Skip to main content

German Joh. Sahler contractor goes down the Hitachi route

German contractor Joh. Sahler has changed its entire fleet of construction machinery to Hitachi Zaxis excavators. The two ZX38U-5s, ZX48U-3, ZX85USBLC-5, ZX145W-3, ZX170W-5 and ZX190W-3 were ordered by the Leverkusen-based company in June last year and delivered by the country’s authorised Hitachi dealer, Kiesel. Joh. Sahler was founded in 1945 and is now owned by a third-generation family member, Antonius Eisbach, and managed on a day-to-day basis by directors Dietmar Müller and Matthias Schindler.
April 30, 2015 Read time: 3 mins
German contractor Joh. Sahler has changed its entire fleet of construction machinery to Hitachi Zaxis excavators. The two ZX38U-5s, ZX48U-3, ZX85USBLC-5, ZX145W-3, ZX170W-5 and ZX190W-3 were ordered by the Leverkusen-based company in June last year and delivered by the country’s authorised Hitachi dealer, Kiesel.

Joh. Sahler was founded in 1945 and is now owned by a third-generation family member, Antonius Eisbach, and managed on a day-to-day basis by directors Dietmar Müller and Matthias Schindler. It has a team of 50 employees who work on road and sewer construction projects for mostly privately owned clients but also some public sector customers.

All of the new machines are supported by a five-year maintenance and service package provided by 233 Hitachi Support Chain and managed by 7050 Kiesel. “Kiesel contacted us at exactly the right time at the end of 2013, when we first considered changing all of our machines,” said Matthias.

“We wanted to buy established products that our customers would recognise and feel comfortable with. These machines need to be reliable and work well for at least five years and that is why we have invested in the after-sales package.”

The two-piece boom Hitachi ZX170W-5 wheeled excavator is the largest Zaxis-5 machine at Joh. Sahler’s disposal. It was delivered in July and one of its first assignments was a road construction project near Leverkusen. The €450,000 contract to build a roundabout started at the end of September and was scheduled to finish in December. The ZX170W-5 was the only wheeled excavator on the 3,400m² site, which includes 1,500m² of new road, 100m² of new foot and cycle paths and streetlights and the planting of trees.

“The ZX170W-5 is suited to this type of work, and along with the ZX145W-3 and ZX190W-3, we have a range of wheeled excavators to cover the full scale of our operations,” said Matthias. “It is a classic machine for working on roads, as it is fast and versatile, and can be used on and off road. We’re very happy with our current line-up of machines because our maintenance costs are lower than before and there is minimal downtime.”

“I’m really happy with the overall performance of the ZX170W-5,” explained the ZX170W-5’s operator Mario Tietje, who has been with the company for 30 years. “The cab has more than enough space and a comfortable seat, which is important when working on site for the whole day. It is perfectly suited to this type of road construction work and the best feature is the hydraulics, which work quickly and ensure that the machine is easy to operate.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Tunnels eliminate bottlenecks
    February 10, 2012
    Some of the bottlenecks on the multi-lane Mittlere Ring, Munich, Germany, one of the main arterial roads circling the city centre have been eliminated by the addition of new tunnels. The Luise-Kiesselbach Square, the last section of this road improvement effort, is an important traffic hub south-west of the city where motorways A96 from Lindau and A5 from Garmisch meet, causing long delays in daily rush-hour traffic, writes Patrick Smith.
  • Roadtec bullish with strong results
    February 21, 2017
    Roadtec says that it saw a strong financial performance in 2016 and has high hopes for 2017. Part of Astec Industries, Roadtec says that it finished 2016 exceeding its sales performance goals. The firm says that the asphalt paving market benefited from the passage of the 6-year FAST-ACT Highway Bill on December 4th, 2015. Astec Industries and Roadtec played important roles in an industry-wide campaign calling for US legislators urging them to pass the bill. “Through these efforts and many others in our i
  • Keestrack enjoying rapid Chinese growth
    November 28, 2018
    Keestrack has increased its Chinese unit sales by more than 20% in 2018, leaving the mobile crushing and screening plant manufacturer on course to sell around 60 machines in the calendar year. Thomas Hagspiel, the company’s China and Southeast Asia managing director, said the Belgian global crushing and screening equipment firm had been delighted with Chinese customers response to Keestrack’s product offer over the past four years. The company is currently second only to Kleemann in annual China market mob
  • Construction machine sales to grow worldwide?
    October 28, 2016
    A slow but steady recovery in machine sales worldwide is likely in the next few years, with India being one of the key growth markets for the future. However, this comes after the construction equipment sector has seen significant downturns as well as other major changes worldwide in the last few years, according to David Phillips, managing director of Off Highway Research. He said, “The industry structure has really changed.” Global sales of construction machines were worth around US$93 billion in 2014