WELCOME

A very warm summer welcome to issue 26 of Awesome Earthmovers with our cover featuring the mainstay of construction sites worldwide for the last 70 plus years. The backhoe loader was created by JCB in the early 50s as a simple tractor base unit paired with backhoe and front loader attachments. JCB have continually pushed the boundaries over the last 7 decades to develop modern machines such as the 4CX PRO DualDrive. We visited Meynell Plant Hire to get their feedback on their latest JCB backhoe acquisition.

During a trip to California last year we called by United Equipment at Turlock on Highway 99. United Equipment are known for their iconic bulldozer building based on a D5 that has contained the used equipment dealership’s offices since 1977. Read the story and watch the video on it in this issue

We visited Jimmy Starbuck, owner of Starbuck Excavation in Melbourne, Australia to see how hard and consistent work has turned a small business with a 2.7 tonne Case excavator in 2007 into a dynamic company with 30 diverse pieces of equipment moving thousands of truck loads of dirt each year.

Earlier this year we travelled to Cuneo in Italy to see the Merlo Group’s main manufacturing facility which was initially constructed in 1953 with a 2000m2 floor space. Much has changed since then when Merlo invited Awesome Earthmovers to see their 330,000m2 factory that employs 8000 people currently.

Based in San Bernadino, California, JK Excavation & Grading Company Inc is one of Southern California’s leading providers of commercial, industrial and heavy civil construction services. We visited them in Highland to see how Powerscreen crushing and screening equipment is helping them deal with the hard natural bluestone in the area. Read this and many more stories in issue 26.

Chris Maginnis Editor