Brad Young, owner of BJ Young Earthmoving, based in Paraburdoo, Western Australia, has learnt that he can trust Komatsu equipment and the service and support that comes with it while working in the remote Pilbara and Kimberly regions.
Brad who's had 34 years' experience in earth moving and civil works and is a long time Komatsu customer (Down to Earth readers may remember we featured Brad and his wife Julie in a couple of editions back in 2003) is currently working on Mt Newman airport carrying out grading and excavation for a new terminal building, apron expansion, and expanded carpark.Brad's most recent purchase is an HM300-2 articulated dump truck with a fire suppression system in March 2007, financed through Komatsu Australia Corporate Finance (KACF) a process he described as "smooth and hassle-free; they understood our business and what our requirements are."
His HM300-2 is used for working remote mine sites in the Eastern Ranges where it's necessary to do long hauls along steep grades.
"Since we've had it, the performance of our HM300-2 has been excellent; it's very comfortable and handles well in the mining environment, as well as being extremely stable and easy to operate.
"It's very reliable, and hasn't needed any unscheduled maintenance," he said.
In 2004, Brad purchased a GD655-3 grader, a PC300-7 excavator with rock breaker attachment, and a WA380-5 wheel loader. Since then, he's been very pleased with their performance.
"Our GD655-3 Grader has been very good and very reliable, the PC300-7 with its rock breaker is frequently used when doing internal works and civil works, while our WA380-5 wheel loader serves us well is a good all-round machine," he said.
At the beginning of 2005, Brad purchased what he considers his most versatile piece of equipment: a Komatsu WA250PT-5 toolcarrier loader with a range of attachments including two buckets, forks and a jib.
"I'm really happy with the WA250PT-5 loader; it's a very good machine and the hydrostatic operation is wonderful it's smooth and user friendly, it always provides a very gentle change in motion when moving from forward to reverse, without any jerky movements," he said.
"It not only performs noticeably better than we expected, but it's also been excellent on fuel economy, typically using between 13 and 14 litres per hour.
"With the WA250PT-5, we can easily free dig through the tough dirt we have here in the Pilbara region, where smaller loaders fail.
"It really does everything we need to do with a loader anything from small jobs up to loading road trains and general earth work. And because of its versatility, it's probably our most frequently used machine."
Brad's WA250PT-5 was fitted with a Komatsu self-greasing system.
"All the other Komatsu equipment we operate has been retrofitted with Donaldson cab pressurisation systems which use extra fans for blowing cool, clean air into the cab and allow the same filter type to be used on each piece of equipment," he said.
"Over the years we've developed a good working relationship with Komatsu's sales and service personnel; they're always friendly and we've been able to resolve any issues quickly and easily, with any spare parts we need always arriving within 24 hours.
"We know and trust each other, and Komatsu has always looked after us and our needs.
"Right now I've got my eye on a new PC450LC-8 excavator which I'd like to get within the next couple of months," said Brad.