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by Brian Weatherley • Is the whole industry about to go down the pan? Tony Davies, UK boss of the Dutch tipping gear and mechanical handling equipment manufacturer Hyva, isn't about to sign up to a recession just yet.
"A lot of people say that to me, but we're busy. Year on year we're 35% up on volumes. We've increased market penetration on trailers and eight-wheelers which is our traditional market, and we're selling more and more trailer cylinders which are seen as good quality, durable products."
But isn't the tipping and construction market suffering more than most? Not judging by vehicle registration figures. Up to November 1998 eight-legger sales were up by some 23% while six-wheelers were almost 15% better than 1997.
Among multi-wheeler operators the wave is towards fouraxle rigids and it's one that Hyva is riding. "We've taken orders from a number of major fleets with numbers of eight to 10 at a time," says Davies. "Production is filling out into January, February and March and that's all multi-wheeler work."
As Hyva is a major front-end ram manufacturer, Davies is sceptical towards underfloor gear. "On eight-wheelers underfloor tipping gear is shrinking— it's run its course with people in the marketplace. There will always be a requirement for it— but I think the industry recognises front end gear is lighter, durable and less complicated."
Synonymous
Hyva's main rival is Edbro—a name synonymous with tipping gear—and Davies believes that Hyva UK has captured business at its expense, not least on price. "We'll always be cost-competitive—around 5-10% below Edbro---that's always been our strategy and it won't change." Consequently Hyva is claiming a bigger slice within the UK eight-wheeler market. "There's no doubt about that," says Davies, But we're pragmatic. We know we're not perfect, we make mistakes but we go out and tackle them."
Hyva's key strength is its tube design—developed for the Dutch market where loads are significantly heavier. "Ours overlap more than the nest of tubes found on many of our competitors," says Davies. "So what goes up, comes down straight—every time Hyva prefers separate hydraulic oil tanks against a combined ram/ tank. "It increases durability by minimising stress and simplifies installation and maintenance," maintains Davies. "We're also seeing the market growing for narrow, behind-cab wet kits—not least from those operators looking at 41 tonnes. You can't put a round hydraulic tank between the axles on a three-axle chassis— ours is the best wet kit in the country."
Following the launch of its own FC 80 7.5-tonne tipping pack at TipCon last year, Hyva is seeing more non-HGV business. "It's more cost-conscious," admits Davies, "but there's more volume, and competitors too."
Recent move Following a recent move to a new 1,120m2 HQ and engineering centre in Eccles, Hyva has split its UK business into two main areas: Tipping gear and Capital equipment. In the former Davies says there will be "major developments" in 1999. In the latter Hyva has been on the acquisition trail. Having previously sold Nooteboom's skip-loader equipment in the UK, it's now bought out the range which it will continue to build in Holland.
"We aim to take more of this marketplace. Our volume is currently 250-300 a year which gives us a 15-20% share of the market. We can increase that by another 5% reasonably comfortably. We won't be as cheap as a Telehoist unit but our skip loader is heavy duty and durable bar none," believes Davies.
Hyva's hookloader range comes from AJK in Belgium. According to Davies, operators are moving more towards hookloaders than skips. "They're more versatile, we've got around 12-15% of the market and we can take that up by another 4-5%."
Whatever happens to the economy there's clearly a common thread running throughout Hyva's business, as Davies explains: "Many operators that run skip-loaders also run tippers and hook-lifts, so there's synergy. We're taking business away from competitors because of the quality of our products— once they've had one, it sells itself."