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. It has
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 Hitachi Support Chain and managed by 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.”

Related Content

  • Toggenburger takes two Terex cranes to tackle a Swiss tandem lift
    August 21, 2015
    Two of the largest cranes in Switzerland recently were called upon to lift an 884tonne, 162m-long connecting bridge between two buildings at the Coop distribution centre in Schafisheim. “The individual bridge components had enormous gross weights of up to 275tonnes and required us to use working radii of up to 29m,” said Andre Huber, project manager at Toggenburger, the company that took on the task. To get the job done, Toggenburger rolled out its biggest machinery which also happen to be the two lar
  • Hitachi unveils ZW220HYB-5 hybrid wheeled loader
    January 6, 2017
    Hitachi Construction Machinery (HCM) has unveiled its first mass production hybrid-wheeled loader, the new ZW220HYB-5 hybrid, which has been designed and constructed at HCM’s factory at Ryugasaki in Japan. The ZW220HYB-5 incorporates 100% proven Hitachi group technology from the Shinkansen (bullet train) and EH-series dump trucks, which has been specially developed for the hybrid-wheeled loader. To achieve this, the ZW220HYB-5’s four-cylinder engine powers a generator, which produces energy to drive two ele
  • Hitachi unveils ZW220HYB-5 hybrid wheeled loader
    April 21, 2015
    Hitachi Construction Machinery (HCM) has unveiled its first mass production hybrid-wheeled loader, the new ZW220HYB-5 hybrid, which has been designed and constructed at HCM’s factory at Ryugasaki in Japan. The ZW220HYB-5 incorporates 100% proven Hitachi group technology from the Shinkansen (bullet train) and EH-series dump trucks, which has been specially developed for the hybrid-wheeled loader. To achieve this, the ZW220HYB-5’s four-cylinder engine powers a generator, which produces energy to drive two ele
  • Manitowoc celebrates 90 years of Potain tower cranes
    April 24, 2018
    Manitowoc is celebrating 90 years of Potain tower cranes with its first visit to Intermat since 2009. And it has brought three of its newest tower cranes along: the Hup 32-27, a Hup 40-30 self-erecting crane and the MDT 389, which is the largest topless crane to feature Manitou’s Crane Control System (CCS). Manitowoc shed its food equipment arm, Manitowoc Foodservice, in March 2016 and the last two years have been ‘challenging’, according to executive vice president Aaron Ravenscroft. “It’s a difficult bu