Loyal Komatsu Customer Shane Wight Is Delighted With His Latest Machines

Despite being a long-term loyal Komatsu customer who knows the company's products very well, Sydney earthmoving contractor Shane Wight has been amazed and delighted with his latest excavator purchases, describing the machines as "unbelievable" in their features and performance.

Shane has recently bought a 13.8 tonne PC138US-8 short-tail excavator and a 1.8 tonne PC18MR-3, adding to his two existing PC55MR-3 excavators and a PC120-6 excavator.

Working mainly in the Northern Beaches area of metropolitan Sydney, Shane's work includes drainage, both domestic and commercial, as well as swimming pools, demolition, and general site preparation.

"My two latest machines are unbelievable!" he said.

"One of my operators has actually been on the PC138 for the past few months, but for the past week or so, I've needed it for a job I've been on. Now I like it so much, I don't want to give it back!

"It's the whole package: the cabin comfort, the air conditioning, the response in the hydraulics and with the 13 tonner the blade.

"Having the blade gives me so many options; we can use the excavator for everything from precision excavation, trenching and pipework, through to final trim and clean up.

"It's just a really flexible machine and the zero-swing gives us maximum flexibility on jobs," he said.

In fact, Shane is a big fan of zero-swing excavators, with all but one of his excavators being the short-tail variants.

"They really allow us to use the machines in a much wider range of jobs," he said.

Time constraints, plus the increasing trend for builders to insist that even machines used in metropolitan applications meet mine-spec standards, mean Shane also gets all his servicing done through Komatsu.

"All our machines are mine specced; some jobs you can't get on if you don't have that plus you never know where your next job is going to be and who is going to ring you.

"Because of this, we are under service contracts with Komatsu for all our machines, so every 250 hours, they come out and do a field service," he said.

"This has worked out really well for us; it's been great because I just don't get the time now.

"I used to service them a bit myself, but you need the service records now for the jobs you want to go on," said Shane.

"And having Komatsu doing all my servicing takes a huge problem away from me; with five machines, I haven't got time any more.