachi Construction Machinery UK, launched officially at Hillhead Show Digital.
Plastics manufacturer, Norplast Ltd, developed the innovative Digger Guard product range in response to a project brief from Hitachi inviting the company to design a new vandal guard to overcome problems with existing systems used to protect excavator cabs.
Newcastle-based Norplast’s design and development team achieved innovative improvements which merited a patent for Digger Guard. With industry giant Hitachi as its first major customer, Norplast is overseeing the roll out of its Digger Guard products on models of excavator across the UK.
“The existing products on the market had a number of problems that Hitachi Construction Machinery wanted to improve upon: they were difficult to install and remove, heavy and prone to wear, noisy and not watertight when stored,” said Norplast’s Managing Director, Dave Smith. “It was clear to us that there was considerable room for improvement, and we delivered on that for Hitachi with Digger Guard.”
“Construction industry machinery is exposed to extensive risk of costly damage both accidentally and through vandalism. With Digger Guard we have achieved improvements that we’re confident will save operators time on the job, and reduce both down-time and insurance costs,” continued Dave Smith.
A Hitachi Construction Machinery spokesperson commented: “Norplast successfully addressed every problem we originally set out for them to tackle. They’ve designed vandal guards for various models of our excavators and fit-test them at our sites as part of the service. We’re pleased to pass on the benefits of the Digger Guard system to our customers and end-user operators.”
In developing its Digger Guard product range for Hitachi excavators, Norplast optimised its design and material specifications to reflect both companies’ environmental and sustainability priorities across production, performance, and end of life processing. Digger Guard products are REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) compliant and made using recyclable polymer materials.
